Buy back your time
Spending money to save time is linked to greater happiness. In a 2017 study published in PNAS, Ashley Whillans and her colleagues surveyed more than 6,000 people in four countries and found that those who paid for time-saving help reported higher life satisfaction, across income levels. In a follow-up experiment, people felt better and less stressed on a weekend when they spent $40 to save time than when they spent it on stuff.
"I can't afford to hire help."
I hear it a lot. And sometimes it's true. But a lot of the time, what I'm really hearing is "I don't feel like I'm allowed to pay someone to do something I could do myself."
So you clean the house at 10 p.m. You edit your own videos until 1 a.m. You do your own bookkeeping badly, then pay someone more to fix it at tax time.
You save money. You lose your life.
What the research says
Ashley Whillans and her team surveyed more than 6,000 people in the U.S., Canada, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The people who spent money to buy themselves time, by paying for cleaning, takeout, errands, or other help, reported higher life satisfaction. That held true across income levels, not just for wealthy people.
Then they ran an experiment. Working adults got $40 on two different weekends. One weekend, they spent it on something that saved them time. The other, they spent it on a material purchase.
On the time-saving weekend, people reported more positive mood and less time stress.
Here's the kicker. In another survey, the researchers found that very few people actually spend money this way, even when they can afford it. We just don't think of time as something we're allowed to buy.
What business owners get wrong
Most of my clients wait too long to hire help. They wait until they're drowning, then hire in a panic, then don't have time to train the person, then decide "it's faster if I do it myself."
The other mistake is hiring for the wrong thing. They hand off what they actually enjoy and keep what drains them.
So how do you decide what to hand off?
I walk clients through this all the time. It goes like this:
List what drains you. For one week, write down every task that tires you out, bores you, or that you keep avoiding.
Circle what someone else could do 80% as well. Not perfectly. 80%. Scheduling, inbox sorting, research, editing, posting, bookkeeping.
Decide what kind of help fits. If you need someone to just execute what you've already planned, that's a virtual assistant. If you need someone who can lead and make decisions, that's a bigger hire. If it's household stuff, it might be a cleaner or grocery delivery.
Do the math on your hour. If your time is worth $100 an hour in your business and a VA costs $25, every hour you hand off is a good trade, as long as you use the hour you freed up for work that matters.
Start small. Five hours a week. One task. Get it working before you add more.
And hand it off well, or it'll boomerang right back to you. I wrote about how in How to delegate without taking it back.
Some of it doesn't need a person at all. A lot of admin can be handled with the right tools, which I covered in I used AI to clear a week of admin.
What it looks like
One client manages marketing for a growing company and was doing everything herself: the strategy, the content, the editing, the trend research, the scheduling. When her boss asked her to take on a second brand, her first thought was, "I'm barely keeping up with one."
Instead of just saying yes and sinking, we figured out what she'd need to make it work. The trend research, editing, and scheduling could go to someone else. The strategy and creative direction had to stay with her.
She walked into that conversation with a plan, not a panic. People are much more likely to say yes when you bring them a solution.
Give yourself permission
You don't get a medal for doing everything yourself. Time is the one thing you can't make more of. If you can buy some of it back, it's often one of the best investments you'll make.
If you want help figuring out what to hand off first, and actually following through, let's talk.
Frequently asked questions
Does buying time make you happier?
In a 2017 study of more than 6,000 people, Whillans and colleagues found that spending money on time-saving services was linked to greater life satisfaction, across income levels.
When should a small business owner hire help?
Before you're overwhelmed. Start by listing the tasks that drain you and that someone else could do about 80% as well, then hand off a few hours a week.
Should I hire a virtual assistant or an employee?
If you mostly need someone to carry out tasks you've already planned, a virtual assistant is often enough. If you need someone to lead and make decisions, consider a more experienced hire.
Sources: Whillans, A. V., Dunn, E. W., Smeets, P., Bekkers, R., & Norton, M. I. (2017). Buying time promotes happiness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(32), 8523–8527.
