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Working On Your Business vs Working IN Your Business

Having a business is fun!  It’s cool to have business “stuff” to do.  If you’re anything like me, you love going to office supply stores and buying things that make you feel important, easily spending hours there.  The problem is however, I find that many people who have a home business get so caught up in the “fun” part of their business that they spend a whole lot of time working ON their business…not IN their business.

Working ON Your Business

Working ON your business is the outside stuff.  The fluff.  The things like making flyers, nice labels, organizing your desk, cleaning out your email inbox, cleaning up your office, organizing your computer files, making pretty word and excel documents for your business, etc…. but it’s all just stuff.  Yes, these are all great things, and can be essential to the inner workings of your business…if done quickly and efficiently.  But, the problem comes in when the majority of your time is being spent doing the outside stuff, and not on the actual Income Producing Activities.

It’s amazing how quick the hours can go by during the day and you are working ON your business.  You feel so BUSY.  Yet, at the end of the day, when you take a good look at what has been accomplished, what do you see?  If there are not items you have checked off from your priority projects, chances are you’ve not been working IN your business.  You may have been doing things like the following.

  • Messing with a new flyer to make it “just right”
    • Often times there is something that could have been repurposed!
  • Spent time talking on the phone about your business to a friend/team member etc
    • Complaining about why it’s not working?
    • Talking about what you COULD do?
    • Fussing about prospects that aren’t interested??
  • Spent time playing with new display ideas
    • TOO much time
    • Could you use OTHER people’s ideas and not reinvent the wheel?

Working IN Your Business

Working IN your business is the guts and glory of your business.  The lead generating, prospecting, recruiting, follow up, leading and training are all those things that grow your business and make a real difference to the income that you make.

When you are spending time taking care of “business”, make sure you are sticking to a schedule.  What should you be working on?  Your schedule should rarely have things like “organize my desk” on there.  Instead, you should have highly focused Income Producing Activities listed as the priority on your schedule daily.  Then all “working on your business” activities can be handled after your top 5-6 priority projects have been completed.

Every time you get ready to do a task for your business ask yourself, “Is this something that will make me money?”  Next ask yourself, “Is there something else I could be doing instead that would move me closer to my short term or long term goals?”

I find that those two questions can generally get you focused on the things that will get you working most efficiently IN your business.  Again, when you get to the end of the day, and you look back at what you’ve accomplished, you should be able to see that you’ve checked off items from your priority projects…and those have gotten you closer to your goals.  Items may include the following:

  • Followed up with 5 prospects
    • Either recruited or set follow up dates
  • Making regularly scheduled posts to your groups to keep engagement
  • Looking for new ways to generate more traffic
  • Talk to your sponsor about goals and new ideas for increased traffic

The best way to ensure that you are working IN your business is to set a structured schedule for your business.  Even if you are doing this “for flexibility”, your business deserves (and needs) the respect of your full attention.  When you have set times dedicated to your business, and you know WHAT you will be working on, you’ll find yourself less likely to work ON your business and much more likely to work IN your business.  Just remember to schedule time for breaks and lunch!  Then get back to something that will truly make a difference IN your business.

Hope that helps!

Shannon

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