From Firefighting to Freedom

So, you read our ‘the silent fire’ blog. Digested it. Got a bit scared. Then you deleted it.

Am I right?

If you’re struggling to find time to work ‘on’ your business right now, and on tackling this issue, you’re not alone.

Let me ask you a couple of questions: 

1. Can you walk away from your business today for one month and come back to it still operating smoothly and profitably?
2. Can you even escape for 2 weeks? A week? Have you ever had a work-free holiday?

If you answered “no” to all of these, you’re a prisoner of your business, and unless you change something, you’re going to be firefighting forever more.

Here are some initial steps to help you establish a healthier work-life balance and carve out time to focus working ‘on’ your business, as discussed in our previous email:

1. Track your time – Use an app like Toggl to track your time and see how many hours you’re actually working each week, and where that time is being spent. Also track how many times you get sidetracked – notifications on your phone, responding to emails, checking social media.After 2-3 weeks, review your time. You may be surprised to see where you’re spending your time. Question whether you are the only person who can do that task…
2. Delegate or automate – After reviewing where you’re spending your time, are there areas you can delegate, use AI or other apps to automate processes.
3. Plan in time to work ‘on’ your business – “If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail”. Start small, it could be an hour at the end of your working week, working up to a day with your strategic hat on.
4. Find an accountability partner – Sometimes you need more than a plan to do what you said you’d do. You need accountability. Someone to check in and push you to meet your goals. We’re not afraid to remind you of your goals and if you’re not making steps to reach them.
5. Create systems – One of the best ways to give you more time to work on your business is setting up systems and routines. Systems, automations and workflows take time to setup, but in the long run, having things automated or mapped out for another member of staff will save you so much time.We’ll be sharing more detail on how to set up systems next week.

Emma White FCA (Partner at A4G) actually did a whole podcast episode on this area.

In a 30 minute podcast she shares her advice and tips for how to use your time more effectively (citing the 60:30:10 rule and the 5 D’s of management) and how to ensure you as the business owner are in the right roles.