How To Set Your Business Priorities As A Solopreneur

Follow the Right Strategy To Get More ROI Out Of Your Business

If you are an organized, efficient employee or student, running your own business should be a piece of cake, right?

It does not transfer over so seamlessly.

Having coached hundreds of solopreneurs and small business owners over the past few years, you must learn how to manage your day and your priorities as an entrepreneur like you were starting your career almost from scratch.

Why Is Managing Your Business Priorities So Different From Task Management As An Employee?

First off, in a job, you have a boss. Knowing you must stay accountable to your employer does wonders to keep you on task.

Secondly, you have a schedule and deadlines. Knowing the expectations of work hours will force you into a routine.

Third, your employer sets your priorities so you are always aware of expectations.

Last, but most importantly, you get an immediate reward in the form of a paycheck. Money is a great motivator, especially when you know it is certain. And if you don’t manage your priorities, it can and will be taken away!

Entrepreneurship Is A Different Beast

Compare that to entrepreneurship (no accountability, no deadlines or mandatory work hours, and no guaranteed payout) and it is no surprise that many feel frustrated or overwhelmed trying to figure out what to prioritize and how to organize the day.

Here is what the priorities should be in your business from Day One:

1. Pick one area of expertise you want to specialize in that you have earned and proven credibility in:

Credibility is the word to emphasize here.

• Don’t specialize in mindset or money coaching if you are broke.
• Don’t specialize in AI if you know nothing about it.
• Don’t call yourself a Marketing expert if you haven’t worked for someone else for 3+ years or got a degree in it.
• Don’t offer writing services if your articles get two likes.
• Don’t say you are a business coach if you’ve never built a business.
• And so forth.

Instead, invest in learning one high-demand skill or one industry well until you have enough proven results that you are credible enough to help others.

Example:

I teach early-stage entrepreneurs how to build thriving businesses, and I work for small businesses.

Business growth via marketing, sales, and business development systems is my speciality.

I earned my credibility by being an entrepreneur for over twenty years, selling one 8-figure agency I co-built from scratch and building profitable marketing assets for my customers. I can fully sustain myself financially from my business alone without any help from anyone.

Everyone starts at the bottom. No one is born an expert. Prove your expertise first before you start calling yourself an expert.

How?

Get a job working for someone who is a legit expert in that field.

Invest in a high-ticket educational program to learn a skill really well for at least one year.

Never overpromise.

Earn your credibility through hard work and multiple years.

Over time, your reputation will build itself, and your social proof will grow organically.

Make sure your profiles convey clearly who you are and what you specialize in. Less is more. Niching down will set you apart.

2. Pick one group of people you deeply understand and want to spend all your time with who have the money to pay you happily and readily.

Ideally, if you are coaching, this group is a former version of you. If you are consulting or selling products, it is a group you understand better than other niches and decided to specialize in (examples: SaaS, e-commerce, luxury real estate, or fintech).

The emphasis should be on ‘Have the money to pay you’.

Only a subgroup of your niche will meet that criteria.

Look carefully at your audience and decide the criteria for them to qualify as able and willing to pay.

Set conditions to make sure you pre-vet and work with the right people.

Examples:

• A small business CEO in growth mode
• A full-time executive earning an above-average salary
• A large company that dominates their market and is very stable

Who not to work with:

• Someone unemployed
• A large company struggling with a recent failure that made their value significantly dip
• A “business owner” without any stable income working client-to-client and barely staying afloat

What if you want to help everyone who is nice?

Then, open a charity, start a non-profit, or build a foundation.

Because business is for profit, the goal is profits, and your success is measured by healthy profit.

You can still help ‘the nice people who can’t afford you’ by offering regular free content in a newsletter, podcast, blog, or video series.

3. Build your business around your lifestyle and needs. There is no set rules in business, except that you need to love it.

There is one basic, non-negotiable condition around your business:

You must love it.

You are willing to go the extra mile when you love your business.

You don’t give up because it matters that much to you.

You work more without it feeling like work because you enjoy it so much.

If you don’t feel this way, work with a life coach to identify what you should be doing that does make you happy.

If you ignore this, you may feel lack of progress is the issue when the true problem is that you aren’t working aligned with your talents, passion, and strengths.

4. Identify which tasks only you can do and outsource the rest.

Doing everything yourself is the best business killer.

Identify your zone of genius, which is the core of everything, and block time weekly for that. You can recognize your zone of genius because you are good at it, it lights you up, and you see monetary results.

Be careful not to confuse your zone of genius with a hobby. The way to know is by monetary results. If you enjoy something but no one seems to want it, it is just a hobby. You can’t build a business if you can’t sell what you do.

Everything outside your zone of genius should be outsourced, delegated, or eliminated.

5. Organize your day to take care of your essentials first.

The day can be divided around three top work priorities:

1. Mind and Body First (10% of your day)
2. Existing Clients and Routine Business Tasks (20% of your day)
3. New Business Activities and Creativity (40% of your day)

Being Healthy (10%)

Success starts with your mental and physical health. Every entrepreneur should make this their top daily priority. The mind-body connection is real and you can’t be a top performer if you havn’t taken care of your health. This shouldn’t be hard nor take up more than 3 hours total of your day, which includes personal hygiene, exercise, and nutrition. Obviously, sleep is another 8 works of work!

Existing Business Maintenance (20%)

Getting a client is so hard yet many then proceed to neglect them and take them for granted. It is much easier to retain a client than to acquire a new one. Keep your clients happy and you will prosper. Note: There is an exception= don’t waste your time on low-quality clients who don’t put in the work. Let them leave on their own. In some situations, it is even better to terminate them so you can focus your energy on clients serious about their success. Taking care of existing business also means to remain consistent in your business activities, such as putting out content, live events, and maintaining relationships with clients, vendors, employees, and partners.

New Business Development and Creative Work (40%)

How much time do you dedicate weekly to new business activities? Most entrepreneurs don’t, then are surprised when they don’t experience growth. Under new business activities, I include:

• Inbound and outbound sales and marketing activities
• New products
• Improving existing products and service upgrades
• Hiring new employees, contractors, or vendors
• Building relationships with new power partners
• Conversations and sales calls with prospects

Everything else comes last! Don’t let yourself get caught up in other activities if the essential three aren’t being taken care of first.

If you don’t allocate your time in the above manner accordingly, your business won’t grow.

Note: Don’t dedicate 100% of your day to work ever. 30% should be for your personal life.

Troubleshooting

Look at your typical day.

If you are a business owner, it should be approximately 70% dedicated to business and 30% to your personal on work days. On non-work days, of course, it can be the opposite.

Within the 70%, I include mind-body work because this is part of your business success. Having energy and vitality are absolute musts for business so I will argue this should be the top priority in every entrepreneur’s life.

Troubleshooting is simple.

Just look at how you spend your work day and compare to the guidelines above. If you aren’t spending 70% on these tasks or your percentages are skewed, then you know what to do.

What about people working full or part-time or caregiving for children or elders while trying to build a business?

My answer is this: There are thousands of examples of people who built successful businesses under very tough time constraints. Where there is a will, there is a way. Temporary sacrifices may be necessary for big wins in the long run.

What about people who will argue there existing clients are taking up 100% of their time? Then you don’t have systems in place. Fix it and you shouldn’t have to spend more than 20%. After all, it isn’t a job.

What if you find yourself hating the tasks to grow your business or totally confused about how to do them right? Get a coach. It is not something most do figure out without help.

If you divide your time proportionally between these three business priorities, you will see positive business results. Neglect one or more and your business will suffer.

You will need to stay disciplined, to avoid distractions, and to set clear boundaries. But most of all, you must remember these priorities so you can always redirect yourself if you find your attention wandering.

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