What are you worth? You don’t have a clue, do you?
I have a mentor and client who is incredibly successful. He owns over a dozen businesses. He employs hundreds of people. He loves Jesus and is one of the most generous men I’ve ever met. He is an amazing man. He is someone who we should all want to be like.
A couple of years ago, I was meeting with this man. I asked him what the inflection point was in his career. He surprised me with his answer. He told me about a conversation that he had with his mentor. At that time, my mentor had hit his limit. He was experiencing what John Maxwell calls the Law of the Lid (read the book – affiliate link).
In that conversation, my mentor asked his mentor, “Why can’t I break through? What is my problem?”
Last week at my company’s national convention, I spoke on becoming a Power Prospector. Afterwards, one of our top producers wanted to talk with me. He is tapped out. He has so much business. However, he is struggling to keep up with it all. He’s trying to do everything himself. It isn’t working.
I ask you again. What are you worth?
This is one of the most important things that you can know when running your business. Why? Because you have more to do in any one day than you can accomplish.
Delegation
In both of the stories above, lack of delegation is the problem. My mentor was trying to control everything. He wouldn’t delegate. Thus, he was the bottleneck. He was the problem.
Our top producer has not put together a team or a system to maximize his efforts. He is the Lid holding his business and his productivity back. We are going to remedy this situation, and his business is going to explode.
You have heard that delegation is a good idea, but can you articulate why? As the CEO of you, there are certain tasks that only you can do. These are the high-dollar activities or the high value creation activities. You want to delegate everything else so that you can focus on those activities. Said another way, anything that anyone else can do, they should do. This frees you up to do only things that only you can do.
To effectively accomplish this, you must do 3 things:
- Catalogue your activities – Before you can delegate, you must know with clarity all the activities that take up your time. The best way to do this is to catalogue everything that you spend time on for a week. Write it all down. Some of you just rolled your eyes. Don’t skip this step. Write it all down.
- Triage – The triage step involves deciding which are the high dollar activities and which need to be delegated. Ask yourself, “If I could only do 3 of these activities, which ones would they be?” Some you will simply want to delete and stop doing entirely. This step gives you clarity of purpose. It also gives you the job description for the team member or virtual assistant that you may add. If you already have an assistant or team in place, this list is now their playbook.
- Know what you are worth! – Many of you will be tempted to simply read this and move on with your life. I challenge you not to. Go through this with me. You will thank me.
I’m going to use round numbers. Let’s assume that you work 50 weeks a year and 40 hours a week. Now write down what your income goal for the year is. Great. The math looks like this.
50 weeks x 40 hours/week = 2,000 hours worked in a year
Income Goal / 2,000 hours = your value per hour
If you want to make $100,000 this year, then $100,000 / 2,000 hours = $50/hr. If you want to make $400,000 this year, then your are worth $200/hr.
Rod Santomassimo, the president and founder of the coaching firm the Massimo-Group, knows his number. He has a note on his desk that reads, “Is what you are doing right now worth $___/hr? If not, stop doing it!” This is why you must know your worth. It allows you to effectively focus on the activities that maximize your effectiveness and earning potential. Otherwise, you are leaving money on the table.
So what are you worth? How will knowing this number effect how you lead and work? Let me know in the comments below!
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