In short: the two things owners say most are "there isn't enough money" and "there isn't enough time". Time can be bought: pay someone, or a system, to handle work you would otherwise do yourself, and spend the hours you save on work that matters more.
The owner's real cost
Many owners personally handle cleaning checks, staff rosters, monthly promotions, greeting customers and explaining products, and some do the school run too. Of course there is no time left.
Business is about buying low and selling high. Apply the same idea to time: if a modest sum pays someone to do eight hours of your work, and you use those hours to serve key customers or plan the business, you usually earn far more back. Even if you spend them with your family, it is worth it.
Saving small, spending big
- Avoiding a system fee so every staff member spends an extra half hour a day on handwritten records
- Skipping a month's training cost so staff sales skills never improve
- Avoiding a consultant's fee and spending years finding out by trial and error
Each looks like saving money. Added up, it is often the most expensive choice, because the biggest cost is the time you never see.
Where to start
- List everything you do in a week, and mark what only you can do and what others could do.
- Hand off what others can do: hire, outsource or automate.
- Spend the time you gain on what only you can do: setting direction, developing people, caring for key customers and learning.
Ten ringgit saved does not turn itself into twenty. Put the money in the right place and it can.
Adapted from Dave Tan's book How High Should Your Customer Retention Rate Be? (2014, in Chinese), updated for today. About the book
Author: Dr. Dave Tan, DBA — Founder of Vital Design, Doctor of Business Administration (DBA). A business consultant to salons and SMEs since 2003, and author of a book on salon management.
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