Business owners who work for more than 60 hours per week with no time for family and friends or holidays must implement this principle that I’m going to share with you today, because your success is more important than your busyness. (Yes, you read that right – I said “must”, not “should”.) This is especially true if you are an ambitious individual who likes the actual experience of being in action – chances are you have wasted a large amount of time doing things that haven’t really produced the results that you deserve. Or maybe you’ve gotten caught up in the excitement of organising events which don’t add to your bottom line, of networking with those who are not really high-quality clients/customers/business partners, and carrying out sales and marketing plans which don’t actually put real money in the bank.
The 80/20 Rule: 80% of your results are caused by 20% of your efforts.
No, you don’t have to be perfect in every way in order to have a successful business. (Isn’t that liberating?!) 😉
If you’d like to achieve more without getting burnt out, the No. 1 action you must take right now is to clarify what the 20% of your efforts is that gives you 80% of your results.
More specifically, 20% of your sales and marketing efforts bring in 80% of the new business you actually get.
And 20% of your tasks and activities lead to 80% of your business success (you may measure your success in dollars, new accounts, new customers, business growth as well as other numbers.)
Obviously, if you find out the 20% of your tasks and activities which produce 80% of your solid results, you will be able to free up energy, time and resources to be truly productive and much more effective, right?
Having said that, just knowing the 80/20 rule will not change anything. It’s what you actually do with it that matters!
How to identify the 20% of your efforts that are high-leverage activities:
Step 1: On the left-hand side of a piece of paper, write down all activities and tasks that you do at work, e.g. writing sales emails, talking to clients on the phone, etc.
Step 2: On the right-hand side of a piece of paper, write down all of your big wins in your business, e.g. landing a VIP client, getting a book deal, etc.
Step 3: Draw a line to link each activity on the left with each big win on the right.
Now you can clearly see which activities resulted in your big wins! These activities are the 20% of your efforts that you must focus on from now on.
Of course, perhaps the rule is actually the 79/21 rule or the 90/10 rule in your reality. But now you’ve got the gist! 😊
Interestingly, the 80/20 rule also applies to other areas in your business.
Examples:
20% of your revenue streams bring in 80% of your income. 😊
20% of your customers/clients bring in 80% of your revenue. 😊
20% of your customers/clients give you 80% of your headaches. 😟
In conclusion, if you spend your time more wisely, you will surely have more time to spend on the things that are important to you, i.e. quality time with your family and friends, self-care, and so on. So, what actions will you take in order to become a highly productive person? Which tasks and activities will you do less of (or get rid of altogether) as you know they don’t bring results? What is your biggest takeaway from this blog article?
