Which Tasks Are Really Worth Your Time?
As an executive coach, I handle a lot of day-to-day tasks beyond just running coaching sessions with clients. When I’m working on these tasks, I’ll remind myself of my “hourly rate.”
I don’t mean a literal hourly rate that someone pays me to do these things. I’m talking about how much my time is worth – the money I’m bringing in versus the amount of time I spend working on something and the value that task brings (or doesn’t bring) to my life and my business.
It’s not an exact number, but my hourly rate is roughly somewhere between $150 to $500, depending on the type of work I’m doing. I do both consulting and coaching, which cover a wide range of situations, so I have to be flexible. I also do some volunteering and pro bono work with clients that don’t have a budget or need support (and I’m tied into their mission and vision).
At this point in my career, I have decades of experience to draw from, and I can provide at least that level of value to my clients. It’s a fair trade for the work I do. My “hourly rate” helps me work backwards and calculate the flat monthly fee I charge my clients for access to me (this model is better for both my clients and myself: I don’t have to track hours and my client doesn’t have to do a mental cost calculation each time they pick up the phone).
It also helps me understand when I should hire someone to handle a task for me.
For example, I can’t stand doing accounting work, navigating government websites and tax issues, so I pay someone to do that for me. It would take me way too many hours to do the same amount of work that an expert can do quickly and efficiently. Almost unbelievably, some people love this kind of work!
I also hire a team to help me on my blog with uploading my next post, improving my images, and even uploading my social media queue, because I really don’t enjoy that work and it saps my joy, creativity, and productivity.
How much is your time worth?
Even savvy CEOs and entrepreneurs can forget how much their time is worth. Saving a few bucks by “buckling down” and “doing it yourself” is often a more expensive path overall and can create more drag on your own emotional wellbeing.
I find this perspective to be eye-opening to my clients. Recently, I’ve been coaching some of my clients to offload work that is not their sweet spot and using their own hourly rate as a gauge.
To find your own hourly rate, simply take the average salary (after taxes) or take-home revenue you derive from your business and divide by the number of productive hours you work each month. Why after taxes? Because any cost or expense you pay for your business will come out of your pocket.
Here’s a simple example: Let’s say your revenue after taxes is about $10,000 per month. There are about 22.5 working days per month, and you’re most productive for about 6 hours per day (22.5 x 6 = 135 working hours per month).
$10,000 ÷ 135 hours = ~$74 per hour
This might be a conservative approach, but it helps lead the way, and most of my client’s rough hourly rate is well above $100.
When is a task not worth your time?
Often I find that offloading my miserable work to someone who loves said work saves me way more than the money. Let’s take graphics, for example. I am hiring someone with a trained eye (expertise) and experience with graphics formats (proficiency), and hopefully renting their passion for doing the work that frustrates me.
It takes my contractors less time than it would take me, saves me money, and the end result is better. Isn’t that perfect?
As time goes on, you learn who your go-to contractors are. What’s also great about working with the same contractors is they get to know your work style and goals, so eventually, they’ll create surprising gains and subtle improvements.
To figure out what jobs you want to outsource, try this:
Find your hourly rate.
List the jobs you can’t stand doing.
Brainstorm a couple of job titles for the jobs at hand (e.g. virtual admin, graphic artist, demand gen specialist, marketing coordinator, etc.).
Create a post for your title on Upwork.com or Toptal.com to find out the average price of freelancers who do that type of work.
Finding the right contractors to help you
If you’re looking for freelance talent, the best place to start is with your own network. If you don’t have any direct or referral contacts who can help, you can try reputable freelance platforms like Toptal and Upwork. If you’re trying to decide between these two platforms, this post from CollectiveRay breaks down the difference:
Toptal is best if…
You need to hire top-notch developers quickly
You need freelancers with more experience or high-tier skills
You want to choose from a narrow field of pre-selected freelancers
Upwork is best if…
It’s a low-end project that doesn’t require highly specialized skills
You have the time and desire to vet candidates yourself
You want to choose from a much wider and more diverse field of candidates
Here is an example of some of the options that come up when you search Upwork for a freelance writer:
Depending on the platform you use and the level of experience you’re looking for, prices for freelance talent for various business tasks can vary, so be sure to understand what you need when you begin your search.
And here are a variety of results for a “social media” freelancer search:
Rates can also vary by a freelancer’s self-chosen title, so keep your search broad at first to understand how each prospective contractor describes their services.
Once you’ve found some good candidates, I strongly recommend interviewing your potential contractors via video chat and not doing things by email only. It makes the work more personal and you can develop chemistry. Plus, it’s more human and that’s kind of fun, too.
Please send me your comments and thoughts on this. I’d love to hear about your results and other successful places to hire freelancers.
Good luck with outsourcing your work!
