Mans Most Precious Commodity… It May not be What You Think !!!

Tuesday, April 3, 2007 at 03:34pm by Darius Askaripour in Operations

Reading an article today concerning deaths that have resulted from mans desire to possess resources and methods of energy, I stumbled upon a very introspective concern. Man has waged war against his neighbor for oil, what many call our most precious commodity. I find that interesting and thought about the simple fact that death would arise, civil unrest, and chaos would ensue over a thick liquid. Hours were spent pondering what I believed to be my most precious commodity; what was the item, in this complicated world that I needed most?

I looked up at the clock and realized that I had to set it an hour forward due to daylight savings and there it was. So blatant, so modest, so important and vital, yet so silent and patient. The most constant and consistent thing in my life; so dependable and always measurable. The one item that truly controls my every decision. It governs my ability to make choices and I must consider this item very carefully when planning my day. It’s the only thing that is always working against me.

Time, the thief of opportunity many say, is my most precious commodity.

Think about it this way, why do Americans spend millions and in some cases billions of dollars going to the gym, buying vitamins? Why is the wellness and fitness business one of the most rapidly growing in our nation? It’s because we are all looking for a way to spend a few more moments in our life, before our time expires.

You can’t escape time. It tells you when to not drink milk or when you should arise from your bed in the morning. In almost every room in a normal American home we can find a clock or in silence, hear the subtle tick-tock, tick-tock reminding us that time is running out. Many of us punch in and out of work on a time card and our lives have been set on a 24 hour cycle.

How often have you heard the phrases, “I wish I had more time”, “there are only 24 hours in a day”, “the meter is running”, “I’m running out of time” or “I’m on the clock”? We as entrepreneurs are always trying to find a way to have more time and clock management is a vital necessity of the successful business owner.

It doesn’t matter if you own a pizzeria, fortune 500 company, or mid-sized program consultation firm, time is what we all desire most. Running a business is not easy and there are many tasks and responsibilities we have to carry out as owners.

When I first opened my doors, as a financial firm I had two partners. One was gone in the matter of a week due to his inexperience; the second was gone in a few months due to his inability to produce business. All successful companies have their own stories of previous partners, dissolutions, and reformation; even though I’m a little off topic, my point is that when you’re alone, you have to become a man or woman of many hats.

Working alone is great because all decisions you make are yours, there is more control over the business, and you get to keep all the money, but the serious downside is time consumption. I found that when I was all alone, I found a new sense of freedom and had to become more accountable than I was before because there was no one else to take responsibility. I worked 13 hour days alone and found that at the end of the work day, I would go to sleep and do it all over again. Days seemed like minutes and weeks began to blur into a hazy memory. Though I was making very good money and business was booming, I was overworked, stressed out, and reaching my limit.

I explained all of this to my brother and he recommended a book, Go It Alone by Bruce Judson. I didn’t find it profound or life-altering but the one thing that stuck out was this idea of multiplying yourself, outsourcing projects or tasks, and not becoming a slave to your business. Our greatest asset is time, and I devised a way to create more of it, in order to be creative and grow my business in a healthy manner.

I discovered ways to make things more efficient and profitable by:

• Teaching other people how to replicate myself and employed numerous loan officers
• I hired a processing team, making my company more efficient
• Outsourced business
• Used the Internet to market and share information with my network of employees
• Formed a well-structured web, comprised of different companies that perform
  specialized tasks for me (i.e. appraisers, title insurance, attorneys, and accountants)
• Perfected a replicable system that was simple, effective, and proven
• Educated myself about the industry on a daily basis
• Found answers in my mentors
• Devised auto-pilot systems that work even when I’m sleeping

That was some time ago and I am constantly tweaking and improving my system. I now have net branches all over the East Coast, a solid team of effective employees, and well….more time. I can savor each breath and I can’t remember the last time I used an alarm clock. Actually I will never be “on the clock” again. I travel when I please, eat when I want, and “punch in / punch out” mentally at my own discretion.

We are only alive on this spinning globe for a few short moments and we as entrepreneurs are always faced with the fact that if we just had more time we could blossom into the most beautiful fruit bearing tree. Time is our most precious commodity; not oil, gold, uranium, or pork bellies…. but that silent, unyielding whisper of tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.

What does time mean to you? Can you be more efficient? Any time saving tips you can share would be appreciated. How do you plan on spending your time on earth… your lease could be up any day?

Darius Askaripour is the founder of mortgage company, Vitruvian Lending.

8 Comments

Leave a Comment