I used to think that being a successful small business owner meant that I had to hustle 24 hours of the day, literally. I woke to hustle. I fell asleep to hustle. I dreamed about to-do lists and hatched plans in the shower. That is, until the day I woke up and realized that I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Building a profitable business requires you to work smarter, not harder. While you need hustle to start your business, you need a strategy to grow it. Let me explain.
The cult of overwork is real. The average person touches their phone a couple thousand times a day and the U.S. is one of the most overworked countries in the developed world.
The hashtag #nevernotworking has almost 400,000 posts on Instagram, and busy has become its own brand, with perceptions of success tied to being allergic to leisure time. You have to wonder — is all this hustle making the grade? Are we building more profitable businesses by working more?
The short answer is no.
When it comes to our businesses, the science is conclusive: Our brains are not wired to multitask, and decision-making quality drops when we’re tired. To add more insult to injury, research shows that when you clock in more than 50 to 55 hours a week, cognitive performance (that is, the ability to reason and think critically and creatively) and the quality of your work suffers.
Let’s get practical. Do you notice that you’re “tapped out” or fresh out of ideas after a long day on the job? Do your eyes glaze over important documents that impact your small business? While working at an agency start-up and for my own small marketing business, I noticed that I operated under the law of diminishing returns — the more I slogged away in front of a computer, the more catatonic I became.
And forget about the always-on mentality of technology, where we’re attached to our phones and everyone expects that we’re accessible 24/7. When we’re not working on our business, we’re thinking about it, and it’s become the norm for entrepreneurs and small business owners to clock in 60 to 80-hour work weeks.
However, research shows that overworking hurts productivity, and employee well-being. We can accomplish more in 40 hours than 80.
So, what happens when we keep burning the midnight oil?
- We suffer from decision paralysis. When you work more, you work in circles, procrastinate, and nothing really gets done. You’re too tired to make material decisions, so you end up putting them off, which only hurts your business.
- We focus on what’s safe vs. what’s innovative. Everyone’s afraid of failure, but failure is a key component to success. Failure gives us information that we can use to make smart changes in our businesses. When you spend your time avoiding failure, you can make too-safe decisions that impede growth. Consider these nuggets of wisdom from Thomas Edison: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” He also said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
- We hurt employee morale. Whether we like it or not, employees look to their leaders for model behavior. If they see you constantly stressed, frazzled, tired, and tapped out, they will mimic your behavior until they suffer from burnout, and they could end up leaving your company. As a small business leader, it’s your job to set the standard for how much you work. When you cultivate a company centered on balance, you may see your profits skyrocket.
Here’s the reality: Nothing productive or profitable comes out of a 12-hour workday. Trust me on this one. So maybe if you slept that extra hour and designed your days to work smarter, then you would experience real growth in your business.
Here are my tips to design a work week that will keep you balanced, sharp, sane and profitable:
Create workflows for administrative/repetitive tasks.
When you’re a small business owner, you’re suddenly the accountant, administrative assistant, lawyer and bookkeeper. All of the departments that you took for granted at your 9 to 5 collapse into a team of one when you’re first starting out. Take a step back and document all the things you do on a daily or per-project/client basis, and see if there are ways you can automate or create templates to reduce the workflow.
For example, if you own a small boutique or coffee shop, you may want to invest in scanning technology to help with inventory management. If you’re a bookkeeper or freelance marketing consultant or graphic designer, you may want to create templates for your onboarding process, so you don’t have to start from scratch every time you have a new client.
Determine where technology can fill the gaps.
Similar to my first recommendation, I would invite you to think about software tools that can make your life easier. Many of them are free for smaller businesses, or come with a minimal monthly cost. For example, I used tools like Timely to automatically track the hours I work, Google Drive to manage file-sharing and uploads, and Dubsado to manage new business leads and create automated onboarding emails for when leads turn into new clients.
If you have a need, there’s probably an app for it, so do some research to determine where automation or technology can remove some of the drudgery from your day-to-day business management.
Define when you’re at your best and shape your days accordingly.
For my small business, I’ve created workflows and processes that save me time on the administrative busy work and allow me to segment my day to focus on being productive at blocks of hours at a time—all based on my circadian rhythms.
For example, I know I’m most productive and focused first thing in the morning. As a result, I’ll block off 7 a.m. to noon to work on the tasks that require a considerable amount of my attention. Contracts, strategy, big decisions, plans, and partnerships — all of this gets taken care of when my cognitive abilities are at their sharpest, because after 2 p.m. my brain becomes mush.
Acknowledge when you need help.
We’re in love with saying that we can do it all, or that it would take too much time to explain menial tasks to someone else, but the more we’re working on the details in our business, the less we’re working on the growth of our business. There will come a point when you’ll need to hire a resource, whether it’s a part-time or full-time employee.
Consider starting with a VA (virtual assistant), who can handle everything from your inbox to administrative tasks, bookkeeping, social media, or graphic design. As a small business owner, I’ve also seen the value in investing in a bookkeeper and a lawyer, both of whom give me peace of mind. I know my contracts will be airtight and protective, and I don’t have to deal with the ever-changing tax code because I have an expert in my court, helping me manage the books and expenses.
Rest and have fun!
You went out on your own because you wanted to be your own boss. Being a boss is not just about getting the job done, but it’s also about knowing when you need to kick back and relax.
Time away from your business not only rejuvenates your well being, but also allows for the flow of new, creative ideas. I take Mondays off to relax without the disruption of email and calls. I also take a work-free vacation — after two decades of working to the bone, I can tell you it’s possible!
Everyone talks about the hustle. Everyone believes being busy is a badge of honor, but busy doesn’t add zeros to your bank account. Working smarter and strategically on your business not only will give you the time to build your company, but also will allow you to spend time with the people who matter most.
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I pretty much work on one engagement at a time, which are subject to the client’s demands and deadlines. They come to me because they don’t have the knowledge or bandwidth to get a project done on time. And sometimes, deadlines are just that – deadlines. Recently during a difficult engagement that required 60+ hours per week for months on end, I began to notice the effects. Productivity and decision making did not suffer, but I began to have a singularity of focus that made me blind to other things in my life. I was able to address this by having an end in sight and working towards the goals. A welcomed break that lasted a few weeks helped me reset. On to the next one
The studio is open 3 days a week. A short day on Saturday. I make as much in 3 days as 5 days. I love my job of 44 years but I’m not married to it. The studio has been open for 15 years. I do work some of those 4 days off on admin/computer items.
A quote I saw on the internet. Their customers urgency is not my urgency. I have noticed since reading that quote that a lot of people, customers, want to bring me into their situation, what ever it is, I can’t do that. I’m not a therapist.
I have had the same open hours for 10 years. I’m not sure why I receive text at all hours of the day and night. I Try to set boundaries but most don’t read well. Setting boundaries is for my well being.
You are speaking for yourself Felicia. I’m a baby boomer and worked 50 to 60 hour weeks to get my business up and growing. I stayed on that schedule for 15 years now. I have more wealth than ever imagined and work about 30 hours maybe per week. My advice, pay your dues now and relax when the debt is paid or slog along thinking your strategy is working.
Agree with Paul and Jim. If I didn’t come in on Mondays, there would eventually be no business. People are different, so one size does not fit all. Owners can create a business that works around their strengths, abilities and what they enjoy. I don’t enjoy leisure, but I do enjoy pausing work at the shop and working on a home project instead. It refuels me. That being said, perhaps we busy owners could benefit from a couple of the article comments – for instance, scheduling certain tasks when we are most focused (or less interrupted), and making sure we spend some time developing the business rather than letting all our time be filled with repetitive or simple tasks.
Great article and it must have been written by a wise person that recognizes not only for business purposes but also how God intended for us to work and rest.
Congratulations to the writer.
Every business is so much different and so are its owners. One size does not fit all. The only logic is to work hard for 8 hours each day, as your brain never stops and keeps thinking about the future 24 hours a day and makes its best logical decisions while you are sleeping. When you awake each day, after a great night sleep, all yesterday’s worries seem to correct themselves, BUT now you have a full day of challenges again and the cycle continues. If you enjoy it, that is the key.
Thanks for commenting, Roger!
It is not about number of hours. There are many examples of very successful entrepreneurs that don’t spend morning to night at the business. Of course you should work smarter and in particular use technology to be more productive.
What it is about is achieving the objective of working more and more “on” the business, versus “in” the business. This is accomplished by hiring and developing your team combined with writing robust standard operating procedures.
Then you’ll find the ship running itself and your high value add will be spending time on innovation and competitiveness.
Thank you for sharing, John!
It is not smarter OR harder. It is smarter AND harder. My research reveals that those who think you can compress 80 hours into 40 hours never ran a shop or service business that staying open those extra hours meant the difference between break even and making business. The idea that “hustle” and “being busy” “doesn’t add zeros to your bank account” is lunacy. Having run my own business for 40 years and being open from 7am to 6pm 250 days a year, I enjoy my work and I enjoy the success that I earned. The combination of working smart, hard, putting in the time and being kind and grateful is the winning combination.
I agree with limiting your hours. It helps you prioritize what you need to do vs want to do. That slight word change means you are no longer procrastinating and instead focusing on WIN (what’s important now).
I found one business hack for instance that would make me $200k in extra profit a year, but it took me 9 months to even think about things differently to recognize I needed a change in perspective to accomplish my north star.
Thank you! I needed this!!
You’re welcome, Amy!
I personally think 40 hours should be the minimum if you want to get ahead. I easily work 60 hours a week plus drive time to and from jobsites. I was told along time ago you can either play when you are young or play when you are old. I’m 50 and will be done working by 55 and I’m ready to play. Truthfully I have always been able to get twice the work done (Electrical contractor) than two to three electricians can.
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Outstanding article. Thank you.
You’re welcome. We’re glad you liked it.
Thanks for the tips.
You’re welcome, Isabell!
Good read and so are the comments. It took me a long time to recognize I do my best writing and creative ideas in the morning and can do the activities that are more on auto-pilot in the afternoon. Knowing when to stop when you are tapped out is key.
That’s so true, Karen! Thanks for the comment!
I agree with Paul. Producing more in 40 hours than in 80 is not possible, since you would produce the same amount in the first 40, then add to it in the next 40. Some of us are wired for this type of constant output, some are not. Also, it helps a lot that I enjoy what I do, and my customers appreciate the results also. In fact, people that I work with frequently work 24 hour weekends as well as 60 hour week days and still can’t keep up with demand because so few are willing to put their phones down and do the required amounts of quality work. Our product is still top notch, we still have our health, and we are finally making up for all of the lost pay during covid. Instead, it might be time to encourage more people to treat their businesses like businesses instead of hobbies, be open for calls when customers need them to be open, (that’s that ringing noise from your phone), bring back actual customer service in a timely manner, and all for a fair price.
As much as the “experts” may want to deliver another “one size fits all” publication, remember this. Given a choice, customers will flock to the companies that service them on the schedule of the customer, not at the convenience of the business. Snooze, you lose.
While I agree that you can work smarter by delegating and automating to save time, I disagree that we can produce more in 40 hours than in 80 hours. I have run a small business agency for 20 years. We are five star rated on Google, Facebook and Yelp. There is simply no way we could cut production in half and double our output. Time is a requirement when it comes to design, printing and the other fulfillment services. We have tried to hire people to help but no one wants to work and the ones that do would cost us to the point of out pricing the market. Not only that but we have outgrown our office and warehouse in under 2 years and with the current real estate market, there is no solution for busting at the seems. Factor in high gas prices, inflation and supply chain issues and your solution to being more productive is by working less?
I am not stressed because I love what I do. I am frankly blessed to be the owner of a company where I love everything we do here. We just barely get by with paying all our payroll. We keep raising pricing in hopes we can start to pay down company debt.
The more we do, the faster we do it, the sooner we get paid on that job. Not only that but the more projects we complete and the higher our annual gross sales are. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to work half as much, complete and bill more, become more profitable and get to vacation more, etc. This just seems like a too good to be true.
Very thoughtful article!!!
Thanks
Thanks for commenting, Beatriz! We’re glad you liked the article.
This is so true! I noticed that my clients and peers often began their conversations with me by saying, “I know you are busy,” which is true, but I am busy, not productive. I am implementing processes and hiring additional staff/contractors that will support the business and allow me to have better work-life balance, while increasing outputs and revenues.
Thank you for sharing, Patrina! We appreciate the comment.
As a small business owner, there is no turning off the phone, whether it is a client or an employee they expect you to be available 24/7. As COVID hit and employees became scarce, more and more ends up on my desk. I couldn’t agree with you more that we need to turn off our phones and take time to reflect, build and plan. That is our job, not to do the mundane everyday tasks. Ideally, 35 to 40 hours should be the most we should work.
Great comment, Clementina! Thanks for sharing.
This is nothing new, but what a great reminder as we all fall back in to old habits. Thank you for this solid information! Much needed!
You’re welcome, Joseph! Thank you for reading SBA and commenting!
As someone who has been an independent consultant and business owner for over 40 years, managing very complex technical and organizational initiatives, I become suspicious of employees (or contractors) who tell me they’re great at multitasking, and wary of any client who insists that “the ability to multitask” be part of any job description.
This obsession with multitasking has become so pervasive that for the past 3 years I have been delivering presentations to groups of project managers and business analysts all over the world explaining the neuroscience that conclusively shows the detrimental effects of “task switching” (what really happens when we think we’re multitasking).
The prevalence of this behavior is exacerbated by social media and business messaging platforms which exploit the human brain’s preference for novelty (think new and ‘shiny’), by bombarding unwary and unwitting users with thousands of task-switching triggers every day. Being interrupted, regardless of the source, destroys the ability to focus. And with a hobbled ability to focus, performance and the quality of output are naturally degraded.
Thanks for continuing to raise this topic as personal awareness is the only way to combat the false narrative surrounding multitasking.
You’re welcome, Cris. Thank you for the detailed and informative comment!
Good examples I share many with my employees in the concrete / masonry field, one of my favorite examples to share is about a study the military had done with two groups of soldiers marching for an equal distance with the only difference being one group stopped for a short rest every so many miles, the other group marched straight through, the group that stopped for breaks finished a faster time.
They benefited physically and mentally from this tactic.
Good article thank you.
Thank you for sharing this, Ronald! Great comment.
I work an average of 65 hours, since I’m the only employee.
Thank you for sharing, Ed!
Thank you for this! So true, so helpful and so needed!
You’re welcome, Lori! Thank you for such a nice comment.
Excellent article for self care. Will share with my communities.
We’re so glad you liked it, Charlene!
You absolutely must be able to multi-task to be successful. Whether you start each particular task and then hand it off to others for completion or whether you complete them yourself… multitasking is in our nature. The key to real success AND some degree of rest and enjoying life is the ability to efficiently delegate to others. But, no one ever got anywhere in life without hard work and multitasking. Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise.
Thanks for sharing, Kim!
I am a bit old school but young. I learned a strong work ethic from my military family. I have learned there are no “hours” in a leader, strong business owner, etc. I know people are rolling their eyes to that comment, but as long as you are in control of your business and your life and have balance then how many hours you work is irrelevant. Work smart, figure it out. If you’re tired, get some rest, eat well, exercise and keep yourself fresh. Those who say you can get more done in 40 hours than 80 hours obviously are either burnt out or completely inefficient. I can definitely get more done in 80 hours in any work week vs. a 40 hour work week.
Another point, there is a difference working for someone else than working for yourself. Working for someone else is always more tiresome because everyone will say they are over worked and underpaid. That will always be part of life. Now from an owner POV, if you want to get paid more, figure it out. Want to work less, hire people to fill those hours that you put in. Usually those replacements do not feel the same desire or passion as you will, so either make them a part owner or delegate small stuff and pay them well and give them clear expectations.
We can go on and on…If you are counting the minutes and hours then you are burnt out. Take care of yourself and enjoy your success. BTW…life is not easy.
Thanks for the insight, Karl!
While I agree with the premise of your article, I have to note that when you run a nonprofit organization, the needs of your “clients” often override your desire to take time off. My solution is to mix the computer/spreadsheet work with creative/social tasks (such as creating art lessons and calling existing/potential clients) so that I can find refreshment in work that is a pleasure to accomplish in between the grunt work. Still, I’m looking forward to the day when we are able to hire more staff to do the administrative work!
Thanks for your comment, Tess!
I absolutely agree with balancing work & personal life. I love my Apple watch and the prompts to get off my desk, take breaks and “close my rings”. Great motivation to stay physically and mentally fit!
Only in America do people think “only” working 40 hours per week is cutting down!
We may be able to multi task but you’ll never do each task well. Each task will suffer from the lack of focus on that task. You may have 2 eyes and 2 ears but you cannot hear 2 things at once and you cannot see/focus on 2 things at once. There are people who listen in on a conference call and read their emails at the same time thinking they are being efficient, until they miss something on the conference call and then ask it to be repeated – is that really efficient or fair to the other people on the call?
Unless self limits are established both for self employed and salaried positions the tendency is to work til you drop. I have had both roles. Now that I’m older and wiser, salaried positions should get no more than 50hrs per week MAX and hourly 40 or less. I’ve see coworkers both salaried and hourly burn themselves out and become disenchanted about there role in corporate and self employed roles. Live is short and you never see a brinks truck in a cemetery. So work smart draw boundaries and live your life you only go around once, live life without regrets.
I 100% disagree with the theme of this article. A business owner may not be required to work 100 hours a week always although if you are not working 100 hours a week your competition is working those hours.
I am proof, work long hours and grow rich!
The article doesn’t address people who work in the building industry or do the work along with the employees as well as own the business.
We are all multi taskers for years.
it’s all about people who sit at desks.
The only one at a desk in our small manufacturing business is the bookkeeper.
That’s not reality land for most of us.
I was just recently laid off and I have decided I do not want to be an employee anymore. I am in the process of getting my in home office set up and I have been trying to figure out how to get a set up where I am able to have a work like balance. This article is so on point. Thank you for the tips.
We are so glad you found this article helpful for you! Best of luck to you and your new home business.
The author is right about working smart which will lessen the number of hours we need to put in. What needs to be done, in what order, with what priority? It usually means keeping lists, and checking off the tasks that have been done. I spent 35 years as an employee, following someone else’s direction, and then set up my own business. Nine years later, I have lunch out with my husband several times a week, go to exercise class, take two months of “vacation” every year (hauling the portable office with me) and have a thriving law practice that I really enjoy.
Eileen, we are glad you have a great work-life balance!
Two articles in a row of so much value…and I haven’t even gotten to the one about writing a promotional email.
As I sit here at 11:30pm still hard at work, I realize that as a business owner I’ve become an expert enabler. That’s another thing to add to the list…train customers that there are going to be some times when you are just not going to be available.
Thank you Angela!
Everyone can multi-task, it is a myth that some people by default are born to multi-task.
However, as someone pointed out that multi-tasking does slows down the time taken to complete one task at a time. Thus a multi-tasker may take longer to do all tasks. Mind of such people is telling them that they will not be done on time and thus they tend to work additional hours.
A Simple test is write A thru Z on one paper first and then write 1 thru 26 on 2nd paper one after the other. Make sure you record your time when you write A thru Z on 1st paper and 1 thru 26 on 2nd paper.
Now do another test and record your time, write A on 1st paper and number on 2nd paper. No repeat this for alphabets A thru Z and numbers 1 thru 26. So in this case you are multi-tasking.
So Just compare the time of two tests and you will be amazed that what I wrote earlier and proven by many is true.
🙂
Thank you Naren for this interesting tip!
Very enlightening and on the mark. Honestly gave me a wake up call. Being business owner, I am doing just that. I need to make some changes. Thank you!
Pam
We appreciate your feedback, Pam!
Thanks for this article. It is the most profound advice to all business owners. Since my office is in my home, I found myself working 16-20 hours a day. The result was an awakening when I found myself in the hospital for surgery. I realized that I need to take care of my own health as well as the business. Fortunately, this wake up call has changed my entire outlook and I will never again feel guilty about having leisure time.
Thanks, Helen!
Hayde is right. At-least some are by nature born to multitask!
Our brains ARE NOT wired to multitask. That has been proven by psychology many times now. However I have worked with several “successful” multitaskers in my professional career.
They tend to be aggressive and of minimal intelligence (there are also studies showing inverse relationships between intellect and aggression). Thier true talent was in their ability to start multiple tasks and then push completion of those tasks onto other people. That was really how the multiple tasks were accomplished.
Thank you for a thoughtful article with good, practical advice. I appreciate that you went beyond sharing research or pointing out the obvious regarding overwork and provided some real strategies. Well done!
Thanks for your feedback, Katherine!
This post is spot on. We need to bring more attention to the harm this mentality of driving ourselves to burnout is causing in our lives.
Yes, we have a company to run, or a job to fulfill. How efficient are we?
There are better ways to do business. The U.S. mentality towards work is exhausting. We can do amazing things, when allow time for rest and relaxation.
Give yourself a break!
Thanks, Dinette!
So true! But it’s so hard to let go of some habits…
Our brains are wired to multi-task and as such, it is a misnomer that multi-tasking is harmful to the brain.
Nice read B