“Look, if we have to tell you about the “Pareto Principle” one more time, I’m going to be sick…” – Every business trainer ever
When you work in the world of online business training – you eat, sleep and breath business concepts. And it’s nothing crazy, it’s just a perk of being in this industry.
It’s our work to discern which concepts fit your business (based on where it’s at, right now) and in order to do that, we have to learn, action and implement these concepts, and see the impact it has in our businesses, and yours. Do we see the same ideas thrown around? Inevitably. Ideas around marketing, copy-writing, structures and time-efficiency – you’ll find the same concepts shared everywhere.
Have you missed them? No problem! This is your chance to get caught up to speed on three concepts you need to know about.
“The Pareto Principle”
20% of tomato plants (in your garden, you sneaky gardener) produce 80% of the tomatoes. You wear 20% of your clothes, 80% of the time. Your best customers (20%) bring in 80% of the revenue. You do your best and most-profitable work in 20% of the total time… and it coincidentally brings in 80% of the results, to the point where the other 80% of your time could be better spent watching a movie or something (go watch Dune by Denis Villeneuve, it’s really good.)
20% of the population holds 80% of the economy’s wealth. Chances are, you’ve heard of this concept. The “Pareto Principle” is to business, what the “Marshmallow Experiment” is to psychology.
The main takeaway: you’re probably wasting a lot of time, stress and energy on things that aren’t necessarily your most profitable.
If you list your daily work-schedule out, you could probably find a ton of ways in which you doing stuff causes more problems than not. Things like…
- Listening to base-level challenges,
- Taking over when your staff can’t handle an issue,
- Doing admin & accounts,
- Building your own website from skills you picked up from Udemy,
And you’d probably discover the things you do (20%) of which bring in 80% of the profits – like selling, brand-building, creating sales strategies… You get the idea.
Once you ruthlessly begin to identify what you do okay-ish vs what you’re brilliant at, you’ll find that your next job will be to find someone who is exceptional at the things you aren’t
What does your workday look like today?
“How Much Are You Worth?”
This connects to the Pareto Principle, in the sense that you need to have a number for every hour you clock in, doing the things you shouldn’t. After all, when you divide your end-month salary by the hours you work per month – doesn’t it make sense that your time has a distinct value to it?
(Calculation: I work ___ hours per week. I make ___ per week. Divide $/R ____ by the hours = your hourly rate)
How can you double or triple the value of your hours? Stop spending your most valuable skills on non-valuable tasks, like doing your books or building your website on your own!
Assessing the hourly cost of outsourcing it to somebody else, is a surefire way to give yourself your hours back, and fully immerse yourself in getting paid for what you are great at doing.
“Sharpen Your Axe, Always”
We’ve heard the parable…
Two lumberjacks, one being geriatric, slow-moving and in his declining years. The other, strong, lean, young and competitively eager to get his pay in the form of chopped lumber at the end of the day. They go at their work, diligently. The young ‘un would chop away, hour on the hour, noting that his partner slinked off every hour or so, disappearing for 20 minutes at a time to rest…
Confidently, the young lumberjack understood that the more time he put into chopping, the more wood he’d accumulate, the more he’d get paid – and doesn’t that just feel great? Anyway – they get to the end of the day, and the young guy discovers his pile to be ½ the size of the geriatric dude’s…
Astonished, the question was blurted: “How did you manage to chop all that wood?” Lazily, the geriatric’s eyes looking around, then focusing on the younger lumberjacks red face, he muttered from his stubbled mouth: “Well, it’s quite simple really. Every time I sat down, I was sharpening my axe.”
Sound familiar?
Yes – You’ve heard it a billion times.
We use these tales to remind ourselves of the schools of thought artisans and experts in their trades would use, to motivate themselves to become better, sharpening the tool that is themselves. What does this mean for you, the humble business owner?
“Never forget about sharpening that axe.”
You need to take the time out to rest and reflect – working 12-16 hour work weeks is a great sign of your strong work ethic – but it never lasts. Take the time of reflection to learn from other business owners, inspiring that creative spark that got you into business to begin with – Because only when you are at your most creative, does your edge start to show.
Three ideas that provide a great framework to learn from. What will you implement next?
Until next time.
