Working On Your Business vs. In Your Business: What’s the Difference?

When I say “working on your business versus in your business,” is your first thought, “What’s the difference?” In that case, this is one post you just can’t afford to miss! 

Working On Your Business vs. In Your Business: What’s the Difference? 

The truth is, there’s a big difference between the two terms. And the difference can mean a big change in the way you run your business, your life, and your overall success.

Working In Your Business

Let’s start by explaining what working in your business means.

Here are some tasks that fall under this category:  

• Delivering the product or service
• Managing, training, and onboarding your team
• Administrative tasks, including payroll
• Sales and marketing management

As you can see, these tasks are all related to the inner workings of your business. The day to day things that keep it running. 

Working On Your Business

On the other hand, working on your business includes some of the bigger picture tasks that really help your business grow. This is where you can let your entrepreneurial spirit shine and where your biggest strides can be made.

It includes things like:

• Strategic planning
• Seeking funding
• Meeting with mentors or entrepreneurial coaches
• Creating partnerships
• Research and development
• Personal development

The problem is, many entrepreneurs get so bogged down with working in their business, they don’t have the time to work on it. And it’s only understandable! After all, things like payroll and staff training do need to be done. 

But if you’re only ever working in your business, you’re not able to take the necessary steps for growing your business. That magic happens when you make the time to work on your business. 

How Do You Find Time for Both?

Of course, time isn’t an unlimited resource. That’s why I encourage you, as the powerful entrepreneur you are, to outsource any of the ‘working in your business’ tasks that you can. 

(While you’re here, you also won’t want to miss this post: 4 Scheduling Hacks to Help You Do More in Less Time)

Imagine, for example, what a difference it would make if you outsourced payroll services. Then, you could take that time to focus on the critical work of growing your business by seeking out funding, creating partnerships, strategizing, and other important tasks. 

While outsourcing some of these responsibilities does usually require an investment, getting the time to work on your business will come with an even bigger return.

So, what’s your next step? To start, I want you to create a list of all of the work you do on and in your business, divided into those categories. Then, I want you to find one of the ‘working in your business’ tasks you can start outsourcing today. 

Finally, you’re going to take the time you normally would spend on that task and put it toward an item in the ‘working on your business’ category.

What are you waiting for? Let’s get started!