Are you drowning IN your business?

After a couple of weeks of being completely exhausted at the end of the workday, I took stock on why I finished each day unenergized. I looked at my time tracker and sent mail and realized all my days had been focused IN my business. 

I was doing a ton of tasks that were supporting clients and keeping things going and nothing ON my business. I was not spending time on the bigger items that move my business forward. I was not meeting with as many referral partners. I was not setting fresh goals for the second half of the year.

While I do need to deliver services to my clients - it is what keeps my business alive and keeps me excited about the impact my business can have on other businesses, I do need to spend time on other activities. 

It was clear I was drowning IN my business. It was time to stop, evaluate, and take steps to prioritize working ON my business.

Identifying if you are drowning IN your own business can be challenging. You are plugging away, getting things done, making it happen. It is hard to recognize when you have not been dreaming about where your business is going. While there are many symptoms of drowning in your business, here are three, along with ideas on steps to take to work ON your business each week.

Your days are filled with fire drills and urgent requests.

If everything feels like it is the most critical item and your team and/or clients are making requests that require your immediate attention throughout every day of every week, you are deep IN your business.

In most businesses, there are few truly critical, urgent issues that arise. Yes, deadlines need to be met, and unexpected things happen that need to be addressed and solved quickly. And still, not everything that happens in most businesses needs to be solved immediately. When you are running from fire drill to fire drill all day, you are drowning IN your business.

To get your head above water, carve out uninterrupted time (at least an hour) to review the fire drills that are most common, identify why they keep happening and steps that can be taken to prevent them going forward. Whether it is improving systems or processes, training team members on how to respond to certain situations, or delegating who responds, taking these steps will free up space for you to work ON your business. 

Your days are filled with billable hours and client delivery.

If you look at your time tracker and/or reflect on your day to find the hours you worked were all on client delivery, you are deep IN your business.

Running a business requires more than delivering service. While the financial statement or bank account balance may make you smile (assuming you have a moment to review those), not having time to cultivate relationships and strengthen partnerships means you are drowning IN your business and the financial statements in a few months may not make you smile. 

As the owner, balance between delivery and running the business is required. Prioritize tasks critical to building a successful, sustainable business. Get the meetings of your referral partner groups on the calendar and hold firm to attending. Reach out to a few good referral sources and schedule lunch or coffee. One conversation with a partner to maintain a strong relationship each week is how you can know that even when the client load gets heavier, you are always working ON relationships that will bring the future of your business to your door. 

Your days are filled with meetings.

If your calendar is back-to-back meetings with no open spaces, you are deep IN your business. 

Building your business requires thinking and creativity. Sitting in meetings talking about specific client or team member needs all day limits the space you have to focus on where the business is going. When you cannot spend time thinking about your ideal customer and how to find them, or what you need for your new product or service, you are drowning IN your business.

Meetings are unavoidable. Being intentional about which meetings you, as the owner, attend is key to not getting bogged down with meetings. Review your calendar and identify which meetings you do not need to be present. Communicate with the team member you want leading the meetings you are not attending. Express confidence in their ability to run the meeting and reach the necessary outcome. Giving your team the space they need to do their jobs without you will give you the space to use your calendar to dream about what your business needs to achieve your vision.

Working ON your business is critical to building a sustainable business. It is imperative if you are going to be able to meet changing customer needs and maintain ongoing revenue. What you focus ON will be different each week and month. The key is not missing opportunities that will be presented when you look at the broader picture of your business. 

Want more support identifying ways to focus ON your business, take the “ON vs IN“ Challenge and get support working on your business over 7 days. In 15-minutes a day, you can get your head above water, look around at your business and see what you need to do to move forward.