The ‘Time is Capital’ factor
There’s a serious distinction between being self-employed and being a business owner. For those that have not read ‘The Cash Flow Quadrant’ by Robert Kiyosaki, the distinction may not be so clear. Let me elaborate in the simplest possible manner. When you are self-employed, you own a job, you are the business. When you are a business owner you own a business that works for you, in the same way that an investment does. It does not need your input to continue its day-to-day processes and if you died today it would live on as your legacy to the world.
Being a business owner, has always been and always will be my number one goal. I do however want to achieve this goal without capital ( monetary capital) input from either myself or others. Getting my current business off the ground was easy in this way. No monetary capital required, just hard work, and a lot of it.What I realise now though, is that I made the no.1 rookie mistake of all who are self-employed. I did not look at my time as capital. Read that again. Your time is capital.
To be perfectly frank, at the time, I had no choice, time was all I had to give. I wanted to be self-employed, I wanted to be independent and not have someone else decide what I earned or what I did. I have certainly achieved this. My idealism and passion for what I was doing has spurred me onwards through some extremely rough times, but how long can one move forward on idealism and passion alone, when you are constantly bombarded with the fact that we do not live in an ideal world and passion wither’s under these circumstances.
Today, 5 years later, the long hours required of me on a daily basis are no shorter. I cannot yet, decide to simply take a break for a month or two, take a long holiday, not have my phone on for emergencies, or be anywhere without reception for more than a day or two. If I do take a break it is chaos on my return, requiring days or weeks of playing catch up, not to mention the lost income or upset clients. Originally my goal for the business was to have more time to spend with my daughter, run the errands that need to be run, study further, enjoy my favourite hobbies ( writing, researching topics of interest, DIY, gardening, exercise, cooking and photography) .
My Mutha was always one of my greatest inspirations ( I hope I will achieve the same for my daughter one day), she has and still is self-employed to this day. She still works hard and it keeps her young, ( really she doesn’t have a single health issue and is still gorgeous when compared to her peers), she won’t stop as she loves what she does, it is purely luck though that she loves her work, as even if she did not, it would still be necessary for her to continue due to financial requirements. While I admire and love her enthusiasm and the way she can weather any storm,I have to ask, do I want the same situation for myself in 30 years from now. The most honest answer I can give, is, no.
So where does this leave me now, having come to these astounding yet simple realisations, that only experience can provide. A catch 22. On the one hand I realise that I don’t want to be at these cross roads forever. On the other hand I want to take the next step but stepping away from my current business and starting something new, from scratch, after 5 years of input, feels wrong. I have been in the midst of this internal battle regarding my infant business with all its birth defects for 6 months now and it hasn’t improved the situation.
Another thing I realise is that, I have a few character flaws hindering my progress. I like getting things done, I enjoy doing things myself or in a certain way and I find it extremely difficult to let go of the reins, I enjoy control, not something many will admit to, but I have found being honest with myself to be the best start to progress.Funnily enough I have come up with a plan which could allow me to make my current business, ‘me free’. Sure it’ll take some more ‘Time Capital’ on my part to get it going, but once running, it would not require very much input to be run. It’s such a bold move though, that I am scared I might simply slip back into old habits, feeling a need for control, wanting to constantly make sure clients are happy and then there is the fact that the model is so different from my current one that it will come with a range of new defects I cannot be expected to comprehend at this point. Considering that it does put my entire current business at risk is also just plain frightening.
Steve Pavlina‘s book, ‘Personal Development for Smart People‘, mentions several factors I can attribute to my current cold feet. Over generalisation, social and media conditioning and the lack of accuracy inherent of planning for anything. Perhaps I should take this risk, perhaps I should simply take Richard Branson‘s advice and say ‘Screw it, I’m going to do it’. If the Time Capital I invest ends in my business going under, what is really the worst that could happen? I’d have to start again, do something new, learn many lessons in the process. Not sounding that bad, I guess.
What would you do in my shoes? Do I take a leap of faith and step back from the reins, possibly risk the business its taken 5 years to build or continue to be self employed, play it safe and continue loosing my Time Capital?
Tags: Business, Employment, JPMorgan Chase, motivation, Mutha Business, Richard Branson, Robert Kiyosaki, Small business, South Africa, Steve Pavlina, time capital, United States
I really liked the article, and the very cool blog
Unfortunately, I’m not on Google+ yet but will think about joining as soon as it’s open for the general public. Please don’t take my website too serious since I haven’t worked on it quite for a while – I’ve been too busy developing my business
Sent you an invite. Join the revolution
. I wouldn’t say that, well done, so far so good! You have made a start and that’s where the difference lies between those that get things done and progress in life and those that do not.
I really thank your for describing your situation: I can relate to this so much because I’m facing the same issues right now. Right now I’m in the process of transitioning to a business owner and it’s anything but easy; read the Rich Dad series as well. Just like you said, it has got a lot to do with letting go and “loosing” some of your control.
I definitely recommend trying it and as Becmania said, letting go of smaller tasks, step by step. It’s a process and will take it’s time, most likely a year or more but it’ll be worth it since you’ll learn so many new things.
Wish you all the best, want to send a thank you since this post made my day.
PS.: Found your blog through Steve Pavlinas Google+ page
Thanks so much Christian, it is indeed such a difficult process, and while I am well read, reading about what one should be doing is very different from actually doing it. Not too mention the conflicting information out there. It’s exciting and scary considering the current world economy. I run a placement agency ( as you can imagine not the best business to be in at this moment, and extremely labour intensive). However I have designed a system which allows for self service placement, not the way everyone else does it ( you know anyone can list and clients have to pay for access to a long list of unchecked,non interviewed, non reference checked candidates) but with candidates who have been through our process, which I feel is a far better value-for-money service. Will it be enough? Will I be able to leave assessment in the hands of others? Will clients see the value in such a service. Only time will tell. After writing this post and reading it over and over about 20 times, I reckon, I have made my mind up, I am really going to need to learn to step back from the plate a bit to get to the next level, so that my time capital can bring added value to my life elsewhere. What do you do? I will add you in G+. Have a great day!
Just took a look at your website. I see where you are going with the software development. I tried to find you on +, but wasn’t able to, feel free to add me. https://plus.google.com/107830701014157682246
I would take the leap. 5 years is a long time to be standing still. It is scary, but I suppose but you’ll never know what it’s like on the other side if you don’t try it.
I think if you start letting go of smaller things, bit by bit, it’ll get easier to let go in a larger way, and that way you’ll be able to enjoy your time. Just don’t dump all your duties in one go, because that will cause you more stress that it’s worth.
I don’t know what kind of business you run, but maybe write down a few things that, while essential, aren’t too hard for someone else to learn. Remember, if you are spending time doing them yourself, you may as well train someone else up so that you can eventually take a day off!
Hi Becky, Thank you for your encouragement. Like the Dalai Lama says, ‘Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk’. Funnily enough I have been writing for months and intricate description of every duty duly recorded. My problem is trusting staff to have the foresight to be creative enough to deal with every situation that could possibly arise ( there is no way to capture this but a basic guideline applies to most situations). I’m in the placement industry. Its really a very tough place to be at the moment. Im going to do this, started talking to my web designer’s ( my fiancé) about the changes and it appears once again my time capital is going to get the best of me, and I will need to hang in there for a while as developing the system that takes over my job is going to be a seriously challenging process.
I know what you mean about trusting staff to be creative, I had the same reservations once, and I very VERY begrudgingly started to trust them, some with disastrous results, some great. When your business is still going through changes, thats the hardest time to choose to let go, and as you say, maybe not such a good idea at that time. The great thing is, you are aware of it and have already started making decisions to make your lifestyle better, so hang in there and good luck
I’m doing this! We started development on the new system last night! I’m up for this challenge, busy with new documentation today and research. Also placed ads for new staff. Thanks for the support Becky!