#196 The Hidden Work That Makes Everything Easier In Your Small Business

Most business owners think client work is the most valuable part of their business. But the truth? Design time - the hours you spend improving systems, empowering your team, and setting the future direction - is what makes client delivery easier, faster, and less stressful.

In this episode, you’ll learn what design time is, why it feels unproductive, and how to start making space for it - even if your schedule is already maxed out.

Book a consultation here, and let's start designing a business that works FOR YOU.

Link to Music Credits
Track: Positive Motivation
Author: AShamaluevMusic (ASM)
Publisher: CD Baby (IPI 700570289)

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Transcript

What if I told you that the most important work you can do in your business isn't client work? I know, it sounds crazy because client work is the thing that pays the bills, right? It's what keeps the money coming in, keeps your clients happy and ultimately keeps the lights on. But here's the truth.

Thinking that client delivery is the most important thing in your business will keep your business alive today. But if you want your business to still be alive tomorrow, you will have to make time for something else. And that something else is what I call design time. 

In this episode, we're going to talk about exactly what design time is, why it should get time in your schedule this week if you want your business to thrive well into the future and how to start making space for it even if your schedule is packed. Now, when I say design time, I'm not talking about branding or making things look pretty. 

Design time is the intentional time that you spend building the structures of your business and setting it up for the future. This includes the practical side of things like systems and processes that make work repeatable instead of starting from scratch every time you do something. The tools and the resources that keep projects moving smoothly. It also includes the people side. If you have or plan on building a team, this would include things like training and empowering your team so that they can do their best work without needing you to step in all the time to micromanage them.

And finally, It includes the future side of things, where you actually spend time thinking about your business and where you want this business to go into the future, making sure that the work that you're doing today is aligned with that future or bigger vision. 

When you spend time designing your business, you will soon realise that it is the one thing that makes everything else easier, less stressful and more efficient in your business. Now, client work usually gets all of our attention because it has that direct impact on the bottom line. If we make our clients happy, we can pay our bills at the end of the month. We naturally place a lot of value on client delivery and rightly so.

But the key is that spending time designing your business actually throws fuel on that fire. Design time is actually more important than anything else because it requires you to think with a different part of your brain. It takes you out of doer mode and into visionary mode. During design time, you're activating both creativity and strategy. And because you're looking further into the future, approaching current challenges through a completely different lens.

You are able to problem solve faster, come up with better solutions and find ways of making small tweaks that create a big impact. The key is to not look at design time as competition with client work. It makes client work better. It allows you to serve at a higher level while working smarter, not harder. For example, if you spend just one hour streamlining how you onboard a client, every future client gets a better experience, right? You save time, you avoid mistakes, and you come across as more professional.

That one hour of design time pays you back every single time you sign a new client. The reason why we don't prioritise design time is because when we spend time designing the business, the payoff isn't instant. We don't have that same high value, high impact connection like we do with client delivery and being able to invoice for our work. 

Nobody's chasing you to build a system or carve out time to think about the future. Clients are chasing you for delivery. And in the moment, that always feels way more important. So what typically happens is design time gets pushed to someday because in the moment, delivery feels like the urgent thing and design and design time, well, it feels optional. But design time isn't time away from your clients. It's actually time invested for your clients. 

Think about it this way. When you fix a clunky process, when you streamline communication, when you sharpen your own skills or the skills of your team, your clients are the ones who ultimately benefit. They get a smoother experience, fewer mistakes and faster results. So design time is not separate from client work. It is client work just in advance.

Every time you spend an hour improving how your business runs, you're directly improving the experience your clients will have tomorrow. 

All right, so how do we actually make this happen? Because I know that your schedule is already tight. The thing to know here is that if you don't see design time as valuable and an important component inside of your business, you will not prioritise it. You will not make time for it. The reality is, time isn't just going to magically appear, but ultimately we spend time on the things that are important to us. So here's what I recommend you do. Block out just one hour a week for design time. Put it on your calendar and treat it the same way, protect it in the same way that you would a client meeting. Secondly, have a plan for your design time. Know exactly what you are going to focus on during this time that will support the goals you have for the business. And then work only on that thing. Don't overcomplicate it. Don't try to fix too many things at once. And as a pro tip, keep a running list of things that you want to or should improve in your business. This list becomes your go-to for future design time. Now over time, these small pockets of design time will stack up. 

The key is to start small, stay consistent, and keep reminding yourself this isn't wasted time. This is the work that actually moves the business forward. 

If this episode resonated with you, don't let design time keep slipping to someday. Schedule a free consultation with me and let's make sure that the time you invest in your business is spent on the things that actually matter. On the consultation call, I'm going to help you to get clear on what is actually working inside of your business so that you can do more of that. We'll also spot the areas that are slowing you down or adding unnecessary stress and create a plan for how you can use design time and any time you spend in your business intentionally so that you can work less, so that your clients can get an even better experience, and so that your business can grow in a way that is sustainable. 

So if you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start building a business that works for you, not against you, book your consultation in the link below this video or wherever you're listening to this episode today.

Thank you so much for tuning in with me this week. I will talk to you again next week.