Kevin O'Leary Says This Is Your Most Valuable Asset if You're an Entrepreneur

It's not money, talent, or business acumen.

As a successful businessman himself, Kevin O'Leary often gives out helpful advice for entrepreneurs. On his Twitter account, he recently asked entrepreneurs if they know what their most valuable asset is.

The answer, according to O'Leary, is your time. He's not the first person to make this claim, and he's correct that managing your time well is a crucial part of succeeding as an entrepreneur.

Why time is an entrepreneur's most valuable asset

For starters, everyone's time is valuable, whether or not they're an entrepreneur. There's a limited amount of time in the day, and if you don't use it wisely, it quickly goes to waste. The occasional day where you procrastinate and don't get much done isn't a big deal, but if it happens multiple days in a row, that's when it can tank your productivity.

However, for entrepreneurs, making the most of that limited amount of time is especially important. Launching and running a small business isn't a full-time job -- it's several full-time jobs rolled into one.

In the early stages, you need to find a profitable business idea and develop a business plan. After that, you're building from the ground up and managing every aspect of your business. And if you're like most entrepreneurs, you'll be doing all that while still working your regular job, at least until your business earns enough to support you.

Since being an entrepreneur is so time-intensive, good time management skills are a huge part of your success or failure. If you do this well, you'll have more time to put into your business, which makes it more likely to succeed.

How to improve your time management skills

Time management may sound simple, but there's a lot more to it than many people realize. Here are some tips you can use as an entrepreneur to make better use of your time.

Schedule your time

The key to using your time wisely is having a schedule for what you'll work on each day. Lots of entrepreneurs like to use time blocking, a technique where you set aside blocks of time for specific tasks. For example, you could schedule work on a project from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., team meetings from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and so on.

If you don't have a plan for your day, it's easy to get distracted. You might not know where to start, or you could bounce from task to task. Setting a schedule helps keep you on track and maximize efficiency.

Hire skilled workers and delegate tasks

Successful entrepreneurs quickly learn that they can't do it all, and being able to delegate is critical. Some tasks are outside your area of expertise. If you need to build a website for your business, and you know nothing about how to do that, your best bet is to hire a web designer who does. Sure, you could learn to do this yourself. There's plenty of information out there online. But it's going to take a lot of time that you could be spending elsewhere.

There are also tasks that, even though you could handle them, likely aren't worth doing yourself. For example, if you're bogged down with emails, hiring a virtual assistant could clear up quite a bit of time in your day.

Use the right tools

One task that is worth your time is finding tools that can help you work more efficiently. For example, a daily planner app can help you schedule your time so you always know what task to work on throughout the day. If you frequently meet with clients, an appointment scheduling software can keep track of all those meetings for you.

Know when to cut your losses

Not every idea is going to be a success. Learn how to recognize when something isn't working out so you don't spend your time chasing a bad idea.

An example that O'Leary mentioned is knowing when to shut down a failing business. Many businesses fail, and this is a part of life for every entrepreneur. Instead of trying to save a failing business, move on and use that time to think of a better business idea.

O'Leary's advice to entrepreneurs is a good reminder of how valuable your time is. If you develop your time management skills, then you will have much better odds of succeeding with your business ventures.