NEW: Emma Brown

I’m thinking about how busy I am, and how much I do, and wondering which parts of it are just a lot of wheel spinning. This week, I am taking stock and taking charge.

Stop the wheel spinning

This week, my blog is for me. I’m going to heed my own advice. This week, I’m thinking about how busy I am, and how much I do, and wondering which parts of it are just a lot of wheel spinning. This week, I am taking stock and taking charge.

Have a think about all the tasks you do in your week, and what consumes your time, and ask yourself three questions.

1. Does this task have to be done?
2. What’s the result in profit if I do this task?
3. Can someone else do it for me?

Let’s look at the first question. Whenever I have to do a task, I ask myself “what’s the worst thing that could happen if I don’t do this?” Too often we get consumed with our to-do list, thinking we must complete everything on it. The next month, that task is obsolete and it just took a lot of our time and energy.

Get harsh with yourself and start the opposite – a “stop-doing” list. List all the things you must stop doing and you’ll find you’ll buy back a lot of your time. Which processes or systems in your business are there “just because” that’s the way it’s always done? Where can you gain efficiencies?

Stay with me for question 2. If you want to run a profitable, successful business, you must be focused on the bottom line. Often we’re focused on activity and how much we do, and not our results. It’s one thing to be busy, and another to be productive. Think about the end game. The result you want. Don’t get proud about all the stuff you do in between. If it’s not giving you the results you want, then change the activity so that it now supports your outcomes.

Lastly, there’s question 3. Do you know what your time is worth on an hourly basis? If not, take a moment and work it out. Now, write it on a sheet of paper above your desk – “I am currently worth xx per hour”. Now look at your to-do list, and see if there’s someone else who can do it for you that is going to charge you less. I hear a lot of entrepreneurs and business people say “Oh, I will hire that person when I can afford it”, but the truth is that if you’re doing the work yourself, it’s potentially costing you more.

Next week, I’m going to implement my advice. The wheels will stop spinning and this car will be on the road. Fast lane of course.

Emma Brown, at 27, has bought three businesses and sold one. She is Chief Chick of Business Chicks – www.businesschicks.com.au , Australia’s leading community for women, and Managing Director of Last Thursday Club – www.lastthursdayclub.net – the monthly event for big thinking professionals . She’s on the board of Entrepreneurs Organisation, avoids coffee but still talks fast, and lives in Sydney with her entrepreneur partner.

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