Stop Doing It All: How to Work On Your Business, Not Just In It
How to Make Time to Make More Time
If you’re a small business owner, chances are you’ve said this before:
“I just don’t have time to deal with that right now.”
Whether it’s improving a process, training your team, or setting up better systems, the list of things you should do often gets pushed aside for what feels more urgent. But here’s the truth—staying “too busy” is costing you far more than you realize.
Making time to make time isn’t indulgent—it’s the single most valuable investment you can make in your business.
The Busy Trap: When Movement Replaces Progress
Most small business owners operate in constant motion. You’re the doer, the decider, the problem solver, and the person who knows where everything lives (literally and figuratively).
But when you’re the only one holding it all together, your business becomes dependent on your presence—and that’s not scalable.
“When everything depends on you, you don’t own the business. The business owns you.”
The irony? The more you try to keep up, the less time you have to step back and fix the things that would actually save you time.
What Happens When You Don’t Make Time
When systems, communication, and clarity are missing, you start paying an invisible tax:
Time Tax: Re-explaining the same things, chasing details, or redoing work.
Energy Tax: Decision fatigue, burnout, and frustration.
Opportunity Tax: Missed chances for growth because you’re buried in the day-to-day.
The longer you delay putting structure in place, the harder it becomes to delegate—and the cycle continues.
The Simple Math of Time
Let’s say you spend one hour this week streamlining how your team communicates or documenting one recurring task. That one hour could save you ten hours next month.
Now imagine doing that once a week for a quarter. You’ve just created entire days of reclaimed time—without hiring anyone or working longer hours.
That’s what it means to make time to make time.
Three Small Shifts That Create Big Space
1. Clarify Roles
Confusion kills efficiency. When everyone knows who owns what, you eliminate redundancy and speed up decision-making. Even if you’re a small team of two, define it clearly:
Who leads daily operations?
Who manages customer follow-ups?
What’s not on your plate anymore?
2.Create Rhythm
Set predictable rhythms for communication and review. A 15-minute weekly huddle or Monday email can replace dozens of scattered texts and reactive conversations.
Structure doesn’t slow you down—it makes you faster.
3.Build Repeatability
Every business has recurring tasks: onboarding, inventory, marketing, billing. Document them once in a shared place. You don’t need a fancy system—just clarity.
When someone new joins or a process changes, you update the doc, not your entire workflow.
The Mindset Shift: Help Isn’t a Luxury
Delegating or bringing in outside support isn’t about spending money—it’s about buying back your time.
Fractional help, consultants, part-time staff, or even an extra set of eyes can save you from reinventing the wheel every week.
“The question isn’t ‘Can I afford help?’—it’s ‘What is it costing me not to get help?’”
Start Small: Your One-Hour Challenge
This week, block out one uninterrupted hour and ask yourself:
What’s the task I’m doing that someone else could own?
Where am I losing the most time?
What one thing could I fix now that would make next week smoother?
That’s how momentum begins—one intentional hour at a time.
The Bottom Line
If you want to grow, you can’t stay trapped in the weeds.
Making time to make time isn’t another item on your to-do list—it’s the thing that makes every other task easier.
Message me for my FREE Time Reclaim Checklist.
