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What do you do when 24 hours aren’t enough?

By Ken Brickley

One of the great things about working in the health and fitness industry is helping awesome trainers, coaches, and experts at all stages of their journey achieve growth and success.

But with growth comes more demands on your time and resources; and when you’re a sole-charge business owner, you’re just one person doing it all, often working round the clock, 7 days a week to deliver the value level your audience expects.

It’s one of the main reasons we see plenty of influencers stall at a certain point; they don’t get bigger or better. Sometimes, many times, they stall before even getting started! We hear it all the time, “I’m way too busy to do more than I’m already doing.” They’d love to grow their business and get off the frenzied hamster wheel, but they just don’t have time.

It’s a self-limiting state that traps them in quicksand, limits their potential, and stops them growing income, as they are hampered by how much they can physically do. Sometimes they lose their love for the very industry they always dreamed of being in, and worked so hard to be part of — and that’s just sad.

So let’s pick at the scab; let’s talk about all the great stuff you’re missing out on by not facing this issue head-on — and come up with some solutions to growing your business, even when you think you don’t have time.

When you’re ‘busy being busy’

It’s exciting isn’t it, when you’ve created a product or service that people respond to and really embrace. When you’re building a business and a brand, you can get lost pouring your heart, soul, and time into delivering what your customers want. Your audience grows, but suddenly you realize you don’t have any solutions in place to grow past serving your clients manually.

So you burn yourself out trying to do your best for every client with face-to-face gym sessions, zoom call after zoom call, sales call after sales call, writing out endless nutrition programs — then getting up tomorrow for a set and repeat.

Hey, you up there! You’re literally balancing on a high-wire; exhaustion and lack of focus could throw you off at any moment. We see a lot of influencers who are making plenty of money and others who aren’t quite there yet. But they can have one thing in common; they’re too busy to stop, find solutions, and free themselves from the monster they have created.

They’re a victim of their own ‘successful’ business.

The value of your time — what’s it worth?

When they start making a bit of income, many people get hung up on the dollars coming in. Greed can be quite a motivator when it comes to business. When your business looks successful on paper, you get to keep the whole pie yourself — without divvying it up with anyone else.

It’s quite common for people to put money first without calculating the value of their time. That’s why this is a really interesting exercise to do (and one I run on myself every once in a while).

What’s your time worth?

Write down how much money your company made last year? Gross Revenue.

Divide that number by 2080 (the number of hours in your 40 hour work week over 52 weeks).

That’s the value of your time.

Now do the same exercise again using the gross revenue you WANT to make next year. THAT’S THE NUMBER I want you to tattoo in your memory.

As the CEO of your own business, you have to look at time through a different lens than the rest of the working world. You are responsible for that top line revenue number (you don’t even get a chance to make profit unless that top line number happens first), so dividing that number by a normal work week is your value.

Where are you spending your precious hours across a day?

Forget doing the math on more than 40 hours a week, because we all know you want to work fewer than 40 hours! So, run the exercise again assuming you only work 20 hours a week! (Take your hourly rate from above and double it to get an idea.)

This task you’re doing right now — can someone else do it? Should someone else be doing it? Where are you spending your time? Take an audit. This is such a valuable exercise!

“If you don’t have a PA, you’re the PA.”

Couple years ago in Laguna Beach I was telling Perry Belcher I was short on time and we got talking about what was keeping me busy. He said, “Who’s your PA? Ken, if you don’t have a PA, YOU’re the PA!”

This really hit home to me. Because using the value calculations above, is there a better way you could use your time by freeing up tasks for someone else?

Are you negotiating the lease, signing off on the branding, answering all the emails, running every class, and trying to balance the books at midnight?

Are you the CEO of your business, or are you the whole goddamn team?

You really can break the habit of ‘busy being busy’. Here are a couple of ways we suggest you can pare back that 24 hour work schedule to a manageable level, and gain back control in your own life.

  1. Make a plan
    Block out time in your calendar to make things happen. One of our clients is a huge influencer. I mean, this guy’s time is precious — however we give him clarity by booking in regular time for content creation, filming, and editing, anything he needs. You should do the same. Doesn’t matter if your first available bit of ‘time’ is in nine weeks. Book it in. Then protect it. Treat your calendar with the reverence it deserves and life will start to flow a whole lot better.
  2. Focus on a couple of key tasks a day
    When you have a huge to-do list it can feel really overwhelming. You don’t want to be wobbling on the highwire, like we talked about earlier. Tackling a few key tasks a day feels doable and this way, you’ll chip away at them, bit by bit.
  3. Commit to something in public
    Another way to move forward with things is to set a target for something and commit. The launch of your new activewear range, supplement line, or brand new nutrition program — whatever it is, when you make it public, you’re more likely to deliver to your audience and meet the deadline. It might mean a rush, it might be really hard work for a concentrated period, but when you get there, it’s another item ticked off the list. Plus, you’re holding yourself accountable and unlikely to let things drift.
  4. Be kind to yourself
    Don’t forget to breathe. The health and fitness industry can be unforgiving, portraying images of perfect, high-level over-achievers at every turn. But don’t put those unrealistic expectations on yourself while you’re growing your business. You might never get it ‘perfect’ but what matters is that you have the right systems and support to keep moving forward.

It’s really rewarding to see our clients take back ownership, when they embrace a business that frees them up to concentrate on their core service of delivering impact and inspiring lives. Because, when you control your own platform, everything changes. Things like holidays, or even a day off, become tangible and real with the right support systems in place. You’ll discover freedom to plan your time, freedom to focus on inspiring your audience, and being there more for your clients.

Best of all, the business keeps working even if you’re taking a little time out.

I want to wrap this up with a quick story from one of my favorite clients. This guy’s in Europe, doing incredibly well — then all of a sudden he contacts us to say his son is unwell, and his whole focus has (rightly) shifted from business to family. With MacroActive at his side, he can step away without a lot changing. Having his own platform running smoothly means being able to automate plenty of tasks and having us taking the load off, so he can concentrate on what really matters in his life.

When was the last time you were able to step away from your business knowing it would continue to thrive and grow? If you’re exhausted by doing it all, if you want to get out of the quicksand, if you want to gain control back — get in touch.

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