The TCO Method ™
<p><p>Episode 05
<p><p>What Is Your Time Worth?
<p><p>Hosted by Andy McQuade

<p>1
<p>00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:22,000
<p>[Music]

<p>2
<p>00:00:22,000 –> 00:00:29,000
<p>Welcome to the TCO Method, the only show focused on helping you massively increase your net operating income.

<p>3
<p>00:00:29,000 –> 00:00:38,000
<p>I am Andy McQuade, the host of the TCO Method, and I want to thank you so much for tuning in to this week’s podcast.

<p>4
<p>00:00:38,000 –> 00:00:42,000
<p>Well, this week’s first podcast, I guess I’ll do two of them.

<p>5
<p>00:00:42,000 –> 00:00:47,000
<p>So, today, I was kind of torn on what topic I wanted to do.

<p>6
<p>00:00:47,000 –> 00:00:55,000
<p>And I think it’s important since we talked a little bit about process costing last week,

<p>7
<p>00:00:55,000 –> 00:01:05,000
<p>I want to talk about it on a more personal level as to how much is your time worth.

<p>8
<p>00:01:05,000 –> 00:01:18,000
<p>As an owner, as an operator, as an entrepreneur, as an employee, where are you getting the most bang for your buck on the time you spend?

<p>9
<p>00:01:18,000 –> 00:01:30,000
<p>And this is something that will bring up a pet peeve of mine that really became a pet peeve when I was working at 84 lumber in the Home Depot.

<p>10
<p>00:01:30,000 –> 00:01:36,000
<p>So, we’re going back, we’re going deep, we’re going like 20-something, 25 years back.

<p>11
<p>00:01:36,000 –> 00:01:43,000
<p>Because there’s a lot of people who are very, very good at the technical skills for what they do.

<p>12
<p>00:01:43,000 –> 00:01:50,000
<p>And very, very bad at managing their business operations.

<p>13
<p>00:01:50,000 –> 00:01:55,000
<p>And I don’t mean that they can’t create a successful business, I don’t mean that they’re not making money.

<p>14
<p>00:01:55,000 –> 00:02:05,000
<p>What I’m talking about is the amount of time they spend working in their business instead of on their business,

<p>15
<p>00:02:05,000 –> 00:02:14,000
<p>and how much value they generate through their activities doing one versus the other.

<p>16
<p>00:02:14,000 –> 00:02:20,000
<p>So, we hear it all the time, right?

<p>17
<p>00:02:20,000 –> 00:02:27,000
<p>You need to hustle, grind, work your butt off, make the money.

<p>18
<p>00:02:27,000 –> 00:02:33,000
<p>And then in real estate, we hear, well, I created freedom for myself through real estate.

<p>19
<p>00:02:33,000 –> 00:02:37,000
<p>I invest passively in XYZ.

<p>20
<p>00:02:37,000 –> 00:02:44,000
<p>Your goal should be to only have to work five hours a week and make $100,000 a minute to do it.

<p>21
<p>00:02:44,000 –> 00:02:49,000
<p>That should be your goal, you should be grant cardone.

<p>22
<p>00:02:49,000 –> 00:02:57,000
<p>Nothing against grant cardone, but two and two doesn’t make four with those two sentences.

<p>23
<p>00:02:57,000 –> 00:03:09,000
<p>You can’t both hustle, grind, work your tail off to make your money and then have a goal of only working five hours a week to make the same amount of money.

<p>24
<p>00:03:09,000 –> 00:03:13,000
<p>They can’t coexist simultaneously.

<p>25
<p>00:03:13,000 –> 00:03:17,000
<p>They’re literally polar opposites.

<p>26
<p>00:03:17,000 –> 00:03:20,000
<p>And they both work, people make money doing both.

<p>27
<p>00:03:20,000 –> 00:03:37,000
<p>The trick is that the people who are making the money working five hours a week are doing it because when they do work, they work with a plan.

<p>28
<p>00:03:37,000 –> 00:03:49,000
<p>And already knowing what the value is that the time they’re going to spend away from their family, away from their hobbies, away from their camp, their boat, their skiing, whatever.

<p>29
<p>00:03:49,000 –> 00:03:59,000
<p>They’re working intentionally, right, living intentionally, working intentionally to generate the most value they can for their business.

<p>30
<p>00:03:59,000 –> 00:04:08,000
<p>Now, part of that is having a good team supporting you that will do the 40 hours, 60 hours a week that you can’t do, right?

<p>31
<p>00:04:08,000 –> 00:04:16,000
<p>So there’s a certain level of entrepreneurial aptitude in building a good team, but that’s not what this episode is going to be about.

<p>32
<p>00:04:16,000 –> 00:04:36,000
<p>This episode I’m speaking specifically to people in real estate who are working, whether it’s the five hour a week person who probably won’t get anything out of this episode or the 40 to 80 hour a week person who is busting their hump every minute to get things done.

<p>33
<p>00:04:36,000 –> 00:04:43,000
<p>But how does that 40 to 60 hour a week person turn into that five hour a week person?

<p>34
<p>00:04:43,000 –> 00:04:47,000
<p>Two ways, one, they build a team.

<p>35
<p>00:04:47,000 –> 00:04:51,000
<p>They come up with other sources of incidental income, right?

<p>36
<p>00:04:51,000 –> 00:05:05,000
<p>They have some evergreen stuff that continues to pay them through passive investing, through good relationships, through whatever or, or that 40 to 60 hour a week person.

<p>37
<p>00:05:05,000 –> 00:05:32,000
<p>Focus is their time and their efforts on doing the things that it’s going to take in order to get to that five hours a week, which means all of the time they spend that 40 hours needs to be focused on putting the highest value activities for their business and their personal financial welfare first.

<p>38
<p>00:05:32,000 –> 00:05:46,000
<p>Which doesn’t mean opening your email the second you get out of bed and starting to respond to emails it means going into the day with a plan and working intentionally towards what you want.

<p>39
<p>00:05:46,000 –> 00:06:01,000
<p>And now I’m going to go back 20 years into my past at 84 in Home Depot and talk about the guys who work the 60 to 80 hours a week whether it’s blue collar technical stuff swing in a hammer doing remodeling.

<p>40
<p>00:06:01,000 –> 00:06:15,000
<p>Whatever or running a business but getting involved in the day to day operations and processes of that business which are necessary I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be involved in the day to day of your business you need to be.

<p>41
<p>00:06:15,000 –> 00:06:19,000
<p>Finger on the pulse to make sure that the right things are happening right.

<p>42
<p>00:06:19,000 –> 00:06:45,000
<p>However, what used to kill me is I would see these remodellers these builders these contractors these property managers these business owners in a lot of cases who will sacrifice their time to go shopping at Home Depot lows 84 lumber local lumber yards whatever it may be.

<p>43
<p>00:06:45,000 –> 00:06:55,000
<p>So that their guys can stand the job and keep working cool your guy should be on the job and keep working you as the business owner need to understand.

<p>44
<p>00:06:55,000 –> 00:07:03,000
<p>How much your time is worth and what every minute of work you do.

<p>45
<p>00:07:03,000 –> 00:07:06,000
<p>Both costs you.

<p>46
<p>00:07:06,000 –> 00:07:13,000
<p>And makes you what does it earn you in your efforts.

<p>47
<p>00:07:13,000 –> 00:07:22,000
<p>So what killed me and the reason I’m doing this episode today we’re going to call this what is your time worth.

<p>48
<p>00:07:22,000 –> 00:07:28,000
<p>Part of what killed me is I would see these owner operators leaving their.

<p>49
<p>00:07:28,000 –> 00:07:36,000
<p>You know at the time 12 to 15 dollars an hour nowadays it would be 20 to 30 dollar an hour employees on a job site working.

<p>50
<p>00:07:36,000 –> 00:07:50,000
<p>While you the owner who hopefully is making significantly more than your frontline employees swinging hammers and cutting lumber or doing the remodeling grunt work hopefully you’re paying yourself more than you’re paying those guys.

<p>51
<p>00:07:50,000 –> 00:07:53,000
<p>Unless they’re sales people which is a different conversation.

<p>52
<p>00:07:53,000 –> 00:08:00,000
<p>But if they’re out and they’re physically working you the owner are trying to do what you own a business because.

<p>53
<p>00:08:00,000 –> 00:08:12,000
<p>You didn’t like working for other people you wanted to make more money you wanted to achieve some level of freedom and independence right.

<p>54
<p>00:08:12,000 –> 00:08:18,000
<p>You wanted to be able to take advantage of all the nifty tax right off.

<p>55
<p>00:08:18,000 –> 00:08:31,000
<p>So in doing so you’ve created this world where it’s okay for you the highest paid guy at your company to go to home depot and shop.

<p>56
<p>00:08:31,000 –> 00:08:40,000
<p>If you enjoy it and it brings the value that you produce every hour or that you need to produce every hour to your business great.

<p>57
<p>00:08:40,000 –> 00:08:45,000
<p>I don’t necessarily think that’s the best way for you to spend your time.

<p>58
<p>00:08:45,000 –> 00:08:53,000
<p>I don’t think it’s going to deliver the returns that you think it’s returning to you.

<p>59
<p>00:08:53,000 –> 00:09:11,000
<p>And what I think is going to happen is you’re going to get so focused working in your business that you’re not looking at yourself objectively in the mirror and saying how am I spending my time working on my business right.

<p>60
<p>00:09:11,000 –> 00:09:22,000
<p>So these guys and there were more than one there were many that I would see do this who would assemble lists of materials they would need.

<p>61
<p>00:09:22,000 –> 00:09:35,000
<p>And instead of getting on the phone or faxing at the time nowadays it would be an email and sending it to their suppliers to say hey price this for me.

<p>62
<p>00:09:35,000 –> 00:09:42,000
<p>And then they would personally drive it to the stores and stand there while the quote was being done.

<p>63
<p>00:09:42,000 –> 00:09:50,000
<p>And then they would take the price from whatever place they went first and drive to the next store.

<p>64
<p>00:09:50,000 –> 00:09:54,000
<p>However far that was 20 minutes half hour didn’t matter.

<p>65
<p>00:09:54,000 –> 00:09:58,000
<p>And do the same thing and then say oh well.

<p>66
<p>00:09:58,000 –> 00:10:02,000
<p>Home Depot is cheaper than you on this and this.

<p>67
<p>00:10:02,000 –> 00:10:05,000
<p>You need to sharpen your pencil.

<p>68
<p>00:10:05,000 –> 00:10:15,000
<p>And then they would take those two quotes and we go to lows or to the mom and pop and they would do the same thing.

<p>69
<p>00:10:15,000 –> 00:10:23,000
<p>And eventually two things happen one is your vendors realize that you have no loyalty and no skin in the game for them.

<p>70
<p>00:10:23,000 –> 00:10:31,000
<p>So unless they’re desperate for sales just to make numbers they’re not going to take care of you when you need help.

<p>71
<p>00:10:31,000 –> 00:10:40,000
<p>Because you didn’t take care of them in day to day business so there’s a relationship management value add piece there.

<p>72
<p>00:10:40,000 –> 00:10:42,000
<p>Right I’m not saying pay the highest price.

<p>73
<p>00:10:42,000 –> 00:10:55,000
<p>But there is a price to service and value and loyalty that if your procurement people or if your personally good at doing negotiations and relationship building.

<p>74
<p>00:10:55,000 –> 00:11:00,000
<p>Will pay dividends down the road during hard times like during the pandemic.

<p>75
<p>00:11:00,000 –> 00:11:13,000
<p>When the guys who shopped around every place they could regularly and just took a low bid race to the bottom right see I’m referencing all these other episodes you have to listen to now.

<p>76
<p>00:11:13,000 –> 00:11:16,000
<p>They’re they’re going with the low bid every single time.

<p>77
<p>00:11:16,000 –> 00:11:24,000
<p>And when issues happen there’s no meat on the bone left for the vendor to fix those issues for you or to take care of you or to prioritize your business.

<p>78
<p>00:11:24,000 –> 00:11:34,000
<p>So the guys who had relationships with these these suppliers these supply houses didn’t have the same level of supply chain disruption.

<p>79
<p>00:11:34,000 –> 00:11:42,000
<p>That the guys that race to the bottom taking a low bid from whatever supplier they could get did.

<p>80
<p>00:11:42,000 –> 00:11:57,000
<p>Why is that well quite frankly if I know I’m going to make an extra five or 10% on products that I sell to customer A will call them Bob because Bob is going to be the good guy today instead of the bad guy.

<p>81
<p>00:11:57,000 –> 00:11:59,000
<p>And then there’s Sam.

<p>82
<p>00:11:59,000 –> 00:12:10,000
<p>And Sam has no loyalty and just takes business away whenever he feels like it because of a $2 difference in total bid price right.

<p>83
<p>00:12:10,000 –> 00:12:14,000
<p>And there’s no meat on that bone.

<p>84
<p>00:12:14,000 –> 00:12:26,000
<p>Who am I going to give the business to the guy I’m going to make more margin on or the guy that’s completely disloyal this is going to take the business elsewhere right and this is this is I was in building material supply.

<p>85
<p>00:12:26,000 –> 00:12:32,000
<p>For 25 years this is literally how we think.

<p>86
<p>00:12:32,000 –> 00:12:42,000
<p>Don’t pretend that it’s not we’re going to prioritize the guy that values our time and expertise.

<p>87
<p>00:12:42,000 –> 00:12:55,000
<p>And is loyal to us even if he has to pay a little bit more over the guy who just wants you to give away the farm every time and then he’s also coincidentally the guy who calls screaming the first time something goes wrong.

<p>88
<p>00:12:55,000 –> 00:13:08,000
<p>And you don’t have any meat on the bone to fix it because all he wanted was cheap you have to price in the service and the availability or that service into your bid.

<p>89
<p>00:13:08,000 –> 00:13:21,000
<p>I maintenance customers that don’t build relationships get the worst service in the worst pricing 99.9% of the time.

<p>90
<p>00:13:21,000 –> 00:13:34,000
<p>Now they build things into their projects to accommodate some of that right accommodate the ways and all the other stuff that’s going to happen because they’re going to be low man on the total pool regardless of projects eyes.

<p>91
<p>00:13:34,000 –> 00:13:50,000
<p>But I watched companies locally and you know up and down the east coast who had loyalty and had relationships continue plugging along were they delayed yeah they were delayed where they delayed is bad is the guy that.

<p>92
<p>00:13:50,000 –> 00:13:55,000
<p>Wanted you to give away the farm every time now.

<p>93
<p>00:13:55,000 –> 00:13:59,000
<p>When they when suppliers buy materials they buy them.

<p>94
<p>00:13:59,000 –> 00:14:08,000
<p>And will supply them to their loyal customers who give them regular business before they’ll give them to the guy that’s looking to do a large project at low balls.

<p>95
<p>00:14:08,000 –> 00:14:30,000
<p>The same is said for Joe homeowner who comes in wanting to get the same pricing that builders remodellers property managers general contractors get from all the suppliers doesn’t matter whether it’s a home depot doesn’t matter if it’s lows mom and pop supplier of Brad co ABC whatever they’re called now s RS distribution be in a wholesale makes no difference.

<p>96
<p>00:14:30,000 –> 00:14:56,000
<p>Who you’re dealing with those guys are going to prioritize their regular customer that brings them X number of thousands tens of thousands hundreds of thousands millions of dollars a year in business over Joe homeowner looking to do a job a remodel or a new build whatever it may be or a deck or whatever.

<p>97
<p>00:14:56,000 –> 00:15:06,000
<p>They’re going to give better pricing and better service to their regular and to Joe homeowner who is going to generally not know what they’re doing.

<p>98
<p>00:15:06,000 –> 00:15:13,000
<p>Have unreasonable demands and expectations and then they’re going to spend this money once.

<p>99
<p>00:15:13,000 –> 00:15:16,000
<p>It’s not that it’s not a lot of money.

<p>100
<p>00:15:16,000 –> 00:15:32,000
<p>You have to give it you have to look at it through the window of supplier and your perspective of this guy does 50 to 80 of these projects a year you do one every five to 10.

<p>101
<p>00:15:32,000 –> 00:15:39,000
<p>Who’s going to get the better pricing and better level of service.

<p>102
<p>00:15:39,000 –> 00:15:52,000
<p>I really really hope that it’s going to be the bigger customer that spends regular money at your location keeps your doors open in your lights on right.

<p>103
<p>00:15:52,000 –> 00:16:05,000
<p>So we’re in this business to be in business we’re in this business to be a charity we’re not in business to make friends and give stuff away because that’s how you close your doors that’s how you go out of business.

<p>104
<p>00:16:05,000 –> 00:16:16,000
<p>Nobody wants that for there to be a functional business relationship both sides have to survive and win and hopefully thrive through the relationship.

<p>105
<p>00:16:16,000 –> 00:16:28,000
<p>There’s a lot of takers out there that don’t bring the value to the relationship that they should.

<p>106
<p>00:16:28,000 –> 00:16:57,000
<p>And it costs them more 100% of the time over a five year window it costs them more to be cutting corners and operating the way they’re operating as opposed to building a relationship some loyalty and trading a little bit of price for a better level of service right anyway back to the point now that I’ve rented about Joe homeowner expecting better prices.

<p>107
<p>00:16:57,000 –> 00:17:07,000
<p>Let’s talk about the builder the contractor the remodeler the property manager at any level.

<p>108
<p>00:17:07,000 –> 00:17:26,000
<p>But specifically owners owner operators who think that they’re delivering value to their operation to their organization to their families right because that’s why everybody’s doing this we’re not working because we think it’s a lot of fun and giving all the money we make away.

<p>109
<p>00:17:26,000 –> 00:17:37,000
<p>We’re doing it because we’re putting a roof over our families heads over our heads we’re buying our toys we’re buying vehicles.

<p>110
<p>00:17:37,000 –> 00:17:46,000
<p>We’re living our lives and being entertained this is not something that is done out of the goodness of our hearts.

<p>111
<p>00:17:46,000 –> 00:17:51,000
<p>We can enjoy it we can follow our passions and we can really like it but we’re here to make money okay.

<p>112
<p>00:17:51,000 –> 00:18:02,000
<p>So how much money are you making for yourself and your family when you drive to three different places shopping the same package right.

<p>113
<p>00:18:02,000 –> 00:18:08,000
<p>You drive to three different places shopping the same package.

<p>114
<p>00:18:08,000 –> 00:18:12,000
<p>And at the end of the day you’ve saved.

<p>115
<p>00:18:12,000 –> 00:18:18,000
<p>200 bucks let’s say unless you say it’s a five thousand dollar package.

<p>116
<p>00:18:18,000 –> 00:18:30,000
<p>So you’ve just spent how many hours and how much effort of your time right let’s just look at your hourly pay as an owner.

<p>117
<p>00:18:30,000 –> 00:18:34,000
<p>What do you pay yourself per hour right take your annual wage.

<p>118
<p>00:18:34,000 –> 00:18:39,000
<p>Whatever it is you make make a hundred grand 200 grand divided by two.

<p>119
<p>00:18:39,000 –> 00:18:46,000
<p>Okay so if you’re making a hundred grand your paying yourself fifty bucks an hour if you’re working forty hour weeks.

<p>120
<p>00:18:46,000 –> 00:18:56,000
<p>So you take that and then you equate it to the amount of time you just spent driving around that 200 bucks.

<p>121
<p>00:18:56,000 –> 00:19:01,000
<p>Is that 200 bucks pay for your salary.

<p>122
<p>00:19:01,000 –> 00:19:10,000
<p>For the amount of time you spent would you have been okay with one of your guys doing that for that kind of money.

<p>123
<p>00:19:10,000 –> 00:19:16,000
<p>Now the other side of that is you’re a business owner.

<p>124
<p>00:19:16,000 –> 00:19:28,000
<p>Even if you broke even let’s just say that it a half that at fifty bucks an hour that you pay yourself right which is low for a business owner let’s be honest.

<p>125
<p>00:19:28,000 –> 00:19:37,000
<p>If you’re okay with spending fifty bucks an hour to shop to save 200 bucks and it takes you three hours.

<p>126
<p>00:19:37,000 –> 00:19:42,000
<p>Okay let’s just assume it’s three hours it’s way more than that but let’s call it three hours.

<p>127
<p>00:19:42,000 –> 00:19:51,000
<p>So now you’ve made fifty dollars right because you saved 200 bucks by shopping it around.

<p>128
<p>00:19:51,000 –> 00:19:55,000
<p>So you’ve made fifty bucks okay so you’re in the positive.

<p>129
<p>00:19:55,000 –> 00:20:06,000
<p>Now as a business owner what could you have been doing to make more money

<p>130
<p>00:20:06,000 –> 00:20:13,000
<p>for your business and your family as opposed to shopping around.

<p>131
<p>00:20:13,000 –> 00:20:28,000
<p>It’s one thing to shop around as an exercise to make sure you’re getting fair pricing and that your relationship is being maintained properly and that everybody’s putting all their cards on the table and it’s and it’s a good relationship right trust but verify.

<p>132
<p>00:20:28,000 –> 00:20:40,000
<p>It’s another thing to spend your time lighting your money on fire because you’re cruising around.

<p>133
<p>00:20:40,000 –> 00:20:43,000
<p>Shopping to save 200 dollars.

<p>134
<p>00:20:43,000 –> 00:20:55,000
<p>Like your fifty bucks positive but what’s your opportunity cost opportunity cost is a real thing you need to wait in business the same way we talked about it when we’re looking at our net operating income.

<p>135
<p>00:20:55,000 –> 00:21:10,000
<p>When we’re talking about operating a property what could your maintenance people be doing to help you make more money to be more efficient to get things done better as opposed to fixing a toilet flapper or changing a battery and a smoke detector.

<p>136
<p>00:21:10,000 –> 00:21:16,000
<p>What kind of money could you be generating to add to your N.O.I.

<p>137
<p>00:21:16,000 –> 00:21:31,000
<p>Well it’s just a whatever blah blah blah but when you have two or three hundred units just that whatever just that fifteen minute twenty minute hour long two hour long distraction adds up to tens of thousands of dollars a year.

<p>138
<p>00:21:31,000 –> 00:21:43,000
<p>And when you’re talking about a property tens of thousands of dollars a year can be hundreds of thousands of dollars in value when you go to sell that property.

<p>139
<p>00:21:43,000 –> 00:22:08,000
<p>Every dollar you save right direct dollar you save is like increasing your rents by two dollars right you save a buck here off of say maintenance supplies you save a dollar you just created two dollars of net revenue or a gross revenue.

<p>140
<p>00:22:08,000 –> 00:22:29,000
<p>Except it’s not quite that simple because it doesn’t include the opportunity cost in that number opportunity cost is sort of an arbitrary number but when we’re talking about process costing opportunity cost is a real thing.

<p>141
<p>00:22:29,000 –> 00:22:39,000
<p>You’re doing this and paying X per hour to execute this task and it needs to be done.

<p>142
<p>00:22:39,000 –> 00:22:48,000
<p>When you buy a product for a buck less you’re generating two dollars right assuming you’re spending fifty percent of your operating budget on.

<p>143
<p>00:22:48,000 –> 00:22:55,000
<p>Of your of your gross revenue on your operations and management for the property.

<p>144
<p>00:22:55,000 –> 00:22:59,000
<p>You’re generating that money however.

<p>145
<p>00:22:59,000 –> 00:23:04,000
<p>However is that a short term gain.

<p>146
<p>00:23:04,000 –> 00:23:10,000
<p>Because it’s still in that loss you still have to buy something right.

<p>147
<p>00:23:10,000 –> 00:23:17,000
<p>So you didn’t really generate that extra money.

<p>148
<p>00:23:17,000 –> 00:23:27,000
<p>Because had you not created the issue to begin with right by buying a cheap toilet.

<p>149
<p>00:23:27,000 –> 00:23:32,000
<p>You wouldn’t have spent that money so really you would have added the price of the toilet and the labor.

<p>150
<p>00:23:32,000 –> 00:23:36,000
<p>Or the choice of the flapper in the labor back into your bottom line.

<p>151
<p>00:23:36,000 –> 00:23:42,000
<p>That’s an opportunity cost number it’s not an actual tangible number on paper but it does affect your budget.

<p>152
<p>00:23:42,000 –> 00:23:47,000
<p>Decisions have consequences and in property management.

<p>153
<p>00:23:47,000 –> 00:23:50,000
<p>They have long reaching consequences.

<p>154
<p>00:23:50,000 –> 00:23:57,000
<p>You want to put things in that will return their value to you over time as often as possible.

<p>155
<p>00:23:57,000 –> 00:23:59,000
<p>If you’re going to hold the property.

<p>156
<p>00:23:59,000 –> 00:24:08,000
<p>You need to look at how you operate your business as an entrepreneur as a business owner as an employee in the same way.

<p>157
<p>00:24:08,000 –> 00:24:17,000
<p>What could I spend my time on that will deliver long term value to me versus driving around.

<p>158
<p>00:24:17,000 –> 00:24:24,000
<p>Shopping for the cheapest price while I’ve got guys that make less than half of what I make a year.

<p>159
<p>00:24:24,000 –> 00:24:26,000
<p>Swinging a hammer on a job site.

<p>160
<p>00:24:26,000 –> 00:24:29,000
<p>Now the correct answer is.

<p>161
<p>00:24:29,000 –> 00:24:38,000
<p>If we’re talking building materials and relationships and MRO supplies MRO being maintenance repair and operations or anybody out there.

<p>162
<p>00:24:38,000 –> 00:24:43,000
<p>That’s all the stuff you buy to make your business function as a property manager.

<p>163
<p>00:24:43,000 –> 00:24:50,000
<p>But the reality of it is that so many owners get so lost in the weeds that they can’t you lost.

<p>164
<p>00:24:50,000 –> 00:24:54,000
<p>I’m going to use a lot of bad analogies today I guess.

<p>165
<p>00:24:54,000 –> 00:25:01,000
<p>So you’re so you’re so close to that tree in the forest that it’s three inches away from your nose and you can’t see the fat the other trees around you.

<p>166
<p>00:25:01,000 –> 00:25:07,000
<p>Because you’re focused on that one tree directly in front of your face it’s just like this if you’re watching on YouTube just like this.

<p>167
<p>00:25:07,000 –> 00:25:11,000
<p>It’s it’s so close you can’t see anything around you.

<p>168
<p>00:25:11,000 –> 00:25:14,000
<p>Okay, for us from the trees blah blah blah.

<p>169
<p>00:25:14,000 –> 00:25:16,000
<p>So.

<p>170
<p>00:25:16,000 –> 00:25:18,000
<p>How do you fix it?

<p>171
<p>00:25:18,000 –> 00:25:28,000
<p>First you need to realize part of your journey as a entrepreneur owner if your path was to generate freedom for yourself.

<p>172
<p>00:25:28,000 –> 00:25:30,000
<p>Yes, you have to put sweat equity in at the beginning.

<p>173
<p>00:25:30,000 –> 00:25:32,000
<p>Yes, you have to understand how your business works.

<p>174
<p>00:25:32,000 –> 00:25:34,000
<p>Yes, you need to be involved.

<p>175
<p>00:25:34,000 –> 00:25:37,000
<p>You absolutely do need to be involved in a relationship.

<p>176
<p>00:25:37,000 –> 00:25:40,000
<p>So you need to be involved in the product selections.

<p>177
<p>00:25:40,000 –> 00:25:42,000
<p>You need to be involved in the operational standards.

<p>178
<p>00:25:42,000 –> 00:25:45,000
<p>You need to be involved in the follow up.

<p>179
<p>00:25:45,000 –> 00:25:48,000
<p>But verify.

<p>180
<p>00:25:48,000 –> 00:25:52,000
<p>But you also need to put a price on your time.

<p>181
<p>00:25:52,000 –> 00:25:55,000
<p>Right, we hear all the time all these people.

<p>182
<p>00:25:55,000 –> 00:25:57,000
<p>I don’t change my own oil.

<p>183
<p>00:25:57,000 –> 00:25:58,000
<p>I have somebody do it.

<p>184
<p>00:25:58,000 –> 00:26:00,000
<p>I don’t have time for that.

<p>185
<p>00:26:00,000 –> 00:26:06,000
<p>But what are you what are you doing when you’re sitting at the car place waiting for them to change your oil?

<p>186
<p>00:26:06,000 –> 00:26:08,000
<p>Are you working?

<p>187
<p>00:26:08,000 –> 00:26:11,000
<p>Are you generating dollars for your business?

<p>188
<p>00:26:11,000 –> 00:26:17,000
<p>Are you sitting on social media flipping through your phone like a brainless automaton?

<p>189
<p>00:26:17,000 –> 00:26:18,000
<p>Right, it’s no secret.

<p>190
<p>00:26:18,000 –> 00:26:20,000
<p>I hate hate social media with a passion.

<p>191
<p>00:26:20,000 –> 00:26:21,000
<p>I have to use it for business.

<p>192
<p>00:26:21,000 –> 00:26:23,000
<p>It doesn’t mean I have to like it.

<p>193
<p>00:26:23,000 –> 00:26:32,000
<p>It doesn’t mean I have to be detached from the realities of the life suck brain suck that it actually is.

<p>194
<p>00:26:32,000 –> 00:26:39,000
<p>Anyway, where you spend your time as a business owner,

<p>195
<p>00:26:39,000 –> 00:26:41,000
<p>as a functional employee,

<p>196
<p>00:26:41,000 –> 00:26:47,000
<p>is going to determine where you end up four or five years from now.

<p>197
<p>00:26:47,000 –> 00:26:53,000
<p>It’s the same conversation we had when we were talking about two cars, no brains,

<p>198
<p>00:26:53,000 –> 00:26:59,000
<p>when we were talking about spending money

<p>199
<p>00:26:59,000 –> 00:27:04,000
<p>by following the path of the race to the bottom,

<p>200
<p>00:27:04,000 –> 00:27:10,000
<p>where doing something cheap now will have consequences long term.

<p>201
<p>00:27:10,000 –> 00:27:13,000
<p>We’ll cost you more over the long run.

<p>202
<p>00:27:13,000 –> 00:27:18,000
<p>What you do now will determine where you end up,

<p>203
<p>00:27:18,000 –> 00:27:26,000
<p>where you spend your time and effort will determine where you end up and where your business ends up.

<p>204
<p>00:27:26,000 –> 00:27:28,000
<p>So as a business owner,

<p>205
<p>00:27:28,000 –> 00:27:38,000
<p>should you be spending your time chasing the five dollars that you will save today for a project,

<p>206
<p>00:27:38,000 –> 00:27:45,000
<p>paying yourself 50 to $100 an hour to do so?

<p>207
<p>00:27:45,000 –> 00:27:53,000
<p>Or should you be spending your time in assigning the value of your time to your activity

<p>208
<p>00:27:53,000 –> 00:27:57,000
<p>to make your business better,

<p>209
<p>00:27:57,000 –> 00:28:02,000
<p>to create those passive secondary incidental income streams

<p>210
<p>00:28:02,000 –> 00:28:05,000
<p>that will allow you to step back from the business.

<p>211
<p>00:28:05,000 –> 00:28:12,000
<p>Should you be spending your time building and training a team that can run your business for you,

<p>212
<p>00:28:12,000 –> 00:28:15,000
<p>so that you can spend your time with your family,

<p>213
<p>00:28:15,000 –> 00:28:20,000
<p>leaving the life you choose later

<p>214
<p>00:28:20,000 –> 00:28:24,000
<p>because of the sacrifices you make today.

<p>215
<p>00:28:24,000 –> 00:28:28,000
<p>And that doesn’t mean you sacrifice a 60-hour work week

<p>216
<p>00:28:28,000 –> 00:28:32,000
<p>and miss your kids’ recital and baseball game

<p>217
<p>00:28:32,000 –> 00:28:35,000
<p>and can’t go to camp for the weekend with your family.

<p>218
<p>00:28:35,000 –> 00:28:40,000
<p>No, this means being deliberate

<p>219
<p>00:28:40,000 –> 00:28:45,000
<p>and being intentional with how you spend your time.

<p>220
<p>00:28:45,000 –> 00:28:50,000
<p>If you pay yourself $100 an hour, right, 200 grand a year,

<p>221
<p>00:28:50,000 –> 00:28:54,000
<p>if you pay yourself $100 an hour,

<p>222
<p>00:28:54,000 –> 00:29:03,000
<p>do the things you spend time on return $100 an hour worth of value to you personally.

<p>223
<p>00:29:03,000 –> 00:29:06,000
<p>The sitting in front of the TV before you go to bed,

<p>224
<p>00:29:06,000 –> 00:29:09,000
<p>deliver $100 an hour in value.

<p>225
<p>00:29:09,000 –> 00:29:13,000
<p>You know, that’s the only time that you get to see your spouse because you’re both working.

<p>226
<p>00:29:13,000 –> 00:29:18,000
<p>If that’s the only time you get to see your kid because you’re working,

<p>227
<p>00:29:18,000 –> 00:29:24,000
<p>maybe it’s worth that $100 an hour to sit and just relax and veg.

<p>228
<p>00:29:24,000 –> 00:29:28,000
<p>The same could be said for going kayaking, going hiking, going camping,

<p>229
<p>00:29:28,000 –> 00:29:33,000
<p>right, does it return $100 an hour in value to you?

<p>230
<p>00:29:33,000 –> 00:29:36,000
<p>Well, a lot of that stuff will.

<p>231
<p>00:29:36,000 –> 00:29:38,000
<p>That’s your family relationship. That’s why you work.

<p>232
<p>00:29:38,000 –> 00:29:40,000
<p>You’re not working to live.

<p>233
<p>00:29:40,000 –> 00:29:48,000
<p>I’m sorry, you’re not living to work. You’re working to live, right?

<p>234
<p>00:29:48,000 –> 00:29:50,000
<p>Your life doesn’t focus on your job.

<p>235
<p>00:29:50,000 –> 00:29:53,000
<p>It is not the only thing that exists in your world.

<p>236
<p>00:29:53,000 –> 00:29:58,000
<p>I hope.

<p>237
<p>00:29:58,000 –> 00:30:01,000
<p>So the question becomes,

<p>238
<p>00:30:01,000 –> 00:30:04,000
<p>how deliberate are you with how you spend your time?

<p>239
<p>00:30:04,000 –> 00:30:09,000
<p>How much value do you assign to the activities you operate

<p>240
<p>00:30:09,000 –> 00:30:14,000
<p>directly as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, as a solopreneur?

<p>241
<p>00:30:14,000 –> 00:30:17,000
<p>Where are you spending your time and what’s that return?

<p>242
<p>00:30:17,000 –> 00:30:24,000
<p>The return may not be immediate. The return might take time.

<p>243
<p>00:30:24,000 –> 00:30:31,000
<p>But is that return going to be worth missing your kid’s recital?

<p>244
<p>00:30:31,000 –> 00:30:33,000
<p>Missing your kid’s baseball game.

<p>245
<p>00:30:33,000 –> 00:30:37,000
<p>Not being able to go on vacation.

<p>246
<p>00:30:37,000 –> 00:30:43,000
<p>Why are you working at all?

<p>247
<p>00:30:43,000 –> 00:30:49,000
<p>To have things, to have freedom, to do the things you want.

<p>248
<p>00:30:49,000 –> 00:30:53,000
<p>And yet people lose sight, right? There’s a ton of people who get involved.

<p>249
<p>00:30:53,000 –> 00:30:56,000
<p>They don’t want to work, they’re W2. They want to make more money.

<p>250
<p>00:30:56,000 –> 00:31:00,000
<p>They want to get into real estate. What do they do?

<p>251
<p>00:31:00,000 –> 00:31:05,000
<p>They build themselves a 40 to 60 hour a week job, doing real estate,

<p>252
<p>00:31:05,000 –> 00:31:13,000
<p>sometimes working more than they worked when they were on a W2.

<p>253
<p>00:31:13,000 –> 00:31:18,000
<p>They’ve done the exact opposite, that hint of freedom that I’m working for myself.

<p>254
<p>00:31:18,000 –> 00:31:24,000
<p>Replace the actual freedom with yet another set of golden handcuffs.

<p>255
<p>00:31:24,000 –> 00:31:29,000
<p>So what are you going to do today?

<p>256
<p>00:31:29,000 –> 00:31:32,000
<p>Listener.

<p>257
<p>00:31:32,000 –> 00:31:40,000
<p>To stop yourself if you’re guilty of this, from being so deep working into your business

<p>258
<p>00:31:40,000 –> 00:31:44,000
<p>that you forget you need to work on your business.

<p>259
<p>00:31:44,000 –> 00:31:51,000
<p>Working on your business as looking at that goal, looking at that plan,

<p>260
<p>00:31:51,000 –> 00:31:58,000
<p>and figuring out how you’re going to stop spending 40 or 60 hours a week in the weeds,

<p>261
<p>00:31:58,000 –> 00:32:05,000
<p>driving to three or four different vendors, wasting your time, wasting your money,

<p>262
<p>00:32:05,000 –> 00:32:09,000
<p>wasting your opportunity to do other things.

<p>263
<p>00:32:09,000 –> 00:32:14,000
<p>How are you going to spend your time to deliver that value,

<p>264
<p>00:32:14,000 –> 00:32:21,000
<p>not just to you but to your family and your relationships, and to your business?

<p>265
<p>00:32:21,000 –> 00:32:25,000
<p>Being focused on the now on that $5,

<p>266
<p>00:32:25,000 –> 00:32:30,000
<p>as a business owner you could have been outselling a project to make you the next $5,000,

<p>267
<p>00:32:30,000 –> 00:32:36,000
<p>the next $10,000, $25,000, $500,000.

<p>268
<p>00:32:36,000 –> 00:32:42,000
<p>Where are you spending your time and what are you focusing on?

<p>269
<p>00:32:42,000 –> 00:32:47,000
<p>Don’t be so focused on today that you can’t do tomorrow.

<p>270
<p>00:32:47,000 –> 00:32:52,000
<p>Because if you’re focused on today, I have a story for you.

<p>271
<p>00:32:52,000 –> 00:32:55,000
<p>Or maybe it’s not a story, maybe it’s just an opinion.

<p>272
<p>00:32:55,000 –> 00:32:58,000
<p>You’re going to be focused on today forever.

<p>273
<p>00:32:58,000 –> 00:33:00,000
<p>You need to be focused on tomorrow.

<p>274
<p>00:33:00,000 –> 00:33:05,000
<p>You need to be looking down the road, two years, three years, five years.

<p>275
<p>00:33:05,000 –> 00:33:07,000
<p>You need to have those goals. How are you going to get to those goals?

<p>276
<p>00:33:07,000 –> 00:33:13,000
<p>Are you going to get to those goals by losing focus of them and just sitting and working the way you’ve been working?

<p>277
<p>00:33:13,000 –> 00:33:20,000
<p>Are you going to change what you’re doing and change your perspective and go down the road a little bit?

<p>278
<p>00:33:20,000 –> 00:33:23,000
<p>And I know this isn’t necessarily comfortable for a lot of people to hear.

<p>279
<p>00:33:23,000 –> 00:33:26,000
<p>But again, I’m not here to make people comfortable.

<p>280
<p>00:33:26,000 –> 00:33:35,000
<p>If I was, I definitely wouldn’t be accusing the industry as a whole of participating in the race to the bottom and intentionally.

<p>281
<p>00:33:35,000 –> 00:33:40,000
<p>Basically stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.

<p>282
<p>00:33:40,000 –> 00:33:46,000
<p>If I cared what people thought, I probably wouldn’t be making this podcast because it’s probably really not very good.

<p>283
<p>00:33:46,000 –> 00:33:49,000
<p>I do apologize for that if it’s not.

<p>284
<p>00:33:49,000 –> 00:33:53,000
<p>However, I’m going to wrap this up for today.

<p>285
<p>00:33:53,000 –> 00:33:59,000
<p>I appreciate you listening. Please subscribe, like, leave a comment.

<p>286
<p>00:33:59,000 –> 00:34:01,000
<p>It helps get it out in front of more people.

<p>287
<p>00:34:01,000 –> 00:34:06,000
<p>If you’ve gotten anything valuable from this or if this was a good reminder for you, let me know.

<p>288
<p>00:34:06,000 –> 00:34:10,000
<p>Email me podcast@tcomethod.com. Reach out to me on social media.

<p>289
<p>00:34:10,000 –> 00:34:16,000
<p>I’m the one who answers all of them. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. I hate them.

<p>290
<p>00:34:16,000 –> 00:34:22,000
<p>But I will respond or to shoot me an email because I’ll definitely respond to that quicker.

<p>291
<p>00:34:22,000 –> 00:34:26,000
<p>And have a great rest of your day. Rest of your week.

<p>292
<p>00:34:26,000 –> 00:34:33,000
<p>Live intentionally. Make your decisions based on where you want to be two to five years from now.

<p>293
<p>00:34:33,000 –> 00:34:35,000
<p>Not where you are today.

<p>294
<p>00:34:35,000 –> 00:34:40,000
<p>Work today so you can work less tomorrow. Make better decisions.

<p>295
<p>00:34:40,000 –> 00:34:56,000
<p>[Music]

<p>