How often do you look at how things are going in your business?
I mean, really look.
Not a quick glance, but an intentional deep dive into the activities you perform, the time they take, and the results they produce.
For most One-Person Businesses (especially new ones), this doesn’t come naturally. In 2009, I started my first marketing consulting business. I walked, talked, and acted like a Marketer. It was what was familiar to me and what I knew up to that point. I was spending far too much time on websites, logos, and color palettes, and not enough time on LLC governance and finance.
Why? It’s a natural tendency for us to follow and jump to what we know we’re good at doing. It takes maturity and vulnerability to dive head-first into topics we don’t know well when there are things we do know well that also need solving.
However after careful consideration, I realized that I could have the most aesthetically pleasing digital presence on the planet, but I’d still have better peace of mind knowing that my business registration and electronic tax payments were set up properly, and in compliance.
There’s a great framework that has served me well both in the corporate world and as a solopreneur:
Start. Stop. Continue.
In the corporate world, the greatest robbers of productivity are meetings and status reports. I had an experienced boss who every six months asked us to review our meetings by questioning:
- Did we get value from them?
- What could we do to improve them?
- Is there a better way to communicate information and share ideas?
- Could we cut them in half and get the same outcome?
You could follow the same process for status reports. When sending reports or weekly summary emails, ask yourself: who reads them, what parts do they find valuable vs. trivial, and is there a better way to tell your story?
Start. Stop. Continue.
Three simple words that build a powerful framework when practiced regularly.
Having a trusted advisor to guide you makes the process clearer and easier to embed.
3 Takeaways:
- “Start things of value.” All of us, when given time, can think of things we know we should be doing but aren’t. What could you begin to do that would greatly improve your business? If you are struggling to convert customers, talk to great salespeople in your network or read books on closing strategies. Not sure where your money goes, start tracking it? Getting bogged down in the day-to-day, what system and routines could you implement to help?
- “Stop things of limited/no value.” This is the hardest part. There’s no point in adding more if you aren’t also taking something away. Think of your day/week as a glass of water that’s already full. You can’t put any more liquid into it before you pour some out. Are you posting on Facebook but not seeing any return? Push pause. Scheduling meetings with clients but neither side seems to get anything from it. Take a break. It’s only when we ruthlessly question why we are doing something and to what benefit that it becomes clear that many things are taking our time but not making a difference.
- “Continue what’s working.” If it’s working well, keep doing it. No need to change a winning formula, but clearly articulate what is working. This will help you decide if the activity should be stopped or continued. It is better to do a few things well than many things poorly.
1 Action:
Take 30 minutes of quiet time to list out the activities you perform weekly. You can score each activity on a 1–5 scale, with 1 being least impactful and 5 being most impactful.
Keep the 4s and 5s as “continue” and “stop” all the 1s and 2s. Make a judgment call on 3s but only after you list activities you should “start.”
Rationalize activities like you would packing for a day hike with only one bag. A second change of shirt or covering is great, but not as important as sunscreen or a water bottle.
Hubert