- Write down what you did, in half hours, for one week.Boring, and the single most useful thing on this page.
- Mark each block: earns, enables, or neither.Be harsh. Most admin is neither.
- Attack the biggest neither first.Delegate it, systemise it, or stop.
Example conversation with Coaching
You
I tracked a week. 14 hours on site, 9 quoting, 7 admin and invoicing, 6 driving, 5 on the phone, 4 chasing payment, 6 in the evenings on the books.
Coaching
51 hours, and 14 of them earn money.
Nine hours quoting is the biggest single block and you win maybe a third. Six hours a week producing nothing. Templates would halve it.
Four hours chasing payment is not a time problem, it is a terms problem. Deposits and 14-day terms would mostly remove it.
Six hours of evening bookkeeping is the one costing you most, and not in money.
Fix the quoting first. It is the largest, it is entirely within your control, and it needs no conversation with anyone else.
Want ELLA to design the quote template?
Nine hours quoting is the biggest single block and you win maybe a third. Six hours a week producing nothing. Templates would halve it.
Four hours chasing payment is not a time problem, it is a terms problem. Deposits and 14-day terms would mostly remove it.
Six hours of evening bookkeeping is the one costing you most, and not in money.
Fix the quoting first. It is the largest, it is entirely within your control, and it needs no conversation with anyone else.
Want ELLA to design the quote template?
Advanced engine on a week of real data. It found the block worth attacking first.
Paste this to BLAKE
Here is roughly how my week goes: [describe it]. I am working [hours] a week and the business is not growing. Help me work out what to stop doing.
Try it on your business
Every lesson ends with a question to hand to a Greymill specialist, who answers with what it knows about your business.
More in Process, time and tools
- Stopping the same mistakeThe third time it happens, it is a system problem.Read the lesson
- Choosing software without regretting itThe best tool is the one your team will actually use.Read the lesson
- Scheduling work you can actually deliverOvercommitting is the most common way a good business damages its reputation.Read the lesson