This weekend is a Canadian holiday (today included) and yesterday was my birthday. I like to take time every year to think back on my goals and look at what I am working on (in addition to testing out the Wii that I just got). One of the things I have come to realize and try to remind myself of is that your time is your most important asset. If you look at what you do for your business, chances are there are a few tasks that generate most of your income and the rest play a very small role. It is the old 80-20 rule. 20% of the work you are doing generates 80% of your income. So why not focus in on the 20% that brings in the real money?

When I made my list this weekend I was again surprised to see how many “other” tasks have been eating into my time. The plan going forward?

• Outsource more of the work I do not enjoy doing.
• Stop doing many of the tasks that are not bringing in income.
• Ramp up on the activities that are generating the bigger money.
• Run a few tests on new ideas that have strong potential.

The goal of every entrepreneur should be to automate their business so that they can remove themselves from it eventually. The sooner you can get to that point the sooner you can free up your time to do the other things in life that bring meaning to you beyond work. There is a difference between being self-employed and being a business owner. By focusing in on the work that brings you the highest income for your time you can build up your company to support the lifestyle you desire instead of buying yourself a job.

Evan Carmichael