Working ON the business OR IN the business

*Working ON the business OR IN the business *

A lot has been written and shared on this topic. While it’s a noble advice for founders to work ON the business to grow their business but the ground realty can be a bit different and one size will not fit all.

Founders will be required to work ON and IN the business depending on the stage and need of the business and team size . As they start getting the right people in the right seats , they can transition into more ON the business . In one of the coaching session , this graph came up which I felt was the closest to how one can visualize the transition. If the team is growing and the founder is still spending majority of the time IN the business , it’s a important area to investigate – either they have not hired the right team or not created processes to delegate effectively.

One of a good practice I learnt was to colorcode the ON the business and IN the business activities in the calendar. It sets a good visual reminder for where the founders time is being spent and there by helps in course correcting it .

Would love to know what percentage of your time do you spend IN and ON the business .