WORKING ‘ON’ VS ‘IN’ YOUR BUSINESS
- Business Sense
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
We’ve all heard it: “You’ve got to work ON your business, not just IN it.” But what does that actually mean? And more importantly – how do you do it?
The short answer is this:
■ Working IN your business means keeping the machine running.
■ Working ON it means stepping back to improve the machine.
Most Business Owners Get Stuck “IN”
Even the most experienced owners I coach spend too much time in their businesses. And it’s understandable – you’ve built it, you know every job better than anyone else, and you probably care more than anyone else ever will. Your clients know you by name. Your team brings you problems. You’ve trained everyone – without realising it – to rely on you. But if you’re always In, you will be stuck there forever unless you do the work to build a profitable business that works without you.
The Nine Hats of Business A great tool I use with clients starts with defining the nine roles every business owner must wear in a typical week. These are typically: marketing, sales, delivery/operations, finance, human resources, information technology, administration, strategic management, and personal development.
We do a time audit:
■ Where are you currently spending your hours?
■ Where should you be spending them? As a rule of thumb, we aim for:
■ 50% of your time on marketing and sales (doing or directing)
■ 30% or less on delivery/ operations
■ The rest across strategy, learning, and building the team You grow the business by freeing yourself from the day-to-day tactical work, and focus on high value, high yield activities.
The Skill/Fun Matrix
T his tool changes how people see their own time. Plot each task based on:
1. How skilled you are at it
2. How much fun (or energy) the task gives you
You’ll naturally spend your time in the high skill/high fun zone – that is your comfort zone. But the low skill/low fun zone? That’s the danger zone. Those are the things you’ll avoid, even if they’re important.
If something is strategically critical but you hate it, do one of two things:
1. Skill up (get trained, read up, or get coached)
2. Delegate or outsource to someone who is better at it and enjoys it more
You can even use this with your team to help everyone stay in their ‘flow’ state.
The Default Diary
We bring it all together with the default diary. This is your weekly plan, blocked out to include protected time for working ON the business.
Without it, urgent always wins. With it, the important stuff gets the space it deserves and gets done! Your time investment should either:
■ Make the business more profitable, or
■ Free up more of your time
We build time management system with clients based on their goals, industry rhythm, and working style.
CASE STUDY
From Chaos to Clarity – One Tradesman’s Turnaround
Let me give you a quick example. An artisan client of mine – let’s call him Mike – ran a construction business. Mike was your classic hands-on owner: up at 4am to dispatch crews, quoting on-site all day, putting out fires, chasing payments – and never catching up. He told me, like many clients do, “Trevor, you don’t understand. My business is different. A default diary would never work for me.”
But once we coached him through designing a realistic ‘ideal week’, something changed. We didn’t pretend the emergencies would vanish. We just made room for them and protected the slots that mattered most.
He started blocking time to call existing clients, attend networking events, and update his social media – not ad hoc, but scheduled. The result? Better leads. More of the work he actually wanted.
We also carved out time for learning, coaching, and – critically – financial reviews. That’s when cash flow improved. Debtors stopped creeping over 60 days. He dropped a few low-margin product lines and improved profitability on the rest.
And here’s the best part: He got his afternoons back. He started attending his daughter’s sports matches. Same business. Less chaos. More life. More profit.
What About You? If you’re constantly stuck in the weeds, I promise it doesn’t have to be that way. Working ON your business isn’t just for corporate types. It’s for anyone who wants more profit, less stress, and maybe even a little time to breathe.
Want a copy of the Nine Hats Worksheet, or the Skill/Fun Matrix?
Drop me a message. Happy to share. To your success:
T: +27 (0)31 266 2258
