5 Things to Stop Doing to Start Earning More

Do you ever feel like, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you work your income just doesn’t increase?

It can be extremely frustrating, but your problem may not be that you’re not doing enough, it’s likely that you’re doing things that are hindering your progress.

In this post, I’m going to break down 5 things you should stop doing so you can start to earn more money.

1.  Working on an Hourly Rate

The problem with working based on an hourly rate is that there are only so many hours in a day. This means at some point you cannot work anymore, and your income will be maxed out.

While you can increase your income by increasing your rate, you’ll still run into the problem of maxing out on hours per day.

Let’s say you charge $25/hour and work a typical 40 hours a week…

That means you’ll earn $1,000/week or $4,000/month.

Increasing your hourly rate increases your income.

However, with an hourly rate, you are also then punished if you become faster at your work or more efficient.

But, if you price based on value, there is no limit on your income and more importantly, you won’t earn less if you are efficient and don’t have to work as much. Efficiency also means you can earn more.

2. Wasting Time on Social Media

Before you go saying, “but I’m on there to get clients!” That’s not entirely true. While there are some businesses and niches in which yes, social media is the best way to get clients, they still waste time.

The only time I’ve gotten clients from social media was when someone posted in a Facebook group looking for services I offer and someone gave them my name. I get tagged and I go respond to that one post.

The amount of time I spend lurking on social media for those posts? 0 minutes.

Chances are if you do get a client from you personally doing stuff on social media, it likely takes longer to sign that client then if they were to find you on other platforms.

So ultimately, for most people wanting to earn more money, your time could be spent better doing something other than social media.

3. Doing All the Things

Stop doing all the things. While you can certainly get work as a jack of all trades, you can charge more when you specialize in something.

I used to offer Pinterest Management, Thrive Themes Consulting, and Freelance Writing. It was ridiculous. Pretty much whenever a client asked if I could do something – even if it wasn’t a service I offered, I said yes because I had done it before for my own business.

Now I say no, a lot.

I only offer Pinterest management services and as of right now I don’t do Pinterest Ads (though I’m working to add that to my arsenal). When a potential client asked about it, I was upfront explaining that I was just getting started with it myself and had no real experience with it.

I then suggested an entire group of Pinterest Managers/VA some of which I knew had the necessary skill set, they were super grateful.

It means I didn’t get that client, but that also means I have room to take on a client that I know I can help get results.

Because looking at my current client list, over a third of my clients, I got from word of mouth referrals. Happy clients are a goldmine.

If you’re trying to do all the things you’re bound to disappoint at some point.

Specializing means you can charge more.

Specializing makes it easier to do all you’re work because you’re not constantly having to mentally switch between doing different things, making you more efficient.

If you want to earn more money, stop doing all the things and start specializing.

4. Wasting Time on Small Return Actions

This goes along with my second point because chances are social media is a task or action with a small return on the time invested.

What else do you spend a lot of time on that doesn’t really produce a result that was worth the time you put in?

For me, one thing I do that doesn’t really push the needle forward is constantly tweaking my site.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for tweaking a website, but there also comes a point where it just becomes a procrastination method…

“I can’t send out pitches until I get this one thing on my website fixed”

Ever heard of the 80/20 rule? It says that 80 percent of your results come from just 20 percent of your work.

Well, what if you really focused on the type of work that made up the 20%? Could you work less and earn more? Yes, yes, you could.

5. Working All The Time

I have on more than one occasion worked 70 hours a week, as an entrepreneur it became particularly more common for me to do so.

It was awful.

Part of why it would happen was because there is always more work I can be doing, I’m never really “done”.

The other reason I was working so much? Parkinson’s law.

Parkinson’s law states that work will expand to fill the time you give it, meaning if you give yourself four hours to write an article it will take at least one hours.

If on the other hand, you set a limit of one hour, it will take about an hour.

Setting boundaries not only helps in making you focus to do your work meaning you get more done in less time but also helps you to find work-life balance.

So if you want to earn more, stop working constantly, set boundaries, and use breaks to recharge.

Bottom Line

If you’re working like a madwoman and not seeing the results or income you want, perhaps it’s time to start doing less. To earn more money stop:

• Working on an hourly rate
• Wasting time on social media
• Being a jack of all trades
• Focusing on small return tasks
• Working. All. The. time.

Then start:

• Focusing more on big return tasks,
• Setting boundaries so you can enjoy life and;
• Charging for the value of your services rather than the time it takes you.

You’ll then be on your way to hitting your income goals.