Entrepreneurs often face one significant challenge when trying to grow their businesses – the lack of time. As business owners juggle daily operations, they struggle to focus on more critical activities, such as forming new strategic partnerships, fundraising, and driving innovation. The question “Is the lack of time an obstacle in business growth?” has become a burning issue for many. However, the solution lies not in more hours, but in how time can be used efficiently. Prof. Paritosh Sharma of Bada Business Pvt. Ltd. offers tools and frameworks to help entrepreneurs overcome this time constraint and accelerate business growth.
Understanding the Power of Compounding
Before diving into the tools and frameworks, it’s crucial to understand one concept that can significantly impact business growth: the power of compounding. To illustrate, let’s look at a thought-provoking example:
Suppose two individuals are given money: Person A receives Rs 10 Crore, while Person B receives just Rs 1. While Person A’s amount remains constant, Person B’s money doubles every day for 31 days. At first glance, one might believe that Person A will have far more money after 31 days. However, the power of compounding reveals a different story:
Day(s) | Person A’s Money | Person B’s Money |
|---|
| 1 | Rs 10 Crore | Rs. 1 |
| 5 | Rs 10 Crore | Rs. 14 |
| 10 | Rs 10 Crore | Rs. 512 |
| 20 | Rs 10 Crore | Rs 52,4288 |
| 31 | Rs 10 Crore | Rs 107 Crore |
By Day 31, Person B’s money has grown to a staggering Rs 107 Crore – far surpassing the initial Rs 10 Crore of Person A. This demonstrates the magic of compounding, where even small investments, when allowed to grow exponentially over time, can lead to massive results.
In business, time works similarly. Efficiently using time, compounded over several days, weeks, and months, can yield remarkable returns.
Best Ways to Harness Time for Maximum Impact
To harness the power of time in your business, Prof. Sharma introduces the concept of the ‘People + Time Dashboard.’ This dashboard provides a framework for optimizing your time and your team’s time, allowing you to focus on high-impact activities that can grow your business exponentially. Here’s how it works:
Identifying Time Drainers:
Start by analyzing the senior-level people in your company who consume the majority of your time. Consider:
- How much time they invest in daily operations.
- How much time you, as the business owner or CEO, spend interacting with them.
Increasing Team Efficiency:
Suppose you and your senior managers collectively spend 100 hours per day on operations, which generates Rs 1 Crore in revenue each month. By optimizing the time spent on daily operations, you can increase this revenue significantly. Here’s how:
- Hire a new junior-level team to free up your senior managers’ time.
- Hire additional senior-level team members to further unlock time from your existing senior team.
By unlocking more time for your senior managers, you can increase their input hours from 100 hours to 200 hours per day, significantly boosting productivity and revenue.
Investing Time Wisely:
The time saved can be reinvested in high-value activities such as:
- Building strategic partnerships.
- Meeting with potential investors.
- Fundraising and driving innovation.
These activities are crucial for scaling your business and creating long-term value.
The Power of Categorizing Time: A Framework for Success
Prof. Sharma’s framework categorizes the different aspects of your business dashboard into three color-coded priority levels:
Red – Critical Factors:
These are the elements that require your immediate attention.
Actions: Hold daily 1-hour meetings or video calls with senior managers to ensure you stay on top of these factors.
Blue – Partially Controlled Factors:
These are factors that can largely be handled by your managers.
Actions: Invest 1-2 hours each week to monitor these aspects.
Green – Fully Controlled Factors:
These factors are operating smoothly and don’t require immediate intervention, but they should not be neglected.
Actions: Spend 1-3 hours each month to ensure everything remains in order.
Massive Action Plan to Drive Business Growth
To see the full benefits of these strategies, entrepreneurs must take proactive steps to implement the frameworks and tools that can help multiply their efforts. Here’s how to get started:
Implement the ‘People + Time Dashboard’ in your business: This tool will help you manage your time effectively and increase business productivity.
Hire a skilled human resource consultant: A consultant can guide you in selecting the best team members and structuring your business for maximum efficiency.
Conclusion
As an investor or entrepreneur, your success lies not in working harder, but in finding the best ways to harness your time and that of your team. By focusing on the power of compounding and implementing tools like the ‘People + Time Dashboard,’ you can dramatically increase your business impact. This approach allows you to break free from the constraints of low time availability and unlock vast opportunities for growth. The following steps can set you on the path to sustained business success. So, can you afford to waste time? Probably not. Instead, use these frameworks to unlock the time needed for your business to thrive and achieve unprecedented success.
