Day 11: What’s Actually Worth Your Time When You Only Have 10 Hours a Week

kbives9
Jun 27
3 min read

How to move your business forward when time is tight and energy is limited

🗓️ This post is part of a 90-day blog series for solopreneurs and micro-business owners who want to grow sustainable, profitable businesses — without burning out.

Let’s be real — most micro-business owners aren’t working 40-hour weeks on their business.

You’re running errands, caring for family, working a part-time job, or just trying to recover from burnout. When you do sit down to work, every minute counts.

So the big question is: What’s actually worth doing when you only have 10 hours a week (or less)?

Spoiler: It’s not endlessly updating your logo, tweaking your Instagram bio, or chasing new productivity hacks.

Let’s break down how to prioritize the work that builds real progress — even in small time blocks.

🎯 Step 1: Anchor Your Time Around What Actually Moves the Needle

Most micro-businesses stall because they spend too much time on low-impact tasks (like formatting social posts) and not enough on growth-driving actions.

If you only have 10 hours this week, here's how to spend them:

1. Sales & Marketing – 4 hours

This is your lifeline. Spend this time on things that directly help people discover your business and decide to buy:

Write and schedule emails to your list
Post educational content or offers in places your audience hangs out (SparkToro can help you find them)
Follow up with leads, former clients, or referrals
Create one lead magnet or freebie offer
Set up a Google Business Profile or update your existing one

💡 Tools: ChatGPT for content creation, Canva for graphics, SparkToro for audience research

2. Finances – 2 hours

Money stress grows when you ignore it. Use this time to:

Review your income and expenses for the week
Send outstanding invoices or follow up on unpaid ones
Check your pricing and profit margins
Plan for upcoming expenses or taxes

💡 Tools: Google Sheets, Wave, or Zoho Books

3. Operations – 2 hours

This is where you buy your future time back. Invest in:

Creating a process for a repeatable task (use ScribeHow)
Documenting how you onboard clients
Automating a task using your CRM or scheduler
Cleaning up your inbox or calendar for efficiency

💡 Tools: ScribeHow, Trello, Calendly, Mouseflow

4. CEO Time – 1–2 hours

Even in a 10-hour week, you need time to think on the business, not just in it.

Use this time to:

Review your goals and metrics
Plan the next week’s priorities
Reflect on what’s working — and what’s not
Make decisions instead of avoiding them

If you skip this time, you stay stuck in task mode. If you protect it, you build momentum.

⚠️ What to Cut (Even If It Feels Important)

These are nice-to-haves, not must-haves when time is short:

Designing the “perfect” website
Making daily social posts without strategy
Rewriting your About page 5 times
Taking every free webinar that pops into your feed
Replying to every DM or comment instantly

Focus on impact, not activity.

✅ Bonus Tip: Batch and Block Your Time

If your 10 weekly hours are scattered, batching your work into focused time blocks will help you get more done with less stress.

Try breaking your time into five 2-hour sessions each week. For example:

2 hours – Sales & Lead GenerationFocus on outreach, visibility, and direct revenue opportunities.
2 hours – MarketingSchedule content, write emails, update your Google Business Profile, or build a lead magnet.
2 hours – FinancesTrack your numbers, send invoices, review pricing, and plan for profitability.
2 hours – OperationsClean up repeat tasks, document SOPs, and improve your client experience.
2 hours – CEO TimeReview progress, set weekly goals, and make high-level decisions.

If you only have smaller chunks of time, you can also break it into 8 x 75-minute sessions or 10 x 60-minute sessions — the key is planning ahead and protecting those blocks.

📌 You’re Building a Business — Not a Hustle

The goal isn’t to work more hours. It’s to work smarter, with more clarity, focus, and purpose. And that’s exactly what we help you do inside Taking Care of Business – Together.

👉 Start building a business that fits your life →