When did “I’m flat out” become a business model?

What if your biggest business problem isn’t marketing… it’s the way you respect and spend time?

Time is finite. That sounds obvious until you look at how most self-employed people build a week.

If you want to introduce something new into your life, your day, or your diary, you have to exclude something else. If you say 'yes' to everyone because that is the nice thing to do, have to say no to someone or something else, eventually. There isn’t a secret “extra hour” hiding behind a better app. It’s the same with habits. If you want a new habit to stick, an old one has to go. Otherwise you’re just stacking behaviours until something snaps… usually you.

This is where solopreneurs, the self-employed have the toughest version of the game. In a job, someone else designs the container: start time, finish time, priorities, meetings, holidays. You might not like the container, but it exists.

When you work for yourself, you are the container.

And most people don’t treat that responsibility with enough respect. They let the day happen to them. They answer what shouts loudest. They confuse responsiveness with progress. They carry the silent belief that being busy is the same as being valuable.

It isn’t.

Busy is often just “unpriced time” - hours spent on things that don’t move the needle because they’re easier than the uncomfortable work. The follow-up call. The proposal. The conversation with a potential partner. The piece of content that actually says something. The systems you keep avoiding because they feel fiddly.

Here’s the hard truth: if your income relies on your presence, you can’t solve that by working more hours. You solve it by getting ruthless about what deserves your hours in the first place. And that means trade-offs.

Think of your diary like a suitcase with a strict weight limit. Every time you add something new - a new offer, a new platform, a new “great idea” - you either remove something else or you pay for it in stress, sleep, health, or relationships. Most people choose the hidden payment because it doesn’t feel like a choice in the moment.

But it is.

A small example I see constantly: someone says they want more referrals, more visibility, more consistent income. Brilliant. Then you look at their week and it’s full of tasks that keep them “safe”: tinkering, tweaking, organising, consuming content, polishing. None of that is bad. But if it’s crowding out conversations, follow-up, partnerships, and delivery excellence, it’s not helping. It’s hiding.

One practical move (15–30 minutes): look at next week’s diary and do a simple swap. Pick one activity that creates comfort rather than results and remove it. Then block 30 minutes for one thing that directly creates outcomes: one follow-up, one introduction, one client renewal conversation, or one piece of content that makes it clear who you help and how.

The objection I hear is, “But I don’t have time.” I know. That’s the point. You don’t find time. You trade for it. And if you don’t decide the trade, the day will decide for you.

So here’s the question I’m sitting with this month: what are you doing out of habit that you could stop… to make room for the one thing that would change your results?

You are unlikely to change your approach/habits any more than you will achieve your new year resolutions, without the help of an accountability partner who is ruthlessly honest with you.

#SmallBusinessUK #Solopreneur #TimeManagement #BusinessGrowth #Leverage #Productivity #MarketingStrategy #Entrepreneurship