Joselyn: Clear the Peas Off Your Plate & Success Will Follow

This is the latest in an ongoing series offering insights and advice from the president and CEO of Travel Agency Management Solutions (TAMS).

Recently I gave a national webinar addressing a situation I encounter far too often – well, almost universally. People in business spend so much time working IN their business that they neglect the essential job of working ON the business.

The core problem has never been expressed better than with the following quote:

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.” – Jomar Herrera

I am not immune by the way.

Defining the problem
When you work ON your business, you are investing your time in ways to grow your business both in the short- and long-term.

When you work ON your business, you use your time to improve your profitability, to improve your ownership experience and, ultimately, to create value for your sometime-in-the-future exit strategy.

When you work IN your business, you are dealing with the day-to-day activities that keep your business running well – employee issues, accounting, interacting with customers and suppliers and, of course, putting out fires.

It’s about self-management
Why then, do so many of us never spend enough time working on our businesses?

Oh yes, I know, we have all the peas on our plate that we can handle. There just isn’t enough time. And, there it is, the excuse. Now, look in the mirror and ask yourself: “Is this a time-challenge problem or a self-management challenge?”

In this, the first in a series of articles on this subject, let us explore how to get some of those peas off your plate so you can find time to do what is important.

Step 1: Look at what you do
First, make a list of all the things you currently do in terms of working in your business and rank them from most important to the success of the business to least important to the success of the business.

Step 2: Eliminate tasks
Second, starting at the bottom of the list and working your way up, ask yourself:

1.    Can I just stop doing this altogether?

2.    Can I delegate it to someone else in the company?

3.    Can I outsource to someone outside the business?

If you can’t answer yes to any of these, starting at the bottom of the list, your situation is hopeless and you are likely delusional!

Delusional? Yes. Your delusions include:

•    No one else can do this.

•    No one else can do it as well as I can.

•    No one else will do it as well as I can.

•    It costs too much to outsource.

Really? The first three speak for themselves, but it costs too much? What is the cost of not spending time working on your business?

Step 3: Create policies
Third, develop policies and procedures for the decisions that you make repeatedly, as these are time-sinks.

It amazes me how many businesses do not have a well-conceived and written Personnel & Policy Procedures Manual. Owners and managers deal over and over and over with the same employee management issues, instead of being able to say, “It’s in your manual.”

Start with a good manual and add to it as issues arise over time.

Step 4: Clean it up
Fourth, get organized.

The Wall Street Journal reported that “the average U.S. executive wastes six weeks per year retrieving misplaced information from messy desks and files.”

Step 5: Do the hard stuff first
Finally, deal with the elephant in the room.

When there is something on our to-do list that we know how to do, that we know we are good at, that delivers short-term positive results and something else that challenges our expertise and imagination, has an uncertain result and may be long-term, most of us tend to take the easy path. We do the familiar first.

Again, I am not immune. As a consultant I often have a challenge before me that I may never have dealt with before, alongside three other tasks that I can handle without breaking a sweat. The urge to do the latter is almost uncontrollable.

Who’s in charge here?
Harvey MacKay, noted author, speaker, consultant and envelope manufacturing entrepreneur, has said:

“Most people fail because they let time manage them rather than managing their time. Time becomes a crook. Often it’s the people who make the worst use of their time who complain there is never enough of it.”

In Part 2, I will address how to guard and protect your time once you’ve found it.

Robert W. Joselyn is president & CEO of Joselyn, Tepper & Associates and Travel Agency Management Solutions (TAMS). TAMS is a travel agency financial data benchmarking and best practice organization with 120 members in the US, Canada and the Dominican Republic. For information, contact rjoselyn@TAMS-Data.com.