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Focusing time and energy

Where do you add value to your business?

Time and energy management and focusing on strategic/long-term activities rather than being ‘seduced’ by tactical/urgent actions has been a topic of discussion in some of my recent business development workshops and business development groups.

Sian Rowsell business development workshop

Remembering my Lean training, I’ve been asking:

In the eyes of your customers, where do you add most value?

What are the activities that they would, or do, pay for?

What are the ‘jobs to be done’?

Try this exercise:

Thinking of your processes or ‘jobs to be done’, ask yourself and capture:

What are all the tasks that need to be done?

(include both value-adding and ‘necessary but non-value adding’ tasks)

Then ask:

What needs to be done by me?

You can do anything but not everything

You can do anything but not everything – David Allen

This feels so true when you’re running your own business, particularly if you are a one (wo)man band…

We can drive ourselves to distraction and work long into the night and still not get everything done we feel we need to do…

But even if we are the only person in our business, we can outsource, we can collaborate with others and divide responsibilities – but sometimes we don’t..

By saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?

I have a coach who asks this great question:

By saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?

If I spend my time book-keeping, cleaning my office, booking travel, finding workshop venues… what am I not spending my time on?

Delegation of these activities does cost money,  but they also take time to do – there is an ‘opportunity cost’ to be factored in…

What value am I putting on my time??

For more thoughts on delegation see this guest blog I wrote for Rachael Chiverton Ltd.

What do you want to focus your time and energy on – where will you add value?

Thinking back to your tasks captured above, can you start chipping away at the lower-value activities?

Ask yourself:

1. What might make sense for me to delegate that I am currently doing myself?
2. What drains my energy, or what am I perhaps not best at?
3. Would delegating this to someone else free me up to do the stuff I love, where I can add the most value..?

Where do you add value in your business?

What about you? Where do you add most value?

Let me know by adding your comments below.

To find out how you can focus your time and energy on where you add most value, please get in touch via the contact form or call me on +44 7526 740486.

[To get your free copy of the eBook ’10 questions to ask yourself about your business’ with exercises like the ones above, sign up for my fortnightly newsletter using the sign up box on the top right of this page, or at the foot of the page if you’re viewing on a mobile device.]

Best wishes!

Sian

7 replies
  1. Caylie | Better Business Better Life
    Caylie | Better Business Better Life says:

    These are the types of questions I’ve been asking myself recently.

    Doing so meant that before my current launch I outsourced social media image creation because although I LOVE teaching how to use Facebook Live to make money, it despise making images for other posts types.

    I’ll ask myself again post launch.

    Reply
  2. Eileen Burns
    Eileen Burns says:

    Sian very valid points, thanks for tthis..oh this has came at the right time… I seriously need to delegate I do at times but more than no then end up doing things myself lol

    Reply

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