The Most Expensive Mistake in My Business

Executive Summary

In this post, I share how rereading Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell reminded me of a crucial lesson I first learned while running my property management business: just because you're good at something doesn't mean it's the best use of your time. I explore the concept of the Buyback Rate, how easy it is to fall back into old habits—even in a new business—and the mindset shift required to truly grow. Whether you're the spreadsheet-loving entrepreneur or the visionary caught in the weeds, this piece will challenge you to evaluate your time, your tasks, and your true role in scaling your business.

"I’ve Been Here Before…"

Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. An organization only thrives when its members are all doing what is the highest and best use of their time. And for the business owner? That means focusing on high-level strategic work that grows the business, not getting lost in the weeds.

My background is administrative—finance, process and spreadsheets are basically my love language. So when I was running my property management company, I naturally found myself deep in the details: building out workflows, creating financial projections and other misc spreadsheets. Important work? Absolutely. But it wasn’t the highest and best use of my time.

The truth is, much of that work could have been outsourced for a fraction of my Buyback Rate. And when I finally calculated that number, it was a wake-up call. I realized I was spending way too much time on tasks that, while comfortable and familiar, were ultimately holding the business back.

It’s hard to let go of something you're good at—especially when it feels productive. But if you want to grow, if you want to scale, you have to be ruthless about your time. As Dan Martell puts it in Buy Back Your Time:

"You can’t build a $10 million company doing ten dollar an hour work."

That quote hit me all over again when I picked up the book recently. I wasn’t new to the concept—but I needed the reminder.

Fast-forward to today, and I’m a few chapters deep into my next business venture. Things are growing, opportunities are multiplying, and the calendar is filling up. But something felt off. It was familiar. A little too familiar.

Reading the book again made it clear: I had become the bottleneck again. So, I’m making a shift. I’m bringing on admin help—not just to lighten the load, but to reset my time and refocus on the work that truly moves the needle.

The Buyback Rate Refresher

Let’s talk about this concept of the Buyback Rate—because if you’re not already using it to make decisions in your business, this one’s a game-changer.

Here’s the basic idea: take your income goal (let’s say you want to earn $250,000 a year), divide it by the number of hours you’re willing to work (say, 2,000 hours a year), and boom—that’s your Buyback Rate. In this case, it’s $125/hour. That means anything you’re doing that could be delegated or outsourced for less than $125/hour? It’s probably time to let it go.

It’s a deceptively simple formula with huge implications. Because once you know your rate, your calendar stops being a to-do list and starts becoming a filter. Suddenly, every task has to justify itself.

That spreadsheet you’re spending two hours tweaking? That’s a $250 decision.

The inbox you’re obsessively checking and sorting? Probably costing you more than you think.

This isn’t about devaluing the work—it’s about realigning your role. You’re not building a business so you can do everything. You’re building a business so you can build something bigger than you.

Knowing your Buyback Rate doesn’t just help you prioritize—it helps you protect your time, energy, and focus. And if you’re anything like me, it reminds you to stop glorifying busy and start honoring value.

You Can Be Good at It and Still Need to Let It Go

One of the most surprising traps we fall into as entrepreneurs is holding onto tasks not because we have to, but because we’re good at them. There’s comfort in competence. It feels good to knock something out quickly, to feel productive, to know we can do it better than most.

But here’s the kicker: just because you can do something well doesn’t mean it’s where your energy should go.

For me, the sneakiest culprit has always been the work I enjoy. Building systems, tweaking spreadsheets, color-coding financial dashboards—it’s oddly therapeutic. But enjoying something isn’t the same as needing to own it. That’s where Buy Back Your Time really drove the point home again.

Dan Martell talks about energy audits—identifying which tasks drain you and which ones fuel you. But there’s another category worth noticing: the things that feel energizing but are still keeping you small. The comfort tasks. The ones that make you feel accomplished without actually moving the needle.

That’s why I’ve had to put a spotlight on my own habits. It’s not just about eliminating low-value work—it’s about letting go of good work so I can create great outcomes.

And sometimes, the hardest thing to give up is the thing you’re great at.

The shift I’m making now? It’s less about removing tasks I dislike, and more about releasing control over the things I like—so I can focus on the work that only I can do: vision, leadership, growth.

Because if I want this next chapter to look different, I have to lead differently.

The Real Enemy of Growth? Familiarity

What makes this concept so tricky isn’t just the math—it’s the mindset. Familiarity can be comforting, especially when you’re building something new. In the early stages of any business, it feels safe to stay in the weeds, to tackle the tasks you know how to do, the ones that make you feel in control.

But that familiarity becomes a trap.

You tell yourself it’s just for now. That once things settle down, you’ll hand it off. But the truth is, there is no "later" unless you make it happen now.

Every minute spent in comfort zones is a minute stolen from creation, innovation, and leadership.

Martell talks about this moment as hitting "the pain line." It’s when your capacity maxes out and the friction becomes unbearable. Most people push through it. But the smartest entrepreneurs recognize it as the cue to let go—to stop white-knuckling control and start leveling up leadership.

And for me? That pain line looked like a packed schedule, stagnant progress, and a growing list of strategic ideas collecting dust in a notebook.

Familiarity was killing my momentum. It was time to break the cycle.

The question I had to ask myself—and the one I’d challenge you to ask—is this:

"What am I holding onto because it’s familiar—not because it’s effective?"

That’s the beginning of real growth. Not when you add more to your plate, but when you start handing off what doesn’t belong there.

Final Thought: Scale Requires Surrender

If there’s one thing Buy Back Your Time reminded me, it’s this: the next level of growth doesn’t come from grinding harder—it comes from letting go.

Letting go of tasks you’ve mastered. Letting go of the belief that only you can do them. Letting go of the identity you built around being the “go-to” for everything.

That’s not failure. That’s leadership.

Every breakthrough I’ve had in business has come after a moment of surrender—where I stopped asking, “How can I do more?” and started asking, “What should I not be doing at all?”

So, here’s my challenge to you:

Open your calendar. Look at your task list. Run your Buyback Rate. Be brutally honest.

Then take the first step to buy back your time.

Because the freedom, the scale, the fulfillment—they don’t come when you hustle harder. They come when you finally lead like the business depends on it.

Because it does.