Monthly Archives: October 2012

What’s your time worth?

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Coming from a self-employed standpoint this topic is rather important to me. Only I used to view this strictly in terms of income. I’ve been asked the question “How much are you paid per hour?” quite a lot but now I see the other side of the equation. Which isn’t all about work ether.

Now when I look at what’s my time worth it consists of

  • Am I using my time wisely – Take looking at comics, far too often I have other projects, or even homework to be doing. In this case I’m valuing the time to look at comics vs. what should be a priority. And by not doing work when I should be it’s similar to saying the comics are worth the time I could be working.
  • Will this be beneficial to me, or a time waste? – This I have been bad at and going back to comics I get a time waste, so long as I have other, more important tasks to attend to. I will also spend countless hours during a week doing tasks or sitting idle.
  • Am I going in with a plan, or doing it as I go – This isn’t so much about time, but when I do not make a plan first, I often spend time re-doing items that I didn’t get right the first time. So not only do I spend more time working on the project, but I get hit twice as it’s time I could be using to do other tasks.
  • If for money, is it worth my time? – What I mean by this is say I could do a website for minimum wage ($7.25/hr), will it be worth the effort and time to put in the project when I could be doing other income producing tasks such as marketing my business or doing side projects. Now to be honest I have done tasks for low pay when I run low on money.

So to me I’d rather spend my time doing tasks that will benefit me the most, and pay my bills, or get me closer to paying my bills such as doing my homework. Which in some side projects I do a fixed fee, so planning is essential in that case and with a proper plan will do both the planning and making it worth my time. It will also give me an incentive to work as fast as I can to get the project done right, doing it wrong means fixing errors and taking too long means I am not utilizing my time right and that what I could have been paid an hour goes down.

Paying for College pt. 2

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With the $300 extra dollars I mentioned earlier I decided to leave it in my business, earmarked for ether a bad month, or for college expenses come Fall 2013. I feel like this is the best choice as it pushes my business reserve to the one-month worth of pay and advertising expenses. Plus by the time college starts I should have enough in my reserves to at least pay for half of a class and two months, hopefully more but I’d rather be realistic.

I have decided to make a new website live. I plan on posting several guides and just general information about programming topics and once I get it build up I’ll start to monetize it, all in the hopes of paying for my college first. Plus it is a subject I am passionate about. I’m hoping that by doing this that Western will be more in my reach.

Here’s my only goal in terms of generating money for college, to not take out a student loan to pay for it. If I can make enough to at least do a Payment Plan (where I pay through the semester) then I have succeed in my goal. Which I am going to try to set more money back from my business, just for college, serving double duty while hopefully being unused.

Well I better be wrapping this article up. I have a 11 am class I need to be getting ready for. I feel excited and nervous at the same time, hoping that this will work out. But I do suppose that at the end of the day, every little bit can only help.

The Value of Stuff

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I’m not sure if it’s just from me reading to much of The Minimalists or if I’ve just been slow to realize how much stuff I have that I’ve valued wrong. I have several items that I once spent a lot of time and energy on that are now unused. I remember the Summer of 2004 saving up for the Nintendo GameCube and I’ve not played it since 2010 at the latest. Needless to say it’s on my list to sell.

I’ve even been purging myself of items I was holding onto just for memories such as my childhood blanket and school projects. Which has alarmed my family and my better half into fear since they believe I’m getting rid of my material possessions. Yet it has nothing to do with that. I want to simplify my life and make it easier, and have stuff with a true value.

Just this past week I got rid of last year’s copies of PC World, why I held on to old issues is for the mindset I might want to re-read an article. But I’ve grown to see my flaws and I’m starting to apply this to other items. The same can be said of books, several months old and not even once have I opened a few books.

Instead I’m starting to value just my day, life, and health. Which along with simplifying means I should think twice before making a big purchase. The last Amazon book I bough was purchased to improve a money-making skill. Same with furniture, last purchase was a file cabinet to hold my growing records. Both items only add value to my life.

As I age and get older I may revert back, but at least for now I’m learning to value my stuff better. Which some of the stuff I’m getting rid of (my GameCube for one) I’m selling in order to go toward my fund for Western. Other items I just want gone as they have outlived any use to me. Which I hope by the end what I do have is stuff I feel like is worth it, not just some piece of crap junk that will be thrown out.

Side projects and Extra Income

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Since the last post I have paid $311 on my student loan, of which over $220 was interest. I have also done a few side jobs which should help supplement my income, to the tune of over $300. Which I have yet to decide what I should do with the profits (after I pay taxes). Here are the choices I can do:

  • Throw it into my E Fund – This is actually the most appealing option as I am making efforts to increase the balance. Yet I’m not sure if it’s the most efficient use.
  • Set back for School – I know come December/January I will be needing new books and I want to keep up not taking out a loan. Alternatively I could set it back for my Western expenses. I should be starting in the Fall of 2013, if everything goes the way I want it to.
  • Leave it in my Business – This option would mean I leave the profits in my business as a cushion, for future payments.

The most likely candidates are to set it back for school and as a business cushion. I think I will split it half and half and keep on planing.

On a side note I want to get another one of my goals started, and that is to run several sites for profit, maybe even do an E-book or two. I have a feeling that Western will be more then i can afford and I want to ensure that I can go.