Not enough time to build your business?
Here’s what the issue REALLY is — & how to solve it
What’s your biggest struggle in finding more time to build your business?
If you’re like many aspiring entrepreneurs creating a side hustle, or full-time in your business but still doing most things on your own, you experience time management issues.
Mary told me she had trouble in two areas of time management:
1. Letting go of things she could get someone else can do
2. Getting distracted with non-income producing tasks
I think we can all relate to that; in fact, these are two of the biggest time sucks I see high-achievers dealing with on the daily.
But here’s the truth — the problem is USUALLY NOT an actual lack of time.
Even if your life is very full, even if your calendar is jam-packed.
You might be shaking your head, thinking, “Yeah, but you haven’t seen MY schedule.”
While that might be true, in talking with hundreds of people in your position, the actual problem is almost ALWAYS a lack of focus or clarity.
Here’s what I mean:
If, when you do manage to carve out five minutes to work on your business (even if it’s in the bathroom at work or your closet at home, ahem), but you don’t know what to do or say — that’s not a time problem, that’s a clarity problem.
If you have 10 things on your list, but you don’t know which one to do first or which one will move your business forward the most, that’s a focus problem.
If I sit down and say, “I finally have an hour to myself!” and I have a list of things to do, and I don’t eliminate distractions and focus on pitching the podcast, or developing that opt-in, I will end up numbing the anxiety I feel in my brain by scrolling or jumping down a rabbit hole, or doing mindless admin tasks that need to get done… but aren’t going to move my business forward that day.
The same is true if you finally sit down with a whole half-day to yourself on a weekend to tackle a big project you’ve been procrastinating on, like creating your website, for example. If you don’t have a clear plan and it’s something you’ve never done before, your brain is likely to freak out with all of the options and the newness, and before you know it, you may find yourself scrolling social media because that’s what’s familiar.
How do you rein that overwhelm and overload back in?
Well, IF you already have a clearly defined niche, there are only two things you need to be doing to grow your business: marketing and visibility.
If you’re not growing your audience, if you’re not staying consistently in front of people, then you’re not growing your business.
Martha said she has trouble finding time to plan for the long-term. Continuously spends too much time in the everyday tasks. This is the classic entrepreneur problem of working ON the business instead of IN the business, right?
It makes us feel productive, because who doesn’t love checking things off a to-do list, but if we’re not doing the most strategic things first, why are we even doing the admin tasks? We won’t have a business to manage!
Those admin tasks that we prioritize? They are always going to get done. You’re always going to check your email and social media. So put those things LAST. Get visible, create, connect, FIRST.
Give the most important things your BEST. Otherwise, you’re just perpetuating the not enough time problem.
With limited time, if it doesn’t fit in one of these two categories, then it doesn’t make the cut. It’s not a yes. Whether you have a super long commute, or super demanding job , or you’re home and trying to replace an income, or you’re already full-time in your biz, but you still aren’t making the money you want.
These are your priority, and what you test everything against. If something doesn’t fit into one of these two goals, it’s a no for you.
Goal #1: Marketing
I have a client who quit her 6-figure job…she has a busy home life, young kids, and we were talking about what is the one thing she needs to focus on when life goes nuts, that she has to be doing consistently — I said to her “You need to be showing up.”
The way I define marketing is talking to people in your warm market. On your list, in your group, the people who follow you on Insta, whatever.
People can be really scared of this. No judgment here, because I’ve been there.
But if you’re scared of letting people know what you’re doing and what you can do for them, then it’s holding you back.
What I found was that my first coaching clients were people that I already knew. Because I was sharing my passion for what I could do, simply being willing to talk about the things I was excited about.
So what are you so passionate about you could talk about it all day long?
Here are some things I could talk about all day long:
🗨️ How to quit your 9–5 and replace your income and scale to six figures!
🗨️ Replace your income and then some
🗨️ Overcome fear and self-doubt
🗨️ How to think like an entrepreneur
🗨️ How to make entrepreneurship really simple and helping you to thrive
What’s your thing? Once you know, ask yourself if you’re already talking about this. Or are you hiding out because you don’t want to annoy people or lose followers or friends?
Is this a struggle for you? How much are focusing your biz-building attention toward marketing to your warm market?
Goal #2: Visibility
In my definition, if marketing is to your warm market; then visibility is getting in front of a broader market of people who have no idea who you are.
For example:
✔️Posting in a Facebook group not your own;
✔️Posting on Insta with a growth strategy in mind;
✔️Writing a guest post for Thrive Global, Medium, or smaller places you get in with
✔️Guesting on podcasts
✔️Uploading to YouTube
I’m an introvert … And you know what I’ve learned? That podcasts are an amazing strategy for introverts, because it’s a built-in audience, but it’s a 1:1 conversation! You’re just talking to one person, the host. Isn’t that fantastic?
There are so many things to consider when you’re getting visible in front of new people, but if you trust your personality, preferences, and passions (3P’s!), you’re bound to put in more genuine heart and effort (that feels easy) to your visibility task.
What sort of emotions does that stir up in you? Relief at the idea of spending your time doing what you REALLY want to anyway, or fear of letting go of what’s comfortable and easy?
Next Steps
What’s 1 step you could take to build your business now? Have a question about this? Share below!
Then get your next steps to book out your business with a free chapter of my #1 bestselling book, The Income Replacement Formula: 7 Simple Steps to Doing What You Love & Making 6 Figures From Anywhere for FREE by clicking here.