5 Reasons Why Successful Coaches/Solopreneurs Don’t Have Enough Hours in the Day by @LyndseyOBM

by Lyndsey Gilchrist

As a successful coach or solopreneur you have a lot on your plate.

You’ve got clients to keep happy, marketing to create, accounts to prepare, paperwork to complete, development plans to make and bills to pay. The clock hands fly by, the weekends are a blur and before you know it another year has gone by.

But working at breakneck speed doesn’t have to be the norm. Discovering why you don’t have enough hours in the day can help you do something about it. Take a look at these 5 reasons why your entrepreneurial life is stealing all of your time.

1. You don’t delegate enough – maybe you’ve dangled your toe in the outsourcing sea but that’s as far as you’ve gone. Don’t just wait for a crisis to happen before you look for support. Regular monthly support in any form is one way of claiming back a good chunk of time.

2. You don’t manage your time effectively – do you have systems, schedules and routines in place to give you control over your working patterns? Eg, do you allocate a half day a week to tackle your accounts, your marketing or business development? If not, it’s a good place to start. Working in little and often bite-sized chunks deters bear-sized problems later down the line.

3. You don’t want to say no – it’s tricky to say no to clients, especially when you’re new to business. You’re afraid that by saying no to fitting in that extra task your clients will go elsewhere. Or you’re afraid that if you don’t answer their email at 9pm on Saturday they’ll be disgruntled. Set yourself boundaries and say no – you’ll appear much more professional if clients don’t have 24/7 access to you and you can take more control over your valuable time.

4. They don’t look at the bigger picture – because you’re struggling for time and you get bogged down with the day-to-day survival of running your business, the bigger picture often gets overlooked. If you’re spending two hours tweaking your website instead of finishing off that latest e-book then is this best use of your skills and time and expertise? Taking a ‘bigger picture standpoint’ when tackling any task can give you clarity. If it’s not contributing to the big scheme get it outsourced.

5. They don’t protect their entrepreneurial time – you wouldn’t expect an employee to work like you do, would you? If they worked 10 hours a day, often long into the night, no lunch breaks, stealing a couple of hours here and there on weekend, you’d feel like you were overloading them. So don’t do it to yourself. You have to work ON the business as well as IN it so make sure you schedule time in appropriately. Your entrepreneurial time is vital to the future of your business – don’t overlook its importance.

If you’re ready to get off your hamster wheel, take charge of your time and slow things down so you’re free to look at the bigger picture, then get in touch with me today. I can help with everything from the core areas of your business to the ad-hoc product launches. Your time is precious – use it wisely.

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Lyndsey Gilchrist is an online business manager (OBM) based in Glasgow, Scotland. She has a vast amount of entrepreneurial experience, which she uses to support all kinds of different businesses. She likes nothing more than helping clients to move their business forward and help them to increase productivity.

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