How To Increase The Value Of Your Time

Fact: We are surrounded by inequality every single day. 

There are hard working mothers working three jobs making minimum wage just to support their family . . . and there are millionaires living the 4 hour work week in Malibu (and a whole lot in between). 

Before I dive into ways you could increase the value of your time, I want to acknowledge my place of privilege. Because of this I have generally been able to seize the opportunities that have come my way over the years and this may not be the case for everyone. This is one reason that I’ve partnered with WIT to provide scholarships to less fortunate high school students to learn about entrepreneurship.

Fiction: Your time is worth a set dollar amount. 

Many artists, entrepreneurs, consultants, and business coaches essentially sell their time for a set amount of money. This could be your salary broken down to an hourly rate, or your consulting fee . . . whatever that number is, it’s NOT what you’re worth. Here’s why. 

There are different tiers of value based on the value that YOU provide and the level of difficulty or specialization required to complete a given task. The more challenging or specialized a task, the more your time is worth while doing that task. 

Before we can increase the value of your time you need to evaluate how you spend your time. Here’s a list of tasks that fall into tiers of value. Calculate how much time you spend per week doing work in each tier:

$20/hr Work

• Doing Laundry
• Running simple errands
• Booking travel 
• Coordinating schedules
• Answering customer service questions
• Cleaning your space
• Walking your dog
• Administrative tasks 
• Clerical work
• Social media posting
• Sales calls
• Data entry
• Researching press contacts
• Formatting and Proofing
• Client reporting
• Affiliate outreach and management

$200/hr Work

• Health Coaching
• Fitness Coaching or Instructing 
• Video Editing
• Creative Writing 
• Running Facebook Ads
• Writing Copy for Your Website or Ads
• Setting up integrations and automation for your business
• Social media strategy
• Market research
• Creating compelling e-newsletters
• Graphic design
• Writing blogs
• Building a website
• Data Analysis
• Writing sales scripts
• Funnel building
• Building an evergreen webinar
• Podcast producing
• Creating client pitch decks

$2,000/hr Work

• Marketing Strategy
• Brand Strategy & Positioning
• Rebranding Strategy
• Business Model Strategy
• Funnel Architecture
• Designing the strategy and structure of a high converting webinar
• Product ideation and improvements
• High-level consulting
• Writing your book
• Client pitches
• New business ideation and development
• Teaching Specialized Workshops

$20,000/hr Work

• Speaking on Stages
• Cultivating relationships with influential people
• Expert and Highly Specialized Business Coaching
• Pitching Major Investors

I have left out time spent with family and friends because activities that bring you joy or deepen your personal life are priceless. This is just a shortlist of tasks that fall into each of these categories, so think about how you spend your time on a daily basis and average it out into an hourly rate by calculating the total value of a 12 hour “productive period” (assuming the other 12 hours is sleep and personal time) then dividing that monetary value by 12. This is your average hourly rate. 

No matter how efficiently you manage your time and your life all of us will sometimes have to do the $20/hr tasks, but the goal is to start to spend more of your time in the $2k-$20k range. 

But how do you level up your time, especially if you’re stuck in the $20/hr range right now? 

Let me tell you a quick personal story . . . 

Five years ago I was making $30,000/yr (which would be illegal now) and I was busting my ass doing a million things at work, trying to get my web series off the ground, and plan my wedding. I had just made a career change and was stuck in that $20/hr range fighting to stay afloat. 

One day my mother-in-law and I went to Nordstrom to do a fitting for my wedding dress and the sales clerk made me an incredible offer for signing up for the Nordstrom credit card, so I said sure! I mean, who wouldn’t want to basically get their wedding dress for free, am I right? That shit’s expensive! 

But in order to complete the credit card application I had to tell them how much I earn per year, and my mother-in-law was standing right next to me . . . and I froze. I didn’t want her to know how little I was making because it meant her daughter was marrying someone with no prospects or potential. (This was of course my inner critic talking, not my mother-in-law) I felt so worthless at that moment. I was embarrassed and ashamed. What was she going to think of me when everyone else in the family was making so much more than me? 

I said my current salary and it was fine. I think she could see how uncomfortable I was and she was very gracious about it. But that moment lit a fire under me. I KNEW I was worth so much more than $30,000 and I vowed to myself to increase the value of my time. Not because I wanted to impress people, but because I knew I had so much potential that wasn’t being used and it made me feel terrible. 

So over the course of the next year I put my head down and took on more and more important projects at work until my boss saw that potential in me. And within 3 years my salary had almost tripled and now as an entrepreneur I earn more than 10x what I was making back then. 

It was all because of my innate potential and doing more tasks that were more valuable over time. I proved to myself that my time was, and is, valuable. And it feel incredible. 

We all have the potential to increase the value of our time. It just takes acknowledging where you are and where you want to be, then creating a plan to get there. 

Figure out what your $2k-$20k “zone” is and do more and more of that type of work as often as you can. It may take time, but if you continue to hone in on what you can offer the world that’s of real value, then you’ll be amazed by the opportunities that open up.