By Solomon Thimothy, who is on a mission to help as many entrepreneurs as possible start and scale their businesses. | President of OneIMS.
Work on the business, not in the business. I’m sure you’ve heard this advice not once—and not even twice. However, very few people explain how to do it. So many business owners struggle to move away from the operational work. If you’re one of them, then this five-step action plan is for you.
Below is my personal recipe for how to regain control over your time and start doing the kind of work you enjoy. Author’s note: You may not like what you read. If that’s the case, print it out and put it on the wall. Thank me later.
Let’s go.
1. Get brutally honest with yourself.
Your two biggest enemies are perfectionism and ego. Many entrepreneurs feel like nobody can do their job better than them. And while it might be true, there’s no way one person can do it all. If your goal is to grow your business, you are going to need a team.
Start by assessing your current role. What tasks really require your expertise and what can be delegated? What’s keeping you from letting go? Are you giving authority to your people? Are they allowed to make mistakes and learn from them? Give yourself honest answers.
Next, define your desired role in the company. For example, you will be responsible for XYZ and delegate X number of operational tasks to other people in six months. Be sure to set a realistic timeline for this change, taking into account team training and adjustment period.
2. Fire yourself.
Now that you’ve set the goal for yourself and your business, start executing your vision. Build a competent team that will help you make that transition. Once again, let go of perfectionism and accept that some tasks are better done than perfect. The most optimal combination is having A players manage B players to get things done.
Next, start delegating tasks one by one. Prioritize them by the level of complexity and overall impact—from the easiest to the most difficult. Some tasks can be delegated much faster than others. Also, don’t expect your team to execute everything perfectly in two weeks. There will be a learning curve and you should account for it.
3. Optimize your processes.
Together with your team, map out all of your key processes and identify bottlenecks. Next, see how you can streamline them. There are countless automation tools that will help you eliminate repetitive tasks and improve workflows.
Depending on your current situation, this can mean many different things. If you’ve been running your business from Excel spreadsheets, think about implementing a CRM system and email automation. If you are more experienced with tech, consider synchronizing your apps or integrating more AI-based tools into your operations.
4. Get greedy with your time.
This is probably one of the hardest changes for business owners. To achieve your big goal, which is moving away from the operational work, you’ve got to stop letting the urgent take over the important.
Start blocking time for revenue-generating, high-value activities and let small failures happen. Some people will get upset and some tasks will not be done properly. That’s okay. Be willing to pay this price for a bigger gain.
Busy work like checking emails and responding to Slack messages will not get you anywhere. And you may be surprised to discover that half of all the seemingly urgent questions somehow resolve themselves. Trust your team to take care of everything on their own and be religious about your time blocks. Your main work must be done no matter what.
5. Fill in your personal growth gaps.
One of the reasons why many entrepreneurs keep slipping back into operational work is procrastination, which is usually a fear in disguise. Let me explain. I find that people operate in two modes: from the place of comfort or from the place of growth. The latter is always scary. It requires learning the skills you don’t have and failing, sometimes publicly. However, there’s no other way to grow.
If you want to break through that glass ceiling, you have to go back to step number one and get honest with yourself. Acknowledge that you lack the skills to achieve your goals and admit that operational work is your comfort zone. You might not enjoy it, but you are very good at it. That’s why you do it. And now the choice is yours. You can stay in a warm bath or throw yourself into the wild jungle.
These tips come from my personal experience and the experience of many entrepreneurs I’ve worked with over the years. I hope they’ll help you understand where you are and how to get to achieve your goals. Embrace honesty and trust, and you will reach your goals.
