When to have a scarcity mindset & the 80/20 rule

Before we jump in:

Have you ever wanted to estimate how much money you could save in taxes by doing a cost seg study and taking bonus depreciation on your property?

Well, now you can. The team at RE Cost Seg built an interactive calculator where you can input the details of your exact deal to find out how much you could potentially save.

Just click this link to try it for free.

Note: Alongside being a happy customer, I am also an investor in the business.

In almost all areas of life I have an abundance mindset. More opportunity for somebody else means more opportunity for me.

My friends winning means I’m more likely to win.

The more successful people I can be around the more likely I am to become successful. I’m all about creating more and more and not fighting over what is there.

But I feel differently about time and you should, too.

Why is it that people will hoard money and protect every last dollar but will give away their time away freely and liberally? If your neighbor came up to your front door, knocked, and asked you for $100 what would you say?

No way. Of course not.

But if your neighbor knocked on your door and spent 45 minutes talking your ear off about things you don’t care about, what would you do?

You’d likely be polite and listen while he burns 35% of your family time after work that day.

Or how about the person that isn’t your type, doesn’t make you better, and is a drag to spend time with?

What do you do when they text you? Or when they ask you to get together? You don’t want to be rude. You likely spend time and energy on this person because they ask for it. You feel obligated to respond and give your time away freely.

But why?

Disclaimer: This is just a mental exercise. I’m not suggesting you refuse to help your neighbor and walk around acting like you are too good for everybody. I’m suggesting you re-adjust your mindset around time.

The days and weeks fly by. Your body will start to fail you. Your kids will grow up and leave the house. Your parents will age and pass away. If you aren’t deliberate and thoughtful, 10 years will go by in a flash, and you’ll still be working the same dead end job with the same unmotivated people. Your window to make it in life and your ability to take risks will pass you by, and it’ll be too late.

I have an extreme scarcity mindset when it comes to time because it is the only thing you can’t get back. If I spend $250,000 on a new business venture and it fails, it stings. But even though I like money just as much as the next person, it is relative.

You can always make more money. There is literally an infinite amount of money in this world, and it has your name on it if you spend your time making the right decisions and doing the right things.

Most think about scarcity when it comes to capital, more should be thinking about scarcity when it comes to TIME!

The 80/20 rule:

I once did some consulting for a friend who ran a poop scooping business. It was a great company, with six full time employees, six trucks, and about $200k in annual take home profit just for him. He asked me what I thought about growing his business, and the first thing I did was go on the company’s website and try to get a quote.

The whole process was clunky. The form didn’t make sense. It was tucked below some text that wasn’t clear.

I could tell he was losing a lot of potential customers on this page of his website. I would have navigated away in a heartbeat had I been an actual customer. As they say, you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and this first impression was terrible.

So we fixed it. We put some clear copy at the top of the page and added a simple form with a “get a quote” button. His new customer leads doubled overnight, and the company ended up doubling in size during the next 24 months.

That one little decision made a big difference and was part of the 20% of effort that resulted in 80% of the growth.

And I think it’s a good reminder. No matter how efficient you think you are, most of the stuff you work on will not move the needle forward.

There is a power law when it comes to your activities and your results. You’ve heard it before but I do believe that 20% of your activities will generate 80% of your positive outcomes and growth.

This power law doesn’t just work when it comes to your own work. It applies to everyone who is a part of your business. That includes vendors, employees, and customers.

One thing I’ve found to be true over time regardless of the business is that 20% of your customers will generate 80% of your headache, and 20% of your customers will generate 80% of your profit.

The sooner you realize these aren’t the same customers the sooner you can build a great business.

If you want to go even further, you can apply the 80/20 principle to virtually every area of your life and business. 20% of your exercise leads to 80% of your fitness gains.

20% of your relationships lead to 80% of your joy and happiness.

And 20% of your business decisions will drive 80% of the value and results overall.

The team at WebRun is offering $1000 off plus a free brand book when you purchase a custom package from them.

If interested, just reply to this email and I’ll make an intro.

Here’s 4 great sites they’ve built for a real estate projectinvestment firmresidential contractor, and an ​HVAC maintenance provider.

Note: Alongside being a happy customer (they’ve built several of my sites), I am also an investor in the business.

A few tweets from this week:

Onward and upward,

Nick Huber

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About Me

I started the Sweaty Startup in December of 2018 because I believe the Shark Tank and Tech Crunch culture is ruining the real spirit of low-risk entrepreneurship.