Welcome to the second part of this blog. In the first part, I addressed the importance of facts, numbers, and clarity in making better decisions and scaling your business.
In this part, I am going to write about our most valuable and precious asset in life – TIME.
It’s interesting because everyone has a different perspective on time. Many authors, poets, singers, religious people, business owners, and people in other areas of life have spoken about it.
My first interpretation of time came after listening to the song Time from Pink Floyd. Basically, the idea behind the song is that when you’re young, you pay no thought to waste time, because you think time is infinite.
With age, however, you start to wonder how fast time is passing by and how you have so many things you want to do but not enough time to do it in.
Well, in the past few years I have taken a more serious approach to my time. When you have a partner, family, business, or other responsibilities, other people are dependent on your time as well. If you don’t use and manage time well it will be harder for you to earn enough money for yourself, your employees, and your family. Not only that, but also you won’t get to spend your time as you have always wanted.
No matter if it’s hiking, going to the beach, hanging out with friends, spending time with your loved ones, exploring the world…
The same way there’s an alternative (opportunity) cost on your money, there’s an alternative cost on your time. For example, with money, it’s your decision whether you will choose to spend it on unnecessary or luxury items or invest it wisely. The same with time, it’s your decision whether you will spend it scrolling on social media or on some skill or activity that will improve you as a person both in business and in private life. Hence – time is money.
When I decided to create AMZ Operations, the first goal I had in mind was to create clarity and understanding about numbers for Amazon Sellers, and the second goal was to take tasks from their hands so that they can have more free time.
Being the owner of a business, unless you work in a medium or large, structured organization with many employees, the decision-making process lays heavily on your shoulders. If the owner is occupied doing mundane, repetitive tasks, he does not have the time to do the second step of problem-solving – analyzing the facts that were brought to him.
Remember, from the first blog, there were 3 basic steps of problem analysis:
- Get the facts
- Analyze the facts
- Arrive at a decision and then act on that decision
Doing a poor analysis and rushing into something usually leads to a bad decision. Yes, you will still learn something from making the mistake of going with the wrong decision, but why make the wrong decision in the first place?
Have you noticed how some of your best decisions or ideas happened when you were not working?
When you were not distracted by the phone, TV, or other noise. When you were hiking with your kids or friends. Or when you were sitting at home, doing nothing, staring at the wall.
For me, some of my biggest breakthroughs and ideas in business came either during or after being on a vacation.
That’s because your brain was able to achieve peace of mind and get those creative juices flowing. Although I have always said that understanding numbers is the key to growth, I believe that creativity is a very important factor as well. Yes, the numbers serve as foundations, but finding that next product, finding that juicy opportunity, that sweet spot in some specific category on Amazon… well that happens from both having the time to observe from a higher perspective and running through the numbers from good analysis.
Once you analyze everything, you will be able to make a better decision on how to act in your business which will eventually lead to better business results.
Who wouldn’t like more free time?
Not only in business, but also in private life.
I was listening to a podcast by dr. Gabor Mate, who is a world-renowned addiction expert, speaker, and author, sought after for his expertise on trauma, addiction, stress, and childhood development. He spoke of the devastating consequences and mental issues children face in adult life simply because of one reason – their parents not being around when they were little. Of course, there are much bigger causes that can cause trauma also, but this specific trauma, which is due to the trauma of omission, happens when children do not experience the warmth of human touch and the support they ought to have.
Having friends who had been through a similar experience, I understand the importance of parents being around their children. In the chase of money, it’s not uncommon for people to forget about the importance of being around for their loved ones.
That’s one of the reasons I committed to taking things off the plate of Amazon Sellers. I understand the complexity of Amazon and the sheer number of tasks that you have to do, beginning with inventory management, orders management, tracking everything, and making sure all is well and on time.
If you think that not having enough time is stopping you from making better decisions in business and scaling it, or simply not having enough time for living life for yourself and spending time with your closest ones, feel free to schedule a call so that we can discuss and see how we may be of help to you.