Cut the Busywork and Move the Needle
Is this you?
Do you ever find yourself being really busy as an entrepreneur, but you’re not really getting anywhere? You feel like there are a million tasks that eat up your time, but by the end of the week, you’ve hardly made any sales or attained any growth? You might even find yourself in constant overwhelm due to the never-ending to-do list.
It doesn’t help when there’s advice coming from all directions. “Go all-in on LinkedIn and become a pro before moving to different platforms.” Which, later shifted to, “Well, with the fast-paced change and algorithms, it’s better to start posting on every single platform.”
There are others who tell you to run webinars, go live, write that blog, send that newsletter, host a podcast, comment in groups, and network, network, network. They’re not wrong, but where should you place your focus?
On top of that are the funnels, automations, email sequences, link-in-bio pages, product creation, and website upkeep. All of the backend tech that needs figured out and followed through, and if you don't consider yourself a "techie," it feels even more daunting.
There are only so many hours in a day and days in a week. You’re most likely finding yourself trying to balance your dream of running your own business with family, obligations, and perhaps even another job, which doesn't leave a lot of time to yourself.
Your time is precious, and it’s easy to spend it lost in the weeds as you try to gain traction. One of the most important distinctions you need to make is to determine if what’s on your to-do list is busywork or a needle mover.
Busywork vs. Needle Movers
Busywork consists of low-impact tasks that don’t drive significant progress towards your goals. Examples of busywork would be organizing your digital files, going through emails that aren’t high priority, constantly tweaking your website or social media bios, getting stuck on social media while interacting or looking for trends, or constantly listening to podcasts, reading books, or taking courses without executing on anything.
Needle movers are the actions that will actually move the needle to help you achieve your goals. They’re also the tasks and actions that will stretch you outside of your comfort zone. Launching an offer, creating backend automations and funnels that do the heavy lifting for you, creating social media posts with strong calls to action, pitching your email list, making client calls, and running ads. The needle movers will drive your growth, revenue, and/or strengthen your structural framework.
Key areas for success
The key areas that move the needle for business growth and success are visibility, lead generation, sales, and delivery.
Visibility is where you’re showing up - on social media, networking, newsletters, podcasts, or blog sites.
Lead generation includes freebies to grow your following, but also what you’re doing to keep your list warm. You want to grow your email list, but you also want to keep it engaged.
Sales consists of offering something people want, getting the offer out there (usually through ads), having the systems in place so the buying process is a smooth one, and following up with people who have shown interest.
Delivery is about paying attention to your client experience and how you fulfill the purchase process, as well as getting feedback and testimonials from your clients/buyers.
Determine your needle movers
As you think about what you need to do for the coming week, write down your list, and then mark beside each task if it’s BW (busywork) or NM (needle mover). Once you've done that, prioritize your needle movers.
Consider creating time blocks each day where you will solely focus on your needle movers. Break each needle mover down into actionable steps and focus on those steps during your time blocks.
Since the needle movers tend to be the more uncomfortable actions, it’s best to start your day with the needle movers, as you’ll be more likely to actually do them instead of putting them off or replacing them with, you guessed it, busywork.
To give you an idea and real-life example, here are my needle movers for this week:
1. Get my digital product up.
Resolve some backend tech issues on my client portal.
Test the funnel one more time.
Set my latest digital product to live and add it to my website.
2. Create CTA’s.
Create posts with calls to action for my digital product.
Schedule posts for social media.
Add a section about the new product to my newsletter to be sent out to my email list.
3. AI/SEO (something I know is really important for business, but I don’t know much about).
Take a class.
Implement their suggestions.
4. Connect with other entrepreneurs.
A coffee chat with someone I met at a networking event recently.
Host the mastermind that I lead.
5. Improve the sign-up page for one of my lead gens
Run the page through ChatGPT and see what suggestions it has for improvement.
Implement the changes.
The connections with other entrepreneurs and improving my AI/SEO cover the visibility category. Getting the tech resolved and my funnel up touch on deliverability. Creating my social media posts and adding my new product to my newsletter aim at sales. As for lead generation, I'm improving upon a lead gen that I know had really weak messaging.
It's your turn
I wasted a lot of time in my early years with busy work. I hated the idea of selling and struggled with my messaging, so that made attempting the needle movers seem like a massive endeavor. I kept really busy, but my business barely grew. I felt a lot of resentment from doing so much but not getting anywhere. I don’t want to see you waste your time and energy doing the same thing.
Once you know who your niche is, have your messaging nailed down, are creating your offer that you’ve researched to see that it’s something people want or need, and have your sales and delivery process laid out, then move your focus to visibility, lead generation & list warmth, sales, and delivery. They are your needle movers that will help you to grow and profit.
To your inner growth and success,
Adrienne
I'm looking for the women entrepreneurs and solopreneurs who are ready for their inner transformation that shifts them into their next level of success. If that's you, click here.
