Time Is Our Most Valuable Asset

“Time is our most valuable asset, yet we tend to waste it, kill it, and spend it rather than invest it”.

Jim Rohn

George Beshara of Montreal developed a series of modular training programs to help people manage their lives better. They are excellent programs, and everyone who has been exposed to them agrees, but there is a problem. He only knows a relatively small number of suitable prospects. Should he go directly to the end user or should he go through a group of people who are already connected to the people who need his training programs?

George decided to go through coaches and consultants working with people who would make good prospects for his training programs.

This may appear as a simple solution, but in fact it is a perfect example of leverage. And leverage is what I believe makes all the difference in business. But what is leverage? Almost everyone uses the word, but how many of us truly understand it. At a simple level, it is simply the ability to create a large return with a small amount of effort.

You can get leverage on your own assets and you can get leverage on other peoples’ assets. In George’s case he is leveraging other peoples’ client bases. These people have spent hundreds of dollars, or even thousands of dollars building their client bases. They have also spent countless hours building their client bases. Through the magic of leverage George is able to tap into this investment and take advantage of it, with only a relatively small investment of both time and cash.

I used to think that marketing was the key to successful growth, but now believe that leverage is actually the key. Marketing is simply one route to leverage. After all, it costs the same to run a marketing activity like a Yellow Pages ad that generates 2 or 3 leads a week as it does to run one that generates 5, 10, 20 or 200 leads per week. Leverage in this case lies in knowing how to construct an ad that stands out from competitors and brings prospects flocking to your business. This is not as difficult as it sounds. You simply have to know what the levers are and how to operate them.

Over the last few months we have been running roundtable discussion groups with business owners to find out what they need to be successful.  I am now firmly convinced that leverage is a key skill, and that effective marketing gives you access to one of the most effective areas of leverage. So over the next few weeks I will be introducing a number of ideas on what leverage is, how you can get more of it and new ways for you to think about it.

I am by no means an expert on leverage, so would welcome your insights and opinions. Please e-mail me with your ideas and suggestions.