Hey Reader,
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Happy September :)
Not sure about you, but I love this time of year. There is something about September that feels like a new kind of motion.
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Summer is winding down.
The witchy season is approaching.
And there are still four whole months left to move some things forward before the year is done.

So this week we’re continuing with the practical side of business.
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Let’s talk about time.
Or more specifically… What are you actually doing with the hours you have?
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​Time management is one of those things we all know is important. And it makes sense… very few of us have just a business.
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We have relationships. Families. Travel. Exercise. Life admin. A social life. Maybe another job.
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And somewhere between all of that… we’re trying to build a business.
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Have you ever sat down at your desk and thought… “Okay… what should I work on today?”
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​You open your notes.
Then your inbox.
Remember you need to post something.
Oh, and that page needs updating.
You haven’t followed up with that person either.
Or maybe you should work on that new offer you were ideating around?

45 minutes later… You’re still deciding what the priority is.

I know this place VERY well :)

And here’s the thing. I don’t actually think most of us have a time management problem.
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Time manages itself just fine. There are 24 hours. They’ll pass whether you use them well or not.

What we need to manage is what gets our attention inside those hours. And that starts before any to-do lists.
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It starts with a very simple question: How many hours does your business actually get?

Not how many you’d like to have.
Not the imaginary week where you wake up at 5am, meditate, exercise, work for eight uninterrupted hours and somehow still have a life.
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​Your actual life.
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​Maybe your business gets 10 hours a week. Maybe 20. Maybe 35.
There is no right number. But you need to know the number.

Because once you know what you’re working with, you can decide what those hours are actually for. And this is where I like buckets.

I currently organise my own business into four main buckets (and they are colour-coded in my fancy Notion calendar).
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A little disclaimer here… there is no perfect ratio between these buckets. Every season of business is different. Your calendar might look completely different from mine. The point is knowing where your time is going and making sure it matches what your business actually needs right now.
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Bucket 1: CEO / PLANNING - Where am I going? What needs my attention? What process would make things easier right now?

Bucket 2: BUSINESS BUILDING - Creating the things the business needs. Offers, systems, pages, processes, infrastructure.

Bucket 3: MARKETING & SALES - Content, conversations, follow-ups, newsletters, visibility, getting people into my world.

Bucket 4: CLIENT WORK - Actually delivering the work people are paying me for (both live sessions and the thinking, planning and creating I do for clients between them).
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Nothing revolutionary here… that’s the point. Simple works.
Because without some separation, everything becomes work.
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​And when everything is work, it’s very easy to spend your whole week serving clients and realise you haven’t grown your own business.
Or spend 12 hours redesigning something while having zero sales conversations.
Or create content every day while not knowing how these posts actually lead towards a client.

Business growth isn’t measured by how busy you are, but by whether you’re moving the right things forward.
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​So, since it’s the beginning of September, here’s something you can do before another week disappears.
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These are the foundational questions (this little exercise would sit in your CEO / Planning bucket).

1. How many hours do I realistically have for my business each week?
2. What are the 1–2 most important things I want to move forward this month?
3. Which of my four business buckets need attention to make that happen?
4. How much time does each bucket actually need?
5. What am I deliberately NOT focusing on right now?

That last one might be the most important. Because one thing I keep learning over and over again in business… One thing at a time.
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​You can have 47 ideas.
I usually do :) But they are held by the system not worked on all at the same time.
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They don’t all need to become projects this week.
There is peace in knowing: “That’s a good idea. And it’s not for now.”
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​Put it somewhere safe (your backend system).
Come back to it later.
And get back to the thing you’ve already decided matters.

Your schedule doesn’t need to control your life.
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For me, it’s the opposite. Structure gives my brain somewhere to put things down. It gives me freedom.
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​I don’t have to wake up every morning and renegotiate my priorities with myself. I’ve already decided. And then I get to work.
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​And here’s a last question for you…

When it comes to planning and systems, what are you currently using to organise your business?
A weekly schedule? Notion? Random notes everywhere? :)
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Or do you have a system that’s working really well for you?
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Hit reply. I’d love to know.

And if you’d like to see how I organise my own business behind the scenes, I’m happy to share that too (a bit of a systems geek over here).​
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Let's get orginised
Inga
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PS. If you’re not sure Foundations are actually where your business needs attention, use my Business Self-Audit first. It’ll help you look across all 5 dimensions and see where the gaps might be.
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