Not enough hours in the day? Five top entrepreneurs reveal how they juggle their time - Women's Agenda

Not enough hours in the day? Five top entrepreneurs reveal how they juggle their time

A common complaint from busy entrepreneurs is that there is not enough time in the day.

Since entrepreneurs do need to sleep occasionally – and scientists’ attempts at cloning have not progressed far beyond Dolly the sheep – it all comes down to how you prioritise your time.

We spoke to five top entrepreneurs to find out how they allocate their time each day and how they would change that juggle if they got the chance:

Barb de Corti: “Have your eyes on the business not in the business”
Barb de Corti is the founder and owner of cleaning products business Enjo, which has a turnover of over $100 million and is sold in 15 countries worldwide.

De Corti told Women’s Agenda sister site SmartCompany each day she gets up at 4.15am in the morning to fit in exercise and breakfast before getting into the office at 8.30 in the morning.

“I spend half my day looking at trends that affect our business, trends of the rest of the world in terms of retail and direct selling and the other half of the day in the business with my team and making sure this knowledge is implemented,” she says.

De Corti says because she has been in business for over 19 years now, she has managed to refine what is the best allocation of your time.

“I have learned over the years to work on my ideal day and what is most important in the ideal day for the business,” she says.

“That is to have your eyes on the business and not in the business. Very often in the early days I was working in the business which then could only grow as far as my knowledge could, so working on the business and learning from external sources I can grow the business.”

She has achieved this balance between working on the business and in the business by relying on four senior managers for day-to-day operations.

“I am in a fortunate position that the four managers I work with are very senior and so allow me to work on the business ideas and they put everything in place to put us there,” she says.

De Corti’s tip for time allocation is to use your diary to mark out tasks for every day divided into four sections, things you must do for the day, things that would be great to do, time that must be spent with your team and what you would like to do with your team.

“Having things I would like to do sitting there is something to look forward to, so it is really like a reward,” she says.

Andrew Mellett: “Look at what is core”
Andrew Mellett co-founded new model law firm Plexus two years ago but in building the business to a turnover of over $5 million he discovered he was spending a lot of time with clients and managing the office.

Mellett says he realises he needed to sit down and take stock of what he was investing his time in so he listed the areas he dealt with and decided to focus on core tasks.

“That is the core I define as things that only I can do or I can do significantly better than anybody else,” he says.

Mellett worked out that in the last six months he spent 60% of his time on client matters, 15% on working with people which he defines as “talent” and 15% working with business operations on finance and management.

He spent the remainder of his time, a measly 10%, on business strategy and strategy execution but these were two areas Mellett had identified as core.

So Mellett has shaken things up and hired staff to take care of his client obligations and to work on general administration and office management.

“Ideally I will now spend 80% of my time on my core role which is talent, by which I mean attracting, engaging and training and then 20% on business strategy,” says Mellett.

Simon Duffy: “I always want to be involved in innovation”
Simon Duffy, the co-founder of Bulldog, split tasks with his business partner in order to start up the male skincare brand and turn it into a product which is sold around the world and which turned over $4.5 million last year.

Duffy told SmartCompany his business partner takes care of all the operational and supply chain matters.

“My role is probably 25% working with buyers for retail in the UK, 25% travelling to potential and existing new markets to meet press and retailers and companies to collaborate with, 25% in the UK in promotion so press, speeches and anything about communicating the brand and 25% on improving existing products and working on new products,” he says.

Duffy says a continued split “close to that” is how he would like to continue spending his time.

“I always want to be involved in innovation and what comes next for Bulldog and I always want to be getting out there and meeting people. So if one thing had to go, I would probably take time off the administration I spend on UK retailers and put more time into international development because it is a real pleasure to travel around the world meeting people and see the products you have developed.”

Kate Hannemann: “I divide my time into six key areas”
For Kate Hannemann, the managing director and founder of communications agency Communikate Et Al, the key to her success has been dividing her time into six key areas.

First is being an ambassador for her business, liaising with existing clients and referrers and any public presentations, which she estimates takes 25% of her time and is something she would maintain.

Secondly is exploring new opportunities through new clients and services, which currently takes 15% of Hanneman’s time and which she would like to increase to 20% of her time.

Hannemann spends 35% of her time on support for her executive team, a percentage she would like to pull back to 25%.

She spends 10% of her time on partnerships with the community and business and 5% on finance, which are both percentages she would maintain.

Finally, she currently spends 10% of her time on business planning and leadership development, an area she would increase to 15% ideally.

“That involves things like my involvement in Entrepreneurs’ Organisation; I’ve always had some business coaching and have found that an entrepreneurial take on leadership has been key for me along with peer support,” Hannemann says.

Richard Bates: “Don’t be afraid to delegate”
As the chief executive and founder of Scan Conversion Services, Richard Bates says delegation has enabled him to create a business with a turnover of $4 million.

“Most of my time is spent liaising with new clients and bringing new business and business partnerships, I have a general manager and they have the role of managing any staff issues or resource issues,” he says.

“I take the view of spending more time with the clients as they are the ones who tell me where the market is going and they keep the business alive.”

Bates estimates he spends 60% of his time with clients and business partners, 20% with staff and product development and 20% of his time in management meetings and strategy meetings with the leadership team.

“I think the mix is right, you can’t be with the clients all the time and lose track of your own office,” he says.

“We hired our first general manager three years ago and by that stage I had got quite exhausted working incredibly long hours and trying to do everything.”

Bates recommends delegating internally and externally and says entrepreneurs should not be afraid of using partners to give them the flexibility that they need.

“Look at whether there is anyone in the organisation that can achieve the task, basically give it to the person who is capable of doing it so you use the people who are more capable to do the things others can’t,” he says.

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