I had a random thought and figured I’d post it here. There’s a saying in Economics which is “Economists never mow their own lawn.” Why don’t they mow their own lawn? Well simply because they understand Economics. They understand the nuances of economics well enough to know that by doing a task they’re not trained for, they’re actually losing money.
By taking on menial tasks you’re losing the opportunity cost of another task that can be more profitable for you. Many people think they're saving money by looking something up on online and trying their hand at it. They want to be the CEO, the advertiser, product development, and everything in between. And to be fair, when you're first starting out, sometimes you have to. But as you grow and you want to take it to the next level, it's necessary to just focus on what you're good at.
How much is your time worth? To figure this out simply take your weekly profit and divide it by the amount of time you typically put into your business. How much time would you have spent mowing your lawn (mowing your lawn being a metaphor for whatever tedious task you have in your way.) How much would it have cost you to to simply outsource that task instead? I bet it's less that what you're making.
We're talking about any task that takes away from your time doing more productive things.
People who just focus on what they’re good at are more successful. It’s why income generally correlates with population density. It’s why people who lives in cities have a higher per capita income than those in rural areas. In rural areas, the shear distance of everything makes it so that peoplehave to be a jack of all trades, never specializing in one. In cities, everyone has a specialized task. There’s the baker, there’s a maintenance man, there’s a chef, theres’s dog groomer, and you’re free to do what you’re good at. Everyone does what they're good at. No one has to waste time doing a task they’re not trained for.
(A little off topic, but if you want to become ultra successful, living in a city is one of the best things you can do. In the book “Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are” data scientist Seth Davidowitz asked the question “what do multimillionaires and the ultra famous have in common,” scraped the data ans crunched the data to find the answer. The answer was: many of them moved to a big city before they made their money or fame. The reason is specialization and networking, both of which are much easier in a large city.)
But back on topic: What are the things that you do that almost no-one else can do? The things that can’t be outsourced. By outsourcing everything and only doing only those things you benefit in numerous ways. First, it’s simply more profitable in the short term. Second, by continually doing those tasks over and over, you become incredibly proficient at them, which increases your profits even more. You gain an expertise at those tasks, and by being better and faster at them, your market value goes up.
My personal suggestion is to find whatever tedious tasks you do every day, and find a way to systematically eliminate each one. See what’s taking you the most time and get rid of it. By doing this you boost your expertise and can focus on the things that make you the most money.
Remember: lone wolves make terrible hunters. Let everyone do what they're good at.
By taking on menial tasks you’re losing the opportunity cost of another task that can be more profitable for you. Many people think they're saving money by looking something up on online and trying their hand at it. They want to be the CEO, the advertiser, product development, and everything in between. And to be fair, when you're first starting out, sometimes you have to. But as you grow and you want to take it to the next level, it's necessary to just focus on what you're good at.
How much is your time worth? To figure this out simply take your weekly profit and divide it by the amount of time you typically put into your business. How much time would you have spent mowing your lawn (mowing your lawn being a metaphor for whatever tedious task you have in your way.) How much would it have cost you to to simply outsource that task instead? I bet it's less that what you're making.
We're talking about any task that takes away from your time doing more productive things.
People who just focus on what they’re good at are more successful. It’s why income generally correlates with population density. It’s why people who lives in cities have a higher per capita income than those in rural areas. In rural areas, the shear distance of everything makes it so that peoplehave to be a jack of all trades, never specializing in one. In cities, everyone has a specialized task. There’s the baker, there’s a maintenance man, there’s a chef, theres’s dog groomer, and you’re free to do what you’re good at. Everyone does what they're good at. No one has to waste time doing a task they’re not trained for.
(A little off topic, but if you want to become ultra successful, living in a city is one of the best things you can do. In the book “Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are” data scientist Seth Davidowitz asked the question “what do multimillionaires and the ultra famous have in common,” scraped the data ans crunched the data to find the answer. The answer was: many of them moved to a big city before they made their money or fame. The reason is specialization and networking, both of which are much easier in a large city.)
But back on topic: What are the things that you do that almost no-one else can do? The things that can’t be outsourced. By outsourcing everything and only doing only those things you benefit in numerous ways. First, it’s simply more profitable in the short term. Second, by continually doing those tasks over and over, you become incredibly proficient at them, which increases your profits even more. You gain an expertise at those tasks, and by being better and faster at them, your market value goes up.
My personal suggestion is to find whatever tedious tasks you do every day, and find a way to systematically eliminate each one. See what’s taking you the most time and get rid of it. By doing this you boost your expertise and can focus on the things that make you the most money.
Remember: lone wolves make terrible hunters. Let everyone do what they're good at.
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