What are your decisions actually costing you?

Apr 29, 2021 | Structure

2 business woman talking

I’ve been playing hockey for over 30 years. I love it. Up until recently, I haven’t sustained any injuries apart from a few bruises.

Then, the other week, I took a puck to the mouth and ended up with three stitches.

For years my wife has been advocating for a face cage or a mouthguard.

These were not big purchases and they wouldn’t have taken long to implement, yet I’ve been stubborn about getting these things (and not for very good reasons).

But the total cost of this one small injury ended up being a lot more than the cost of either piece of equipment.

It cost me the trip and bill to urgent care; two practices and one game in terms of my time and enjoyment on the ice; foods I love because my lips were too swollen and sore to eat; intimacy with my wife who I couldn’t kiss; hours of sleep because I couldn’t get comfortable which made me tired the next day and impacted my work…

This is called the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and something similar happens in our businesses.

When we choose out of something good for our business because we don’t have the money, we make money the sole decision maker without considering all the other costs associated.

Maybe we decide to NOT hire the business coach, the virtual assistant, the copywriter, etc. because we don’t have the budget. Yet,

→ What time are we losing by doing it all ourselves?
→ What’s the cost of that time?
→ What’s the cost of any mistakes we make because we don’t know how to do it or do it efficiently?
→ What other things are we losing?

We always look at profit and loss but never TCO. It’s not that those numbers on our P&L don’t matter, but they aren’t the only numbers that do.

So what are you NOT doing in your business and what is it really costing you?

 

 

Here’s the 3-2-1 on Total Cost of Ownership.

3 TRUTHS

  1. When we allow money to be the driving decision maker, we actually end up sacrificing the more valuable resources of time and energy to try and move things forward in our businesses.
  2. We all need to put sweat equity into our businesses, especially when we are new, but at some point, we have to make the transition to not being the lone wolf. If we don’t, it will cost us way more than we think.
  3. Once we figure out what we want, and what that Total Cost of Ownership is, we change the way we approach our decisions and that makes all the difference.

2 ACTIONS

  1. Write down all the things you’re NOT doing in your business because of money.
  2. Evaluate each to determine what they’re really costing you.

1 QUESTION

  1. What is one thing in my business costing me more than I realize?

This money conversation continues on YouTube. Check out Why Money Isn’t The Only Cost to join the discussion and make sure to subscribe while you’re there. 

To your impact and legacy,