Time is money.

That old statement always gets to me a bit because for me time is life.

I can lose money and indeed time but I can’t earn more time like I can money.

A client the other day stated that we sold him time and that he was happy to pay us our fee because we delivered a timely response and a solution that satisfied his requirements. He said he understood the effort that went into producing the outcome. Yet, he was really paying for the result.

I wonder if he would have been happy to pay the fee if the outcome was not exactly what he wanted. I mean, the effort to produce the result would have been the same therefore he should be happy with the fee, regardless of the result. Of course he would not be happy to pay in that situation and that is fair enough.

What I think many clients of service based companies, and the companies themselves, don’t understand is that it is knowledge rather than time that is being bought and sold.

Indeed, the client in this example uses our firm because we are known for the excellent advice in the area required by him and his company. IT is our knowledge that he needs.

The importance of time was re-enforced last week when I attended a funeral.

I was reminded that life can be cruelly cut short so we really need to make the most of the time we have, especially with our friends and families. Seize the day and not waste time if you will.

My favourite song from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon is “Time” as the lyrics, to me, remind me of a time in my life when I was a bit too casual and slack. Yes, I was much younger then.

So next time you hear “time is money” have a think about what that actually means and if you think it is the right saying.

Time is life.