Might you be a bottleneck in your business? Here’s a quick test:
- Are you the first in the office and the last out?
- Is it “faster if I do it myself”?
- Does revenue spike, then drop off again? Is it feast or famine?
- Do you firefight a lot?
- Do your people ask you “shall I do this or that?”
- Do you do 2 weeks work before you take a week off only to have 2 weeks work waiting for you when you get back?
If you answered more than 3, you are probably a bottleneck in your own business. And – if you are – stick around for the free worksheet at the end that will help you find the first areas to tackle to free up your time.
I had this experience myself with a former business and I see it with the founders and business owners I work with now. My calendar had lots of meetings which left me with fragmented days that I couldn’t plan anything into.
It was clear that the business dictated how I lived my life – not the other way around.
What Did I Get Wrong?
Nothing, just as you are not doing anything wrong. This is actually a sign that you are doing things right because you are sufficiently successful to be so busy.
The interesting and frustrating thing about being the bottleneck though, is that it’s not something you can DO your way out of. It’s a business shift from Do-ing to CEO-ing.
CEO-ing isn’t doing more stuff. It’s moving from being the main producer, to being the one who mostly sets direction. By creating some time through getting things done without you, then using that time to examine how your business is actually working.
The reality is that if you don’t make these critical CEO identity shifts, you will never be able to fully let go and you will never fully escape from the doing. It isn’t always easy to see where those shifts need to happen, so I’ll drop a simple tool near the bottom of this that can help.
After finally I made that shift, I started taking control of my calendar. I blocked out my diary to create uninterrupted time. I began to make the business work for me.
How to Move from Doing to CEO-ing
Look around in your business and spot the thing that is easiest and simplest to delegate, automate or outsource.
You might be like I was, with bookings coming in out of your control. You might be answering the phone and handing payments etc. It could be posting on social media, publishing your newsletter on several different platforms or creating and sending out invoices.
When you automate, delegate or put boundaries around that thing, you get time back and begin to regain control.
Then that cycle repeats – you spot the next thing that you can off-load, freeing up more of your time for the strategy and vision that only you can do.
This Isn’t Optional
This is a tricky situation to balance, but it’s not impossible. And it’s essential if you want your business to grow further and to begin to reap the benefits of the business-owner lifestyle that you hoped for when you started your business.
Next Steps
Take 10 minutes now to do the CEO Reset exercise that works whether you are a £100k or a £3m company. This helps you shift more into CEO-ing and finally uncover more that you can move off your plate first.
I’ve made this worksheet to help you do that.