Ever felt like you're on a seesaw, endlessly tipping between the demands of time and the allure of money? I'm Erin Olson, and in my latest podcast, I unravel the time versus money conundrum that plagues so many of us juggling the hats of entrepreneurship and parenthood. With a dash of wisdom from my own story of trial and error, I shed light on how to strike that delicate balance. I touch on the universal truth faced by all who venture into the world of business or strive for work-life harmony: you can chase time or money, but snagging both is like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands.
Join me as I dissect what it means to prioritize what's truly significant, navigating this intricate dance with strategy and grace. I'll take you through my early days of hustling at odd hours to the pivotal moments where hiring help sparked a transformation in my business and personal life. Get ready to look beyond the standard ROI in dollars and cents, as we consider the currency of time and mental space. We're not just talking about business growth; we're talking about cultivating a quality of life that resonates with your deepest values—where the choices you make are not just about profit, but about fulfillment, too. No guests this time, just me sharing what I've discovered about the art of balancing life's most precious commodities.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast, and share it with someone who could benefit from what you heard. Also, head over to https://theerinolson.com/links and sign up for the email list, and you can get all the downloadable PDFs and tools! News: We finally have a YouTube channel! Visit us HERE: https://youtube.com/@theerinolson?si=xPNSU1-C7Yt9zXgD
Ever felt like you're on a seesaw, endlessly tipping between the demands of time and the allure of money? I'm Erin Olson, and in my latest podcast, I unravel the time versus money conundrum that plagues so many of us juggling the hats of entrepreneurship and parenthood. With a dash of wisdom from my own story of trial and error, I shed light on how to strike that delicate balance. I touch on the universal truth faced by all who venture into the world of business or strive for work-life harmony: you can chase time or money, but snagging both is like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands.
Join me as I dissect what it means to prioritize what's truly significant, navigating this intricate dance with strategy and grace. I'll take you through my early days of hustling at odd hours to the pivotal moments where hiring help sparked a transformation in my business and personal life. Get ready to look beyond the standard ROI in dollars and cents, as we consider the currency of time and mental space. We're not just talking about business growth; we're talking about cultivating a quality of life that resonates with your deepest values—where the choices you make are not just about profit, but about fulfillment, too. No guests this time, just me sharing what I've discovered about the art of balancing life's most precious commodities.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast, and share it with someone who could benefit from what you heard. Also, head over to https://theerinolson.com/links and sign up for the email list, and you can get all the downloadable PDFs and tools! News: We finally have a YouTube channel! Visit us HERE: https://youtube.com/@theerinolson?si=xPNSU1-C7Yt9zXgD
See ya next week! Erin
Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Quality of Life podcast. I'm Erin Olson, a wife, a mother and a serial entrepreneur. After starting three successful businesses, I've learned some hard lessons regarding the ins and the outs of starting and running a small business. My intention is to share my knowledge that I've learned from the School of Hard Knocks, so you don't have to learn it the hard way like I did Each week, I hope, to guide you to the next level in your business or in the business that you're working. So let's go. Hey guys, welcome back to the second episode of season two of the Quality of Life podcast.
Speaker 1:
I am your host, erin Olson, and today we are talking about the time versus money paradox. Okay, I know that sounds super businessy, but let me ask you a question. Are you spending your most valuable resources, like time, money and mental capacity, on what matters most, or are you constantly feeling exhausted and like you're working really hard and getting nowhere In life? We all have several things that are very understood, like gravity and taxes, but there is also a universal law that most people don't realize exists until they start their own business or start chasing the coveted work-life balance. This is the law that you will have either time or money, but seldom both at the same time. As a person trying to balance being a parent and an employee, or a new business owner, you have probably realized that this law really applies to you.
Speaker 1:
The relationship between time and money varies based on your priorities, circumstances and perspectives. For example, back when I was a brand new mom, my husband and I had way more time than we had money, so we went to work. We worked opposite shifts to pay the bills, so we didn't have to pay for daycare. I worked as a bartender by night and stayed home with our son during the day when Craig was at work. It was almost like a tag team. We'd see each other for just a few minutes each day as we passed the torch of parenthood while the other one worked. We did this for years, but meanwhile, when each of us were home, we worked towards Craig starting his own business and me getting more education so that I could take over my mom's soap-making business. Then we started to really make ends meet a little bit better and as our businesses grew, we were then in a position to be able to afford help, ie daycare, so I could get more done during the day.
Speaker 1:
As you try to figure out that ever coveted work-life balance. You'll probably encounter your own version of this time versus money paradox. The lesson here is to identify your priorities, and when you do that, you will realize whether you should spend your time on something or if you should spend your hard-earned money so that your time can be better spent on something more important. Here is something that can really clarify your priorities.
Speaker 1:
As a business owner, your most valuable asset is time. It is the single thing that is finite. You only have so much time, but you can always make more money. So to decide if something is worth your time, you should determine if its ROI is good enough for you to spend your time on it, or to pay somebody else to do it or buy equipment that can do it faster than you can alone. Roi is known as return on investment. That is business lingo for what you will get in return for what you put in or invest, and that is time, money and mental bandwidth. So when you start to look at something like assembly, for example, it is a job that doesn't necessarily take a lot of skill to complete, but it does take a lot of time and it has to be done properly.
Speaker 1:
So in the beginning of both the soap company and hey Chicks, I had way more time than I had money. Honestly, I was pretty broke, so all I had was time. So I did most of the wrapping of the bars of soap and assembling the Heynets and getting them all ready for sale. As time went on, this step was the first thing I hired somebody to do for me, as my time was way better spent on customer service, filling orders and marketing and about a million other things that are so important in business. At first I hired family for cash or traded for babysitting or dinner, etc. But as the business grew, I actually had to hire real employees, since there was way more work than the family could or, let's be real, wanted to do. So, even though you are already super busy and maybe even working a part-time job to support your business, the time will come when you will be able to hire help and then you can spend your time doing the other things that really have the best ROI Right now. I know you're probably exhausted and you feel like you're just at a standstill, but change is coming, so you need to be on the lookout for easier tasks that you could hire out eventually.
Speaker 1:
One thing to remember as a growing business owner is to never become too busy to get your hands dirty doing all the things that you have hired others to do. You will need to check in now and then just to make sure that things are still being done to the highest standard and to revisit them with fresh eyes to see if there are any ways to streamline the process or to save your employee's time. The thing to remember is to never sacrifice quality for speed. Never cut corners. Remember your business needs to be the best in the business. You need to be set apart from the crowd by having the best product and the best customer service. That is what will keep you afloat when all the hacks come in and try to undercut the market. Also, remember that the time you invest now will pay dividends, and to not lose hope when you are tired.
Speaker 1:
I can tell you from experience these times are the ones that polish you into a real business owner and will be looked back on fondly down the road. Trust me when I tell you that I have been up at 2am putting together orders or making products to get ready for trade shows or craft sales, and even though it was hard and exhausting, those times were some of the best memories that I have. Plus, the harder you work now, the more rewarding the celebrations you will have in the future. And there is something to be said for reaping the harvest of hard work. In fact, galatians 6-9 says let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. So remind yourself of this if you ever feel like quitting. Most failures happen when those working lose heart and give up.
Speaker 1:
There is a story about a minor named Darby in the Think and Grow Rich book by Napoleon Hill. He found a vein of gold, and it tested to be a very pure vein of gold. So he went out and bought all the equipment and worked at it for what seemed like forever, but the vein of gold stopped. He tried to find it again, but to no avail. Broke and brokenhearted, he sold his machinery to a junkman and went home. The junkman took the equipment and went to the claim and assessed the situation and started drilling again. The funny thing is he found the gold vein three feet from where Darby stopped. Three feet the junkman had found the richest gold vein in that era. Three feet where Darby gave up.
Speaker 1:
So, whatever you do, keep going. Keep investing your time, your money and your heart and soul. It will get better, I promise. Okay, guys, that is all I have for you today on the Quality of Life podcast. I hope you will take your time to share this and maybe even rate it on your podcast platform, and I will see you next week with more of the lessons that I learned on my business journey. We'll see you next week, see ya. Thanks for listening to today's episode. Be sure to check us out on the Quality of Life podcast Facebook and Instagram pages and our website, thearenolsoncom, for downloads and more information. That is T-H-E-E-R-I-N-O-L-S-O-Ncom. Stay up to date by joining our email newsletter. Together, we can improve all of our quality of life.