Time is what your short of not money.
Time Is What You’re Short Of — Not Money
People often say that time is money, but I’m not sure that is quite right. Money can be lost and earned again; time cannot. Once it has gone, it has gone.
When you are young, you often have plenty of time but not much money, so you spend years trying to solve the money problem. You work hard, take risks and build a business. Then, if you are fortunate, you eventually reach a point where you realise that money may no longer be the thing you are short of.
Time is.
I think this is particularly relevant in the antiques trade. We can spend half a day travelling to look at something because we might make £100 on it, or hours researching, cleaning and negotiating over an object that may not make much at all. We then congratulate ourselves on having bought it cheaply.
But cheaply is not always cheaply.
The real question is sometimes not, “How much money will I make?” but, “How much of my time will this take?”
Money can usually be replaced. An afternoon cannot.
At Top Banana Antiques, buying well is obviously important, but the best purchase is not always the one with the biggest possible profit. Sometimes it is the one you understand, can price confidently and can sell quickly, without endless repairs, research, phone calls and months of storage.
As you get older, perhaps one of the best things money can do is buy you back some of your own time. Let other people do the jobs that do not need you. Spend your time on the things you are good at, the things you enjoy and the things only you can do.
After all, we do not build businesses simply to spend every hour running them.
Money gives you choices, but time is the one thing none of us can earn back.
So perhaps the greatest luxury is not having more money. Perhaps it is having enough money to decide how you spend your time.
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