We all start a business for various reasons – everyone has their very own story and very own trigger point that pushes them to drop the familiarity of the typical work life and decide to go their own way. However, at the very core of this decision lies freedom and more importantly time freedom.
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Why?
Because time freedom means you have more control over your life, and this is why many of us ladies decided to take the route of creating our own businesses.
There is nothing wrong with having a typical career and spending life working for someone else. It even has many benefits which cannot be offered by having a business. Having a business comes with a responsibility and that may not be for everyone.
But if you are feeling overwhelmed by a 9-5, you hate the lack of control over when you work or how you work and you want to be able to have the flexibility of running your life the way you want it, having your own business might be the ultimate solution for you.
How can I get freedom from my business?
One of the downsides of following a certain career path is that you are ultimately exchanging your time for money. Yes, some careers, depending on your skill set and experience, may offer lucrative hourly pay. However, there is always a limit to how much you can earn, because there is a limit to how many hours a day you can work.
There will always be a cap on how much you can earn and ultimately you have little control over it.
This is the opposite of what you can have with a business.
With a business, if you are solving a problem and providing value you have the opportunity to charge based on your value rather than time. In business, everything is scalable. You have control over the money you make which can give you control over the number of hours you work and your work timing.
Is time freedom the ultimate goal?
Achieving this kind of freedom is the ultimate goal.
The trick is to maximize the money you make in your business.
What do I mean by that?
Well rather than spending everything your make, you invest that money.
Invest it back into the business to allow it to grow for example by hiring someone to help. Or by investing in numerous assets.
You want to take yourself out of the equation – i.e., you no longer need to be physically present to generate money. Either the assets such as property or stock, are making money in the background for you. Or your team is taking care of running things.
The time freedom mindset.
I think the idea of time freedom might seem a bit abstract to some, which is why it takes some mindset shifting.
Hopefully reading the above has shown you how this can be achieved and that it is possible.
Below are the ultimate changes and shifts you might need to consider if time freedom has become your ultimate goal.
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How to achieve time freedom with your business.
Ditch your 9-5.
Easier said than done, I know. However, if you want to achieve time freedom, you cannot do it while working 9-5. For most of us, especially in the early stages of running a business, it might not be possible. After all, you need an income, and you need to pay for life.
In the beginning, it might mean investing your 5-9 to work on your business, which will eventually allow you to ditch that 9-5 grind.
Have multiple sources of income.
In today’s world, it is wise to diversify your income, especially in business. Things are changing so quickly and the world is unpredictable. However, you can ease some of this uncertainty by having multiple sources of income. This is as much true for those of you beautiful ladies who are following a career path as well as those taking the business route.
Ensure that money is coming in, in at least a couple of ways so when envisioning your business plan, factor this in. Put your creative hat on and brainstorm how you can solve people’s problems in a number of ways. Always bringing it back to your ideal customer.
Having multiple sources of income is a safety net because if one avenue fails you have the other one to keep you going.
Stop exchanging time for money.
Value your time. Your time is literally the most important asset in your life. You can always make more money, but you can never make more time. Every minute that passes is a minute of your life you will never get back.
Just let that sink in for a while.
Make your time your most valuable asset and charge accordingly. Money is worth NOTHING without time should become your ultimate motto.
Time > Money
You need to realize that time is worth so much more than money and things.
Know that you have a choice.
It is very easy to spiral down that thinking pattern where you believe you have no choice over how you live your life because society is set in stone, and you are expected to follow suit.
Making a change, going against the current, and picking your own path is not easy. I don’t want to underestimate what it is.
It is scary and it is normal to have doubts and fears.
But if you are struggling to take the plunge, simply ask yourself this?
Which side of the decision will I regret more?
Staying stuck in a job you hate or one which is not making you feel ultimately fulfilled will suck the life out of you long term. Knowing that you are working towards your dream life and business and work, will not.
I cannot think of an example of when someone has regretted taking that step.
Set your priorities.
If you want to taste that feeling of time freedom down the line, you may have to put in initial time and energy to make it happen.
Think of it as the ultimate investment you need to make. You may not see the benefits of it straight away but down the line, it will give you everything you want and more.
In order to do that, takes some sacrificing for a short period of time.
In other words, you have to make your business the priority and everything else second.
It takes that level of commitment which is why few do it. However, put aside instant gratification so you can guarantee the life of your dreams down the line.
Time block.
Getting the priorities straight is important however strong priorities need the right action to back them up.
This is where time blocking comes in.
Time blocking is a way of ensuring that you set the time to work on your business goals by blocking out time in your calendar.
If you skip this part, life will get in the way, things will come up and you will never sit down to work. However, having that time set aside, help to organize the rest of your life in a way to ensure you are free to use this time for business.
Having that time written down helps to keep you accountable.
Charge based on value, not time spent.
If you provide value to someone you need to charge based on that value. Get out of thinking that you need to work out how much time you spent working on your business. This is an employee mindset, and this is what needs changing.
If you are solving a problem for someone, if you are offering a solution that they have been looking for, trust that they will be willing to spend good money to get it.
Never underestimate yourself and have the confidence to charge accordingly.
Investment, investment, investment.
The investment trifecta:
Invest in further education yourself:
- Learn about business
- Learn about branding
- Learn about strategy
- Learn about finances
- Learn about mindset
- Learn about personal growth
- Learn about your customers
- Learn about your industry
- Learn about your competition
- The list goes on
Invest back into the business
You need to send money to make money. Investing money back into the business is the ultimate way to skyrocket your business growth. It’s scary and you will feel like you want to hold onto the money with dear life but let go of the fear and make the investment. You won’t be sorry.
Invest in assets
Invest in assets rather than liabilities. This is one of the core lessons that Robert Kiyosaki teaches in his book Rich Dad Poor Dad. If you have not read it and you want to learn about how to make money work for you rather than work for money, then this book is for you.
By spending money on things that could make you more money for example stocks, properties, etc, you are setting up a system where you are no longer tied to working in order to make money.
Create systems and processes to maximize time.
Creating systems and processes means automating anything and everything you can so that you can free up more of your time.
Many times, in business there will be tasks that you have to do because your business cannot run without them. However, they are extremely time-consuming to do manually and they do not generate a great deal of revenue per se.
So, what can you do?
One of 3 things
- Delegate: assign the task to someone else.
- Automate: create a system that can automatically do the task for you.
- Bulk process: Set time aside and do those tasks in bulk