Profitable Productivity - by Tim Wade

How do you achieve profitable productivity; getting more done in less time, and make more money doing it? Profitable productivity can be defined as "the act of efficiently completing a workload that effectively contributes more to revenue results than the cost of production". If that sounds like a mouthful, we can paraphrase it to "How to make more money by getting more done in less time." Sound like something you'd be interested in? Excellent. Now I'm imagining you saying a phrase that I hear a lot here in Singapore: "So how?"

First permit me to introduce myself. My name is Tim Wade, and I speak with business leaders, professionals, educators, trainers and even school students across Asia on profitable productivity. What it is, and how to do it.

Now when I interview successful people for my program on RadioM.fm, I always ask them how they got into their field in the first place. When my guest is a speaker, more often than not their field of expertise became an expertise because they were originally dreadful at it! And that kind of makes sense when you think about it. Because they we so dreadful at this thing, they focussed on improving it, trying everything and going through all the pain and frustration of a trial and error approach to solving their problem.

And it was exactly that perserverance and drive, and because they finally found their solution and tested it on themselves, that gives such people tremendous credibility with the audience. Becuase now they can authentically say that they had once been in the audience's position and their methodology clearly works.

So you might have guessed by now that the reason why profitable productity and a suite of productivity solutions that I share with my audiences and members is simply because I was a hard worker who at the end of many days, weeks, months and years would find myself moving slowly in my effective output, and slower in my financial success.

So I researched and I learned and I thought and I developed and I tested and I measured and I failed and I succeeded and I progressed and I was promoted and I was made redundant and I was hired and I resigned and I taught and I understood and I experienced and I shared and I spoke and I helped and I served. And that's why I do what I do: I help people improve their profitable productivity.

I have a speaker directory company (www.SpeakerStation.asia), a broadcasting company M Broadcasting Corporation which owns an online education and inspiration station (www.RadioM.fm), and a publishing company M Publications, which produces the magazine Walk Your Talk (www.WalkYourTalk.asia), a business and personal growth magazine that gives business leaders and professionals ideas they can implement and actions they can execute. And do I want these companies to be profitable? Absolutely. And do I need to be productive with three companies to run? You bet I do.

So let's get back into profitable productivity and break down that definition a bit so I can help you get to profitable productivity too. Here's my formal definition again: "Profitable productivity is the act of efficiently completing a workload that effectively contributes more to revenue results than the cost of production."

The components of productivity is simply: Workload completed per unit Time. The more work you get done in the same unit of time, the more productive you are. The components of profitability is simply: producing more revenue than expenses. To combine the two implies effectiveness, that is that the output of your effort is contributing directly to the attainment of a goal, and more specifically to a goal that is profitable.

Clear? Ok. Question 1... which of these are you currently not DOING well? Now please note that I did not ask which of these do you not understand or know well, but which you aren't doing well. As an intelligent person, I imagine you can grasp the concepts we're talking about, but if you are not achieving the results, then there is something that you are not DOING. And it is usually attached to a reason WHY you are not doing it, even though you KNOW what you should be doing! But we'll get to psychology another time (and I had no idea that when I left university with a double major in psychology that I would be using it so intensely throughout my life).

But let's come back to financial results.

Why would we focus on profitability? Are we all about money? No. Money is simply a common measurement that expresses a measure of value exchanged. If you provide something that is valued more than a sum of money, then someone with exchange that sum of money for the item of value that you provide. Simple.

Of course, that person needs to know that you have that something (advertising) ... and it needs to be what they want or need (marketing) ... and you need to be able to produce it (production), sell it (sales) and supply it (fulfilment)... and of course your target market will need to be able to pay for it (pricing).

The more value you provide to each of these areas, the greater your profitability. The higher your output of these items, the greater your profitable productivity. That’s why chasing the money usually gets you nowhere, but chasingvalue delivery usually gets you the money.

But if that all sounded like a large business structure, and you are thinking that you are only part of a large business structure, then you might think "but how does this apply to me on an individual level?" If so, then you have thought a great question!

The individual can be viewed as a system contributing to a greater system. Just as a business provides a product or service, it also contributes to the employment in the district, contributes to providing taxes that help the country run, buys goods and services from other businesses to be able to produce its products and services, and the products and services it produces may simply be parts that either contribute to, or enable the delivery of, someone else's system. In other words, the business is part of a much larger equation, a far greater business, a much larger system.

So when we see ourselves as an individual in a business, we can liken ourselves to an individual business within a much larger nation of businesses. We are providing a service to a larger system. We are generating income from that production and when we spend that income at various retail outlets, or on various products and services, we are also contributing to that much larger system.

So when we consider profitable productivity, the main thing we are looking at is the question: How can I produce more items of valuethat I can exchange for money in less time? The key word is value. If what you do is not valuable to someone, then they will not exchange money with you for it.

And if they give you $100 for it and it cost you $200 to produce it, you have not made a profit. Either you sold it too cheaply, or you made it too inefficiently.

If you sell an item for $100, it means the buyer valued it as being worth MORE than $100. This is important to understand. No-one who buys something thinks "Hmmm, that's worth $100, I will buy it for $200." No.

Similarly, if you are working in a job for $100 an hour, it means your boss values your time and ability as being worth more than $100 an hour. In fact it means that your boss values you time and ability MORE than you do! And you thought all that overtime he or she gets you to do means that they don’t value your time! They do! More than you do!

Okay, so the bottom line is: you must produce more items of value to increase profitability. And because you only have 24 hours in a day, you must do it efficiently.

Now I could give you the magic formula for profitable productivity, but there one simple challenge. Like shopping for a new pair of jeans, what fits or works for one person may not fit at all for another. So the solution is to ensure that you get to try on everything and from that use the things that best fit you and your style. There are some common actions to be taken to achieve profitable productivity regardless of the productivity tools you end up implementing most frequently because they work best for you and your style.

Here are 3 common actions to be taken that I’ll cover in more detail in later articles: 1. Write your goals down – for now, just take 12 minutes and write down your goals! 2. Give these goals a deadline for achievement 3. Write down why each goal is important for you to achieve.

Now that you’ve read these 3 actions, let me ask you this: when you read them, did you think “ahhh.... nothing new... I already know that”? If yes, then let me follow this up with: but do you do them now? All 3?

There is a Chinese proverb: “To know and not to do is not to know.” Great wisdom in deed. Enough said.

If you haven’t yet performed these 3 simple actions, perhaps now is the time to begin doing what you know. As we progress through this program, we will add more things to your knowledge as well as to your actions so that you are adding more to your achievement of profitable productivity.

If you have done these three, then you will be looking for additional tools to help you achieve more profitable productivity. Simply sign up for the regular Productivity Tip emailer that delivers a powerful tip everyday for 30 days. If you just implement ONE of these tips, your life would be more profitably productive. Implement all 30 and WOW... massive transformation.

Thank you for beginning this journey. You’ll be glad you did, because by the end of it you will be getting more done in less time, and making more money doing it! My name is Tim Wade, and if you ever have a question, get stuck, have a productivity tip that you'd like to share, or especially if you have an example of how you implemented one of the tips and would like to share with us your results, please share it at www.AskTimWade.com. Now take a few moments to do the 3 we talked about. And once you’re done, reward yourself with something that will really serve you. I’m looking forward to working with you to further increase your profitable productivity! 

Speak with you soon,

Tim Wade