You started your business so you could do what you love and make money doing it. Just like the old saying, "do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life."
Only problem is, when you're dreaming about being a business owner, you forget about all that is involved in being a business owner. There's:
Sales and marketing (networking, social media, email follow-ups, qual calls, newsletters)
Sorting through and prioritizing emails
Listing products on your website
Writing blogs
Set up automation
Write SOPs
Preparation/set up so you can do your actual job
Fill in the blank here
The way I see it, there are two type of activities in any business:
Money-making activities. That is, the thing you do to create revenue. Whether it's writing contracts as a lawyer, doing taxes as a tax person, building a team for your network marketing business, or running a brick & mortar business, you know what it is that generates revenue.
Everything else on your to-do list.
The thing is, only YOU know what falls into the first category. Everything else is just busy work…busy-ness disguising itself as business.
Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish the two.
So, here are some steps to take to get back to business.
Take at least two days, preferably three to five, to document all the things you do in a workday. One of those days should include your CEO day (and if you're not doing this, why the heck not?)
Spend some time reviewing the list and put a💲next to anything that actually generates revenue.
Everything else is busy-ness.
Now you can break down the busy-ness even further because sometimes you actually LIKE to do some of those tasks (note: you should also be proficient at them).
Find the tasks you like to do and are proficient in. Put a 🙂 next to it.
Anything that's left after THAT, consider ways to streamline, automate, or outsource.
Where are the opportunities to automate so that a simple click of a button will start a process that doesn't need your input until it's time to step into your genius zone?
If you notice things are falling through the cracks because you forget a step, consider writing a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the task (ex., onboarding clients). This ensures that the task Is performed the same way each time, whether you do it or someone else does it for you.
There will always be tasks that require a human to accomplish but are not quite worthy of your genius time. These things should be outsourced. (ex., social media, product listings, data entry)
If you're reading the above and think, "this sounds overwhelming," this is my business and my genius zone.
Reach out and schedule a strategy call.
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