TURN ThE cORNERSometimes I find myself sidetracked with non-income-producing ac-
tivities such as browsing MSN.com or searching for a ski destination for
my wife and I. Both serve their purpose, one builds my current events
database and the other keeps my family active and sane. If you manage
your time properly, you have established a 7-day allotment of time for
working, living and playing. The problem is one week is a fixed cycle;
we do not get extensions or bonus hours.
So, how have you divvied up your greatest asset to produce income?
Let’s start with a quick snapshot at my work week matrix based on a
total of 50 hours:
- Business development - 15 Hours
- Lunch - 5 Hours
- Business planning - 5 Hours
- Busy work - 10 Hours
- Executing business - 15 Hours
First, business development must take close to the majority of any busi-
ness owners work week. In my business, the most critical element of
commercial real estate is keeping the pipeline active. On average, trans-
actions can take 4 months or more to execute from initial showing to
document execution, add another 2 months to receive actual payment.
You can quickly see that a 6 month cycle can create a huge cash flow
issue if business development is set aside. As a side note, I always track
pursuits and active calls on a weekly basis as a mechanism to hold me
accountable for shots on goal. If you don’t take the shot, you can’t score.
Lunch, yes I calculate lunch as income-producing time. As a former
colleague would always remind me of the importance of lunch by the
saying, “Never eat alone.” The fact is everyone eats lunch at some point,
so you might as well make it productive. I have taken lunch with ware-
house managers, property owners, attorneys, bankers, contractors, of-
fice mates and even friends. It doesn’t matter who it is, so long as you
get to know that person and learn a thing or two.
I always set aside one day before the start of the New Year to establish
my business plans and objectives for the coming year. However, dur-
ing the week, I work more at a micro level to implement objectives and
learn new areas of development.