Fill in the blank: “I don’t have time to do ___________ [something that would be good for you. How about writing a weekly newsletter?]
Okay, play a little game with me. You say you don’t have time to write a newsletter? Well, what if you did?
What could happen?
What if your newsletter brought you five new clients every month? Take a moment to imagine what that would be like.
Now, how long do you think it would take you to write a weekly email newsletter? 30 minutes a week? An hour?
Let’s say you get paid $500 an hour. And let’s say a new client is worth $3,000 to you. So you would invest $2,000 per month writing your newsletter and bring in $15,000 in new business. Would that be worth it? Could you find the time to write a newsletter if it would increase your income by $12,000 per month?
Numbers don’t work for you? Adjust them If you don’t think you could possibly bring in five new clients per month, how about two? You don’t earn $500 an hour? Okay, ratchet down the cost. An average client is worth $8,000 to you? Bump up the income side of the equation.
When you do this exercise, you may realize that you can’t afford to not write a newsletter.
Look at it another way–if you’re doing billable work instead of writing a newsletter, you’re losing money.
Make sense?
So cut out a few hours of billable work if you have to, to make time for your newsletter. Or work an extra hour per week. Or how about this–hire someone to do most of the newsletter for you. Or hire someone to do some of the billable work you say is keeping you so busy.
When you start with what’s possible (i.e., five new clients each month), it changes your perspective. Or at least it should. You don’t have time to do something? What if you did?
Earn more without working more by working smarter, not harder
