What is CEO Time?
Did you hear about the CEO who had a $300/hr. bookkeeper?
Ask a CEO or Small Business owner how he divides his time between CEO work, Managing, and “Chief Employee” work (where he actually does work an employee could do.) Most will say “10%, 40%, 50%..” It’s likely that many of us spend even more than half our time on work we could and should delegate. But, taken at face value, in a 10 hour day, many spend:
1 hour on CEO Time (planning, thinking ahead, etc.)
4 hours on Managing – asking/telling others what to do.
5 hours on “Chief Employee” work – doin’ it, doin’ it, doin’ it.”
If you’re a sole proprietor, then, of course, you have an excuse. Here are three:
- “It would take me twice as long to train someone to do it as to do it myself!”
- “No-one can do it as well as I do!”
- “No-one seems to get how big a job this is!”
Right. And how in the world will you going to grow your business? If you’re working flat out right now, you don’t need more clients. You need more time. And you get more time by putting some of your work in other people’s hands.
Let’s suppose that the value of CEO work to the company is $300 an hour, you could hire a manager for $50 an hour, and an employee for $15 an hour.
Another CEO does the opposite – spends 50% of his time as a CEO and 40% as a Manager, only 10% doing employee work.. Hires others to do work he doesn’t have time for.
Which one brings the most value to his company and himself? And which one are you?
Is this all theoretical? Yes. Would you like to have a look to see what’s going on in your business?
How CEO’s use their time each day!
CEO #1
| % Time | Day Hours | $/hr. | Delivered Value | |
| CEO work | 10% | 1 | 300 | 300 |
| Manager work | 40% | 4 | 50 | 200 |
| Employee work | 50% | 5 | 15 | 75 |
| Total | 100% | 10 | 575 |
CEO #2
| % Time | Day Hours | $/hr. | Delivered Value | |
| CEO work | 50% | 5 | 300 | 1500 |
| Manager work | 40% | 4 | 50 | 200 |
| Employee work | 10% | 1 | 15 | 15 |
| Total | 100% | 10 | 1715 |
Annual Summary : CEO #1 = $172,500 CEO #2 = $514,500
Which number would you prefer?
One of the fundamental causes of small business problems is not because the owner/CEO doesn’t do enough, but because he/she does too much of the wrong thing.
In fact, I was the CEO who had a $300 bookkeeper. I did a fair-to-poor job, every month. And I was very proud of it. Until, finally, I gave it over to someone who was much better at it than I was, and could do it in half the time for a 10th the cost!
The good news: Once you understand this and use it, you can create change, and triple your value to your own business.
You can do this yourself, or you can get a little help. The call is free: 516 944-6454 or email to craig@craigjennings.com. Please put “CEO Time” on the subject line.
By the way, time with a coach definitely counts as CEO Time!
