What Did The Five Fingers of Life Say to My Face? - SLAP!
Many of you have seen me examine the time vs. money aspect of life in order to increase efficiency. Well, despite my studies I still get slapped in the face by it from time to time!
Time Slap
Yesterday I did not post on steemit and spent maybe 30 minutes curating and commenting. This was certainly not the plan. My day got eaten up....as in like 8 full hours on another task that I could have paid someone else to do for $25.
That's when I got slapped with the reality of the situation.
Let me explain...
Book Submission
My goal was to get The ScaredyCatGuide to Investing in Rental Properties book available on Amazon for paperback. It is already on Kindle. I hired someone out to format the book correctly so I could upload it and was happy with the final product they provided.
Unfortunately, the picture examples I had in the book were too low a pixel resolution for print according to Amazon (createspace). So I dug into the file to update those and in the process saw a few other things I wanted to change in terms of the book, like where a new chapter page started for instance.
Pandora's Box
Making one change isn't just making one change in a word doc that has page and section breaks all over the place to separate different headers, footers and paged numbering. This is a lesson I quickly learned.
I made the changes needed. HOWEVER - I then spent hour up on hour figuring out section breaks so that I could get the page numbering to list correct and the header for the second section of the book to list the different info.
So it was updates and then self-teaching MS Word functions I had not previously known.
Good or Bad Use of my Time?
When I finally finished at midnight - after blowing off my plans to meet friends for a drink and any hope of doing a steemit post....
A realization washed over me. Should have I just hired someone again for $25 and saved eight hours of my life?
I mean - in that time I could have wrote a steemit post, done some curating and probably earned that money from it. It also would have allowed me to keep my plans with my friends, too boot!
For $25 bucks!
In this instance spending money over taking the time was the clear choice!
Plus, you must remember to ask yourself - What is My Time Worth?
Eight hours of my time is worth more than $25 bucks!
On the flipside, I did learn how to use page and section breaks in MS Word so there is something to be said for that. However, for the number of times I will use it in my life. Yeah, the value does not compare.
I know, I know...First World Problems.
In the end though - I'm just trying to live the best life I can and share my experience with others in hopes a tidbit from it will help someone too!
P.S. - If you are interested in checking out the ScaredyCatGuide website feel free, Please note that the book page is under construction, but the calculator is still there to grab and the blogs posts are listed. :-)
Best Regards,
Your probably right in this case, but some of that time was spent learning how to use ms functions, that might save you time later.
Where would you contract the work out?
Fiverr - you can pretty much get anything done for a cheap price. Just be sure to use people with good reviews that have done atleast half a dozen gigs. I got bad service once using someone with not much of a track record.
We do have some form of fiverr on steemit. #steemgigs and has been on for almost 3 months. the great thing is we know each of the community and the best steemians talents and we can help you find them. We have steemgigs community also: https://discord.gg/wWrnSXK in case you want to find them directly but to get help within a post, you can just start the title of your post with "steemgig", your need and prize you are willing to pay, if you have some and steemians indeed will help. Decentralization abates fears as was the case with fiverr. We are looking to reach 5,000 #steemgigs post to spread the word. For successful posts, you can also do a #steemgigs post as that helps with additional reputation for steemgiggers (steemians). We also have a dev-request centre on the discord with many steemit developers looking to take requests.
This was our growth-project post: https://steemit.com/growth-projects/@steemgigs/steemit-growth-projects-steemgigs-bringing-the-beauty-of-the-steem-blockchain-and-decentralization-to-the-limelight-using-fun
oh yea I have heard of there, thanks
We also have #steemgigs up and running and a steemgigs community too. Leave us a comment, if you need some service done by steemians. Or simple do #steemgigs!
thanks will check it out
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Outsourcing- how 1st world countries remain 1st world, btw congrats on book publishing!
Yeah, that is the reality I suppose. And thanks, not quite there yet waiting for the green light!
@Scaredycatguide Liked Your article, was a good learning experience, even for the people reading.
But I really liked what You said in the comment section...
Exactly - I heard a great quote the other day. "Focus on being really good at one thing and then make sure everything else is just ok enough."
Thanks 4 Sharing... Have a Great Weekend !!
Thank you - I heard it on the Tim Ferriss show podcast. So many life gems have been garnered from that podcast.
I find this really insightful. I used to find myself wind up in such situation while trying to get something done within a short while. I eventually end up spending lots of time on such task when i could have just saved and expended such invaluable time on other things that could have given me more value for time amd money. So, one rule that has helped me over time while trying to get something done fast is to "focus more on my areas of strength, which brings more value for time spent, and then outsource my weakness to the professionals". This has been my core rule in managing time and this invariably saves me more precious time and money. Great post!
Exactly - I heard a great quote the other day. "Focus on being really good at one thing and then make sure everything else is just ok enough."
First congrats on what you've done with the book so far, that's awesome! Really agree with you on the time vs money spent outsourcing. It's a tricky one for me because I still want to learn but when I look at the amount of time it takes for some work the cost benefit aspect isn't even close. Thanks for a great post that's going to make me look a little bit closer at what I should and shouldn't be doing myself. Hope you have a great weekend!
Yeah - it's the whole work smarter not harder line of thinking :-)
Nice post, @scaredycatguide! Some things are easy to accomplish in time...if you have the time to spare. But as you pointed out, if you could be doing other things that make more money or free you up to take care of other commitments, it is time well spent. Hindsight is 20/20, but I think this example is one you won't forget anytime soon.
Live life, learn lessons = Live Better :-)
LOL hopefully. It's the "learn lessons" part that can sometimes be so difficult! :-)
Live and learn @scaredycatguide.
That is what I do, sadly. I have to make the error to learn how to go about things.
Nice post and beautiful girls :)
Thanks, wish I knew either of them. LOL
Yes, time or money? I have been guilty of fallen into that trap once too often. But my rationale for taking on a job myself versus paying a smaller amount to someone else to do it for me is that while doing it myself, I actually learn the ins and outs of getting the job done. Not that I would be necessarily continuing to spend the time to do it myself next time the need arises but it helps me see the whole picture better and plan more efficiently. That I think far exceeds the rewards of having the time to do something else by paying someone else to dot it. I might even walk out of the experience knowing that although help can be purchased, I have the power to do it myself and not be held hostage.
Agreed - that is my my view in regard to alot of what I do. My real estate investing I use that view. Understand the whole process and what your agent, broker and title company should be doing. Then act as a foreman to ensure the jobs are getting done correctly.