How to work on your business and not in your business?

[Growth & Learn]

Hey all,
I first heard this concept when I read the E-myth revisited. I think the concept is brilliant but I'm not 100% sure how to do it. How I should shift my time or reallocate my resources. For those of you who subscribe to this philosophy....

What things do you do work on your business and not in your business?
How did you figure out how to change your day to day activities to shift this paradigm?

I'm still caught in the day to day too much. Some of this is because I don't know what I should be doing to change this.

 

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[Yoda]

I'm still caught in the day to day too much.

The first thing you can (should) do is note every single task you do. Every single one.

The ones which you do repeatedly and don't directly affect your bottom line are the ones you need to focus on to either 1.) minimize, 2.) delegate, or 3.) cut out altogether.

Next, focus on the ones which are menial, but matter. Same process. Track, reduce, and/or eliminate.

Next, focus on those tasks which are more critical and likely could bottleneck your business if gone uncompleted, but still not necessarily requiring you're hand. At this stage, removal is unlikely, so delegation is more likely the best bet. It may also require in-house hiring, or at least a contractor/VA.

Finally, hiring managers to oversee just below you would be the next step. These are the tasks which require some type of specialization, training, or brand-type knowledge exclusive to your business.

When you're at this point, you speak to the managers mostly. Don't disregard the rest, but utilize your time growing the top of your funnel, or driving margins to your favor.

Disclaimer: depending on type of business, MMV.

 

[Omni]

From another perspective, the processes currently existing in your business and will maintain your current results trajectory. Your focus is to move away from the day to day operations so you can execute strategically (and focus on higher value tasks). And @Yoda's post is spot on with the improvement and delegation of day-to-day operations to free up your time so you can spend your time on the strategic/growth aspects.

With the growth aspect, first you'll be the one who focuses on these initiatives. Then the biggest gains come from hiring people to grow the business without you.

 

[Growth & Learn]

The first thing you can (should) do is note every single task you do. Every single one.

The ones which you do repeatedly and don't directly affect your bottom line are the ones you need to focus on to either 1.) minimize, 2.) delegate, or 3.) cut out altogether.

Next, focus on the ones which are menial, but matter. Same process. Track, reduce, and/or eliminate.

Next, focus on those tasks which are more critical and likely could bottleneck your business if gone uncompleted, but still not necessarily requiring you're hand. At this stage, removal is unlikely, so delegation is more likely the best bet. It may also require in-house hiring, or at least a contractor/VA.

Finally, hiring managers to oversee just below you would be the next step. These are the tasks which require some type of specialization, training, or brand-type knowledge exclusive to your business.

When you're at this point, you speak to the managers mostly. Don't disregard the rest, but utilize your time growing the top of your funnel, or driving margins to your favor.

Disclaimer: depending on type of business, MMV.

Great insight. Thanks.
So, are you sitting there with a notebook and writing down everything you do? Does it disrupt your workflow to do this?

What about the tasks that are new or have a variation to them changes somewhat regularly... how do you address that?

 

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[Yoda]

So, are you sitting there with a notebook and writing down everything you do? Does it disrupt your workflow to do this?

If you had to train a 3rd grader to do your job, would you write down everything you do?

Of course it disrupts your workflow... thankfully! If you keep doing what you're doing and don't disrupt the pattern, it'll never change. Embrace the effort because the disruption is a direct lead to fixing the problem in the long run.

It's like a diet. If you are a super newb and don't understand food, and you asked a dietitian what to do... don't you think they'd tell you to write down everything you ate so you could go over it?

Track, modify, win.

 

[Siberia]

Hey all,
I first heard this concept when I read the E-myth revisited. I think the concept is brilliant but I'm not 100% sure how to do it. How I should shift my time or reallocate my resources. For those of you who subscribe to this philosophy....

What things do you do work on your business and not in your business?
How did you figure out how to change your day to day activities to shift this paradigm?

I'm still caught in the day to day too much. Some of this is because I don't know what I should be doing to change this.

Hi,
It's easy! You have not to work in the enterprise, but on the enterprise.