Working in the business means doing the daily work: serving clients, answering email, fixing problems. Working on the business means improving how it runs: the offer, the prices, the systems, the people and the numbers. The work in the business pays this month. The work on it decides what next year looks like. Most owners need at least one protected block a week for it.
Where the idea comes from
The phrase comes from Michael E. Gerber's book The E-Myth Revisited. Gerber's point is that many people start a business because they are good at the work itself. A baker opens a bakery, a designer opens a studio. Then they spend all their time baking or designing, and nobody builds the business around them.
Gerber describes three roles inside every owner:
- The Technician does the work.
- The Manager organizes the work, the people and the systems.
- The Entrepreneur looks ahead and decides where the business should go.
When the Technician runs everything, the business becomes a job with more risk. Working on the business means making time for the other two roles.
Examples of each
Working in the business:
- Doing client projects or serving customers
- Answering routine email and messages
- Sending invoices and chasing payments
- Fixing today's problem
- Posting on social media
- Attending status meetings
Working on the business:
- Setting goals for the next quarter
- Reviewing prices and margins
- Writing a process so someone else can do a task
- Hiring, training and giving feedback
- Reviewing cash flow and the sales pipeline
- Improving your offer or dropping a service that loses money
- Deciding which clients to keep and which to let go
A simple test: if the task serves one client or solves one problem today, it is work in the business. If it changes how every future client or problem is handled, it is work on the business.
The same problem, both ways
The difference is easiest to see with one problem handled twice.
- A client complains that a report was late. In the business: you apologize and send the report. On the business: you find out why reports run late, change the deadline in the process and give one person the job of checking it.
- A new lead asks for a quote. In the business: you write the quote from scratch. On the business: you build a quote template with standard prices, so the next one takes minutes and someone else can send it.
- An invoice is paid late again. In the business: you chase it. On the business: you change your payment terms, add automatic reminders and ask for a deposit on new work.
Each "on" answer takes longer once. After that, the problem takes less of your time every time it comes back.
Why the work on it gets skipped
Work in the business is urgent and visible. A client is waiting. Work on the business has no deadline, so it waits forever.
Leaders with large teams face the same pull. In the Harvard study How CEOs Manage Time by Michael Porter and Nitin Nohria, 27 CEOs spent about 36% of their time reacting to things as they came up, according to MGMA's summary. If CEOs with assistants struggle with this, a small business owner without one needs a firm rule.
How to split your week
There is no correct ratio. It depends on your stage. These are starting points to adjust:
- Solo, fully booked: one half-day a week on the business. Protect it like a client meeting.
- Owner with one to five people: one full day a week, or two half-days. Use it for processes, hiring and the numbers.
- Owner leading managers: most of your week. Your managers handle the daily work, and you handle direction, people and money.
If you are fully booked and cannot find a half-day, that is the clearest sign you need to hand something off. Read how to delegate tasks and start with one task this month.
How to run your weekly block
The block works best with a fixed agenda, so you do not spend it on email.
1. Numbers (30 minutes)
- Cash in the bank, money owed, sales this week
- One number that is moving the wrong way
2. One improvement (90 minutes) Pick one from this list and finish it:
- Write or update one process
- Fix one recurring client problem
- Review one service's price and margin
- Draft one job description or training guide
3. Look ahead (30 minutes)
- Progress on this quarter's goals
- One decision to make next week
4. Clear the deck (30 minutes)
- Hand off three tasks you did this week that someone else could do
- Book next week's block
Start the block with the numbers, because they tell you what to improve. Use a weekly review template to keep notes from week to week, so each block builds on the last.
Signs you are stuck in the business
- You have not changed your prices in more than a year.
- None of your processes are written down.
- You cannot take a week off without the work stopping.
- You spend most evenings on email.
- You have no written goals for this quarter.
- Every new client makes you busier, but not much richer.
Start small
Pick one item from the on-the-business list. Book two hours this week to do it. Next week, do the next one. After a quarter, you will have a dozen improvements that each save time.
For goals, see how to set business goals. For processes, use this SOP template for small business. When you are ready to grow, read how to scale a small business.