Client Magnets Official Blog

If you have less available time today than you did yesterday, but you’re selling it at yesterday’s price, your business model isn’t working for you.

So many business models are based on trading time for money that it seems like it must be the right thing to do.  But it’s not. If that’s your business model, there’s a ceiling on your income. And you probably don’t even realize it.

Think about it. You only have so many hours in a week. You’ve really only got so many hours on the planet, and your time becomes more finite every single day. You’re getting less time every day, not more. So if you’re trading your time for money, you’re actually selling a dwindling commodity.

Let me give you an example. Last year the price of oil skyrocketed after reports that the world’s oil reserves were dwindling. That makes good business sense – diminishing supply equals higher cost. But is your price skyrocketing because you have less time? Are you charging more today because you have less time than you did yesterday? No, you’re not.

You need to find ways of servicing your clients that leverage your time. You need to make the maximum amount of money with the finite time that’s available to you.

Here are some great strategies for leveraging your time:

• Try offering workshops, seminars or training courses. Instead of taking people through your process one-to-one, you can teach it simultaneously to a group. This will maximize your time and allow you to make more money. This is one of my favorites.

• Create an additional product. Record your sessions and offer them to customers as a set of DVDs or audio CDs. This can be a fantastic way for you to deliver value to people without having to physically spend time with them. And it’s a key way to break out of the trading time for money model.

If you’re a personal trainer or coach, for example, put together  group programs rather than offering one-to-one instruction.

These are all key ways to break out of the “trading time for money” model.