Grow and scale by reclaiming your time…

Does this sound familiar:

You don’t feel like your time is your own, you feel pulled in different directions and there’s never enough time to do all the things you need to do? 

And, this impacts more than you; it impacts your family, how much energy you have for other things in your life. You love your business and want it to succeed, but sacrificing your health, your family, and relationships is not worth the price.

The reality is this: If you don’t take the time to decide what’s important to you, others will.

What I want for you: reclaim time and space which will support you to set the foundation for continued growth in your business. 

One of the most common challenges leaders and business owners face is having ‘enough time’ for the things they want to do. Does this resonate?

“I want to grow my business but there’s no way I can put more time into it than I do right now.”

One of the biggest culprits of time drain is something I call Situational Vampires. These are situations that tend to suck your time away and get you all caught up in, that just drain your energy and drain your availability.

These are different than situations where you’re ‘in the zone’ where you could work all day or loose track of time. That’s the opposite of what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about those situations that when you find yourself in one, it always takes longer than you want it to and it can derail your plans.

Some examples could be:

• Dealing with multiple customer service issues.

• Billing issues

• Supplier or Customer Complaints

• Low retention - continuously on-boarding and off-boarding team members.

• Quoting or following up on outstanding proposals

Are these important? Yes. Do they need to take the time they’ve been taking up for you? No.

Identify what situational vampires are in your business - by understanding the time you’re spending on something (or an employee) vs the benefit/value you derive from it.

For example, during the Holidays last year there were examples that if you didn’t get your Amazon package because your package was mis-delivered or had been lifted/stolen off your porch, rather than tracking it down at that busy time and utilizing resources, they reshipped you a new order.

I’m not suggesting this will work for your business, but I’m using it as an example of a way to look at the situational vampires in your business and find ways to minimize them.

And contain them. Decide how much energy and effort you will give them.

How to contain them? 

1. Time drains: a solid process can make a bigger difference than you realize. For something that’s time consuming, or something your team or clients always come to you for, consider a process that could minimize the need for your involvement or bypass it altogether (referring back to the example of Amazon re-delivering)

2. Results drains: If there’s a result you’re not getting, this can take a tremendous amount of mental and physical energy: try creating a process to solve for it. If x happened, then y, then z, would you get the results you’re looking for? (Eg. How could you adjust your sales and proposal process so you could close more sales, getting the results you’re looking for?)

Many people don’t often link the idea of ‘time management’ with growing and scaling a business. But, the more you look at where you and your people are spending their energy, the more you will see opportunities to simplify, allowing you, as a business, to focus on your priorities.

Find the situational vampires in your business, and find ways to contain them and reduce the impact on YOU and your business.

I would love to hear an example of a situational vampire in your business. Share in the comments below.

NOW is YOUR time.

Ariana

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