I meet a lot of business owners, and one of the most common things I hear is ‘There’s so much to do. I haven’t got time’!
And I want to help you today in two specific ways. One of the ways I’m going tell you a story, and the second way I’m going to give you a tool.
The story is of a good friend of mine who stepped off the corporate ladder, and set up his own business. He felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. The responsibility for everything that mattered to him was now on his shoulders. He had to make this business work in order to preserve and protect everything that mattered to me.
And one day, a very trusted friend asked him, ” what’s the single most important thing you’ve got to do for this business of yours to be a success?”
That’s a horrible question, isn’t it?
He replied by saying “I figure, I’ve got to get and keep enough customers.”
“yeah I think you’re right. So when are you getting and keeping customers today then?” his trusted friend asked
My friend looked a little forlorn.
“Well, you’ve just told me the single most important thing for the success of your business so surely any sane, sensible person will have some time set aside every day ‘to do that single most important thing.”
The very next day after that conversation my friend started a new habit.
It’s a habit that has changed his life.
And that habit was…
…spending the first 90 minutes of every day at his desk working ON his business doing the things that would move his business towards where he wanted it to be. Doing the things that would get and keep customers for him.
I promise you, whatever stage you’re at with your business right now, if you can deploy the same habit, it’ll transform your business and your life.
I know because it’s now a habit that I subscribe to.
Here’s how it works.
You pick the time of day that works best for you. I’m a morning person, some people are night owls. In that case, do your 90 minutes late in the evening, but pick the time of day when you are at your best and ring fence 90 minutes of it for you and your business.
What that means is your phone is turned off.
No one can ring you.
Your email is closed down on your computer.
Your door is locked shot. I mean, literally you have to be un-disturbable.
There’s nothing that won’t wait 90 minutes.
And the price you pay for disturbing your 90 minutes is massive.
Because when you’re able to get into the zone, when you’re able to focus on the things that matter to get and keep customers, to build your business, to move it towards where you want it to be; when you can do that for 90 minutes a day, five days a week, that’s seven-and-a-half hours a week.
It’s 30 hours a month of focused concentrated time of you at your best. That’s how you make big progress.
That’s how you deal with the overwhelm.
It doesn’t need to be two hours or two-and-a-half hours.
It doesn’t need a half a day set into one side.
It needs the rhythm of 90 minutes to enable you to put in place the rhythm of rhythmic acquisition of customers.
But what should I do with my 90 minutes you may ask?
Well, you do the things that are going to make your business better for you. The things that are improving your business.
You can’t do customer work.
You can’t do client work.
You don’t do anything that involves your staff at all.
You use your brain.
Maybe write copy, start to test your new campaigns on Facebook or on Google.
It’s when you start to sketch out what you’re going to do with a leaflet.
Perhaps you’re creating an offer, or you’re building a new product.
Sometimes it’s just thinking about where you’re taking this business? Where is it going?
But it’s 90 minutes of focused time to get the things that matter most to you done.
And when you make that happen, you’ll be stunned at the progress that you’ll make, and indeed, at the speed at which it will happen.
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