If I had a nickel for every time someone says “I don’t have time to work on my business” I’d be one wealthy woman. The reality is we find time for the things we prioritize, but I digress.
Instead, I’m going to assume these people really don’t have time to work on their businesses. I’m also going to assume they could find time if they tried. After all, sometimes it’s not a matter of making time (we can’t really do that), but rather finding the holes that are sucking away our valuable time.
Here are some ways you can easily find time to work on your most important business goals.
Drop clients that aren’t worth it.
I recently received an email from a potential student of my group coaching program where they told me they dropped a client. This is a client that, for many months, had turned into a bit of a nightmare and was taking away their time.
One day they finally realized she could be doing so much more for her business if they got rid of them – so they did. Now they have the time to focus on the things that truly matter to the growth of their business, like a rebrand.
If you look at your client roster, you’ll probably find one or two that are more headaches than they are worth. Chances are they probably aren’t paying you enough either (because that’s often the case). By dropping those that don’t have respect for your time, you suddenly find time to work on your endeavors.
Say no more often.
One of the reasons we may feel like we don’t have time to work on our businesses is because we’ve taken on way too much already. This is especially true in the following scenarios:
- You’re just starting out so you feel like you need to take everything that comes your way.
- You believe more work equals more money. (This isn’t really true but that’s a topic for another time.)
- You feel bad saying no.
As a business owner, you must guard your time like a hawk. That means you need to stop giving it away to things that don’t matter.
For instance, do you continue going to specific events even though it has yielded nothing for you? Do you volunteer your time instead of asking to be compensated? Do you automatically say “yes” without first evaluating whether or not its worth it?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, it’s time you get more selfish with your time. In doing so, you find time to propel your business forward.
Let go of things that aren’t working.
I have a coaching client who holds on to a lot. For example, she was holding on to an idea that did not work just because she’d already invested so much time and money into it. This idea meant she kept wasting time.
Sometimes we feel emotionally attached to ideas, events, products or services because we don’t want to feel like failures. The real failure is in holding on to things that aren’t yielding results. If you’re able to get rid of them, you find time to work on things that do work.
Final Thoughts
In order to find time to work on our businesses, we must become more discerning with what we’re currently doing with our time. You can begin by looking at where you are wasting it in order to correct the situation.
Amanda Abella
Amanda is a best-selling author of "Make Money Your Honey", a book that helps freelancers and business owners understand their relationship with money and how to make it more productive. She's driven by helping others live the most productive and fruitful way possible.