In the construct of business, it is a difficult concept to understand and calculate what one’s hourly worth is. Even then, what does “my hourly worth” mean? It occurs to me to be subjective and vague without fact to base it on. By the end of the article, you will be able to calculate your hourly/minute worth and your employee’s hourly worth. What you do with the information is up to you.
I suggest that you use the information at first as an awareness tool for you and your employees until you get your head wrapped around the concept. Furthermore, do not make drastic changes to your processes, procedures, employees or way of doing business until you think through the impact it may make, positive or potentially negative. Unless you find a gaping hole in your business infrastructure, “slow is smooth, smooth is fast” when changing processes or procedures.
The formula can be used in two ways: First is to calculate how much money you need to make per hour to earn X income, yearly. Second is to calculate how much an employee needs to earn the company per hour based on a “base earnings” number. Below are two illustrations
.
Here is the same formula in an equation format with some detail:
- Base Earnings divided by 1760 (work hours per year) = Base Hourly Earnings
- Multiply base Hourly Earnings by realistic production time = Actual Hourly Earning Needed
- To calculate your “realistic production time” you would take what you believe to be your “realistic production time” and multiply it by your “unproductive time” like paperwork, government forms, creating quotes, etc.
Here the same formula with an example in text form, not handwritten.
- I want to earn $70,000 this year divided by 1760 (8 working hours x 220 working days) equals $39.77 which is my base earnings per hour.
- I calculate my realistic production time as 1 hour per 3 hours worked.
- Multiply $39.77 by three because I am only producing income 1 out of every 3 hours worked to equal $119.31
- $119.31 is my hourly worth, divided by 60 (seconds) equals $1.98 per minute of “Actual Hourly ”
The formula/calculation takes a little practice and refinement to come up with your “Hourly Worth.”
What can you determine by this number?
When I am on the phone with a customer, employee or friend during my “production time” and we talk for 30 minutes, I have used approximately $59.65 dollars of my time. It is less a matter of “is this person worth it or not” and more a matter of “let’s table this conversation and let me call you back at 2:00pm when I am not in full production mode.”
Depending on the position that you hold in your company, your numbers will vary drastically. Because it is unrealistic to be productive and billable 8 hours out of an 8 hour day, it is a necessity to block your time to be most productive. For frontline employees, your productive time should be a lot higher ergo your hourly number may be lower because you have more production time per workday.
Couple this insight with my previous article The One Thing, and you will be a productive rock star!
This illustration is geared towards income to your company generated from the hours you and your staff are in production. Next week I will illustrate the flip side of this coin, the hard costs. I challenge you for the next month or roughly 20 work days to be hyper-aware of where and how you spend your time at work. Before 01 April 2018, calculate your hourly worth and then track your production for those 20 days. Every Friday, recap your week and see how close you came, either over or under. Recalculate as needed.
Share your progress and with your management team or co-workers and watch your productivity soar! With your new found productivity breakthrough, you may have some breakdowns with your old style of productivity. Stay aware of your current obligations and give it time and effort to properly release those obligations if they no longer fit into your newly found hourly worth rock star formula. It is amazing what a little awareness does to your “how, where and who I spend my time with.”
Inspired by No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs by Dan Kennedy
Always Caring,
-Adam Dellos
I am open to suggestions, comments, and you sharing your story. You may direct message me by replying to this email or going to https://www.facebook.com/adam.dellos or https://www.instagram.com/hikingrugger
Have a great day today!
This article was written exclusively to our subscribers, last week. To get current weekly articles and see our quarterly newsletter, http://bit.ly/2BJgLuP
