May 9, 2022
Our topic for today’s episode is very simple but so important: work less, earn more. That sounds like the dream, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be a dream—I made it happen for myself, and you can make it happen too. Just buckle in, absorb my advice, and ask yourself the important questions. The reason this is on my mind right now is a sad one—recently, my bestie’s mom was diagnosed with a rare degenerative brain disease and had only about thirty days before she passed. And it reminded me that time is precious and fleeting, and it’s the only resource we can’t purchase more of, so we have to learn to use it the best way we can. Back when I was poor, in debt, and starting a business, I thought money was the answer to all my problems, and I was willing to give up my time to make sure my business was a success. But when I finally got that pile of money, I was so exhausted by working my tail off to get it that I was too tired to actually spend it. I’d used up my most valuable resource of time, and I realized that while making the money had been so important, I now wanted to buy back my time to use how I wanted to.
So, how do you go about doing that? The first thing I did was start looking at ways I could shave time off my day, either by identifying time-sucks that I could let go of (like making the bed, which I really don’t care about!) or figuring out how to use my time more efficiently. Because if you can shave ten minutes off six things in your day, you’ve given yourself back a whole hour, and it won’t have cost you anything. The next thing was realizing that being an entrepreneur is the best way to buy your own time because you can create systems and processes that speed you up and make you more money in less time (for me, that was transitioning from retail arbitrage, which took up crazy amounts of time, to wholesale bundling, which gives me way more time freedom). And then the most important lesson I’ve learned is that we all have the same amount of time in a week—168 hours. Doesn’t matter who you are, everyone from Jeff Bezos to Elon Musk to you and me gets the same 168 hours, and true freedom is being able to do whatever you want with it. But you get there by making sure you’re using those hours in the best way possible for you. Transitioning from retail arbitrage to wholesale bundling bought me twenty extra hours a week, and I close out this episode by challenging everybody to sit down and really think about what you’d do with some extra time and what you could do to get it.
A great way to spend some of your time is chatting with the Amazon Files and Mommy Income community. You can join our Facebook group with today’s codeword #WORKLESS to learn more about bundling, ask questions, and participate in the conversation with other sellers. And if you’re ready to take your business to a whole new level, visit MommyIncome.com/Coach to schedule your one-on-one coaching call today.
This week on the Amazon Files:
- The precious resource of
time
- Money vs. time
- Shaving time off your day
- Letting go of time sucks
- Buying your time back through
entrepreneurship
- Using systems and processes to save
time
- Making the best use of your 168
hours
- Happiness and time freedom
- What would you do with an extra hour a
day?
“You bring value just by showing up, by being yourself, by giving it your all because effort is the difference between making or breaking it.”
- Kristin Ostrander
Quotes:
“Working less hours and making more money sounds like the dream, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be a dream. I used to think that it was a dream until I started making it happen, making it happen for myself. Your story does not end here. You have choices to make that will either keep you where you are or move you forward.”
“Time is precious and fleeting. Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. And once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back.”
“Eventually, I got what I was hoping for, I got what I worked for, I got the pile of money that I was hoping to sit on one day. The reality was, rather than sitting on the pile of money, I was laying on it exhausted because I worked my tail off to get it, and I was too tired to spend it.”
“Now that I have some money, I just realize that money is just a tool and a resource. Something to be used, needs to be used in order to be effective. Decisions need to be made by it. But the biggest reality is there’s some things you can’t buy, even if you have a pile of money.”
“The reality is not necessarily judging your success based on how many hours you work, but how efficiently you work during those hours, and choosing to let go of things that aren’t important.”
“Can I do this better, easier, more efficiently? Why? Because if you do that to six tasks each day, you bought an hour. Now, it didn’t cost you anything. But you figured out how to give yourself an hour of your time.”
“You can have natural talent, you can have money, you can have resources, but effort is what gets you results, the amount of effort you put in. And if you can put that effort in and less time and be very focused and very efficient at all of your processes, you’re buying time for yourself.”
“If you just need money, go get a job. But if you want to buy the only thing you can’t buy, which is your own time, being an entrepreneur is the best way to do that. Because then the money that you earn, you can create systems and processes for yourself that speed that up, give you more money and time, and then you’re good to go.”
“When I realized how much time I was wasting earning this great living, I wanted to start making a transition. I wanted to buy my time back. I was ready to then trade the pile of money for a little bit more peace, and freedom, and things that I really love.”
“Time freedom is truly what makes people wealthy, in my opinion. The richest people in the world are the people who can spend their time however they want to and have the resources to. So time and money is a great combination. But if you have control over how you spend your time, you should be the happiest person in the whole world.”
“168 hours per week. Oprah, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Michelle Obama, Mark Cuban, Barbara Cochran, all of these amazing people, some of the richest people in the world dollar-wise, they all get the same amount. 168.”
“How do you want to spend the most valuable resource that you have? Your time. What makes you the happiest? See? That’s the reality. The happiest people in the world, they live. They live, they don’t work themselves to death.”
“What would you do with your extra twenty hours? Anything you’ve been dreaming of lately? Would you learn something new? Try another hobby, spend more time on the hobbies that you have? Would you clean and purge and organize and do all the undone projects in your house?”
“If you want to be one of the richest people in the world, buy your own time. It’s about working smarter and more efficiently. So take the time.”
Related Content:
- 2022 Workshops - Coupon code: workshop50
- Wholesale Bundle System
- Email questions
- Learn With Us
- Coaching
- The Amazon Files Hub
- Graphic Rhythm Design
Grow Your Amazon Business!
Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Amazon Files, the show to help Amazon sellers along their business journey one step at a time with Amazon expert and your host, Kristin Ostrander. If you enjoyed this episode, head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us your honest review. Don’t forget to share your favorite episodes with your friends on social media! Use the codeword #WORKLESS to join us on Facebook. Each week, Kristin hosts a live discussion on how to grow your Amazon business. Don’t forget to check out our website and subscribe to our mailing list for even more resources.