The 8020 analysis, the 8020 analysis can also be called the Pareto principle, these two can be used interchangeably. So you might have heard of one or the other, or maybe not. Regardless, I'll get into it now. The 8020 analysis is something that I find particularly useful if you just find yourself too busy. But I still go through this analysis periodically. And so you probably should, too, however, when you're busy is when you definitely need to do this 8020 analysis.

Now, just briefly, according to Wikipedia, it states that for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. So how does this apply to what you do? Well, many people in many different walks of life, have started using this as a general rule of thumb. More specifically, for your business. Let's say you might find out that say 80% of your profits come 20% of your customers, or possibly that 80% of your complaints come from 20% of your customers, or that 80% of your profits come from 20% of the time you spend at work. So the ratio doesn't need to be strictly at 20.

But more often than not, it will be either 8020 or even more dramatic than that. So like 9010 or even 95 five, at least that's what I've found. So an analysis of this store can often lead to great gains. For example, if 80% of the profits come from 20% of the time you spend, and so you're spending 80% of the rest of your time for just 20% of the profit, it makes sense to drop what you're doing 80% of the time, even if you're risk losing that 20% of profit, you should still do it because then you can redirect those efforts to what is earning you 80% of your profits. And chances are you'll end up earning much more with a lot less effort. This might be a bit more clear if I give you a hypothetical example.

So Let's do that. And let's say there's client a, who is smooth as silk, right? And in the sense that she assigns you a translation with a deadline, and then you can accept and deliver, and you delivered on time, and then you get paid right away, no problem whatsoever, then let's say you have client B, who assigns a translation and then maybe you know, changes the deadline, or needs a rush job or has to add on a little bit at the end or either way in constant email communication with you back and forth about this, that and the other or formatting or whatever it is, and then maybe has a tendency to require further changes later on or wants to maybe chat with you on Skype, you know, even and stuff like that. And then when it comes time to pay, you know, ends up delaying payment, and you have to chase your money and give them reminders, etc, etc.

So what should you do? Obviously, if you're just looking at this client A is the better choice but What about if client B is paying you decently as well? Or maybe even more than a? Then you might think, be thinking, Well, okay, client B is a problem client, but you know, I am getting more money from client B than client A. So I should probably stick to client B. But this is where you should conduct an 8020 analysis.

Because once you do, you'll realize that all the time you spend on client B, will end up paying much less per hour than client a, as in, if you're constantly chasing your money dealing with all the problems and spending most of your day on it, then what do you get paid per hour or per your time? It's probably a lot less than client a where everything is relatively really smooth. So you know, what do you do at this point, because you know, you don't want to lose a chunk of your money if client B is still paying you a chunk of the money you earn. So what should you do? Well, you basically have a couple of options. First of all, you could decide to cut out client B all together and concentrate more on clients that resembled client A, this will mean that you have newfound spare time since you don't have to deal with client B anymore.

And you can use that time to find clients that are more like client a IE that are very quick and easy to work with, which means that you'll be spending the same amount of time but hopefully making more money and having an easier life. Or your second option could be to contact client B and lay down certain ground rules, say new payment terms, the maximum number of changes, or the maximum number of Skype conversations etc, etc. You don't have to be mean about it, but you can be firm and just specify that your other clients are following these protocols. And the worst case scenario here is that they decide not to do business anymore, which is a good thing anyway puts you back and to the first option, which is where you cut out client meal together. So it might be worth following either one or two of these regardless though periodic a 20 analyses are great.

And in fact, I recommend doing them not only for your work, but for other things in life in general and you'll find that you'll be spending a lot less time doing a lot less fruitful endeavors and spending more time on things that are more useful and that you get more enjoyment from