Time and money typically go hand in hand. After leaving my last job and not having a job for the first time in over 25 years, I decided I wanted to do things differently.
I don’t want the amount of money I’m able to generate tied to the number of hours I work. I want to break the link between time and money.
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Can we break the link between time and money
Of
- Subscriptions – services where people sign up, often for a free trial, and are automatically charged for each month if not canceled during the free trial
. Memberships – there are a ton of gym memberships (and others) that are seldom used but continue to generate revenue for the company month after month.- Online books – needs to be created just once and is available to be purchased indefinitely.
- Online training – similar to online books, create once and always available for others to buy.
Reverse the link
The key is to turn this around and take advantage of it from the provider/seller side.
Ideally, you want to create something once
(i.e., ebooks, online training) that can be sold over and over.
Or create something that generates income through referrals (i.e., affiliate sites, AdWords).
Another option is Amazon FBA. While it involves a fair amount of work to start, once a product is established the work to keep it going (inventory and marketing management) is somewhat minimal.
Methods for reducing the time and money link
There are several methods for reducing the amount/time of work needed to generate income. Some examples are below, but there are efficiencies to be found in most things we do.
Always be on the lookout for ways to improve the work you do.
Automation
Once you have your product created or website established, you want to have systems in place for
This helps to ensure it keeps generating income while minimizing the amount of effort required to sustain it.
While blogging requires some time investment, a number of blog posts can be written ahead of time and scheduled to publish at certain times during the month.
Using an email automation service like Mailchimp can create different email flows for your subscribers.
And a tool like Tailwind is great for automating your social media marketing.
Outsourcing
You don’t have to do everything by yourself.
Once you have routine processes established, create procedures around them.
That way you can find people on sites like Fiverr or Upwork to get those routine tasks off of your plate for a reasonable amount of money.
Creating procedures will help you be more productive. It will also make it easy for others to follow and complete so you can delegate and focus your time elsewhere.
It doesn’t need to be perfect
I often get stuck in a constant loop of researching my next move and course correcting.
I know the general direction I need to move, but I feel like I need to know exactly how to do it.
And when I am about to take action, I always seem to come up with another question that I go off and spend hours researching.
Make sure what you are producing is good and of high quality, but it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Spending too much time ensuring everything is perfect is going to lower the rate of return on the work you are producing without adding much value.