How To Think About Your Time

Time: your one non-renewable resource—it’s got a short shelf life and it expires daily.

How you think about your time—how to spend it, how to value it—is a critical component of your business model, which is why Jonathan and I explore:

Why time is a cost when you’re selling expertise, but doesn’t need to factor directly into your pricing strategy.

When to track your time—and what to do with what you learn.

Evaluating the quality of the time you’re spending on client work—your personal happiness factor.

Negotiating with contractors for non-time based fees on joint projects (and one cautionary tale).

Quotables

“It (time) is our cost, right? So you can’t just ignore your costs, but… it’s like you just don’t want to be setting your price based on your cost. You wanna set your prices based on the value.”—JS

“You probably won’t pay so much attention to your time unless something starts to feel off. Your spidey sense will start tingling when things are going off the rails.”—RM

“What’s the point of tracking all of this, measuring all of this if you’re not gonna use it to make a decision?”—JS

“Client profile “A” gets a yes—I’m happy to work with you, here’s the price. Let’s go. Client “B” gets a eh, I don’t think we’re a fit.”—RM

“Once you’re good at what you do, billing for your time is leaving money on the table.”—JS

“I would negotiate a price with the consultant to do Project X as we define it together—then I don’t care how many hours they work.”—RM

“That billable hour concept—it infects the whole organization.”—JS

“How can I make the hours that I’m spending on work happier? How can I just enjoy this more? Because that’s the freedom that we get as soloists—we get to create our own reality.”—RM