While I agree with some of the points that Tim has made, such as delegation (both through additional hiring or retraining existing employees), I disagree with removing the business owner from the situation (unless that is their permanent exit strategy).

First, create a decision diagram to help quickly address issues that surface. I highly recommend approaching it from a “How will this item impact the business, today, next month, next year”. Many people forget the saying that “Your lack of planning does not constitute my emergency”. This may not apply to everything that comes up, but it can be applied to many situations.

Don’t let urgency impede true priority (reading and answering an email that just arrived may interrupt a more important task you are in the middle of - don’t let small things that are urgent steal from items with higher priority.

Identify tasks that you are willing to delegate based on specific criteria ( responding to a specific client, answering a question with a financial impact under a specific amount, resolving personnel disagreements or friction, etc.)

If the business truly is your business, removing yourself for months at a time for holiday leave may be enjoyable but it is not optimal. If you truly care about your business (hopefully you do) your presence whether for decision making and morale is crucial. An absent CEO or owner breeds animosity and mistrust from employees that label you as an absentee. Your decisions will be questioned as just benefiting you (versus the entire company) or worse others will think you are making snap decisions while being ill-informed.

Now, everyone needs time away to recharge and just stay mentally sharp, but you shouldn’t shrug off the responsibility of your position. Lead by example. Delegate to employees in a way that empowers them and shows them trust, but also shows them through words and actions that you take the important decisions with the weight they deserve.

There is always too many things to do as a business owner and understanding that is where to begin.

The simple way to start is to start with major, big goals for the business as the owner of it.

For example, I ask my clients if they'd like to have their business operating under management so that working is optional and they can take a two or three month holiday anywhere in the world, worry free.

A lot say yes to that, not surprisingly. So if that's the big goal, then we have to remove everything off their role in the business, except for management, which would go to a potential manager that is hired or promoted from in the business.

Next everything the business owner does is listed, for a full week that tracks all tasks they carry out with the time taken in minutes or hours. Everything on that list is then allocated one of 3 categories...

1. Delegate
2. Train to delegate
3. Future

Delegate means, pass on that task very soon so they stop doing it. Things like opening any mail, answering the phone etc. Delegate means simple tasks that are a decision away from freeing up time and perhaps with minutes of discussion with an employee.

Next is Train to delegate. That means to delegate the task it will require some training and weeks or 1 to 2 months to then delegate the task to someone. That takes time, but its definitely worthwhile.

What's then left on the list are things for a future person to occupy the business owners role when the business is ready to hire them.

Now its time to determine what's holding the business back from being ready for management.

Is it lack of cash in the bank? If so, that's more often than not a low Net Profit Margin issue, more so than a lack of sales. If that's the case then prices need to be increased and/or costs reduced to increase the profit margin. This increases cash in the bank fastest and doesn't require more lead generation cost, time or development and also the risk of capital if or when the new strategy probably fails the first time.

A business will need a strong team environment, so the employees are happy even though the business owner isn't working in the business for months. That means team building strategies.

The way to build a team is through systems, KPIs and team meetings.

Regular, weekly team meetings where figures for the whole business are discussed, is a very powerful and effective strategy for team building.

Happier employees result from this. Happier employees think more, make less mistakes, are more productive and accept greater responsibility, which means the business owner can delegate more tasks to them, freeing up their time.

With an effective team meeting structure where certain business figures are discussed, it can make a huge difference to the culture, customer feedback, productivity levels and freedom for the business owner.

I believe the purpose of owning an established business is to have it setup so the owner owns it, instead of feeling owned by it. If that's the goal of a business owner then the above is a process that solves their constant busyness, stress and feeling of needing everything done now.

The short answer is, use a team to free up time. Why have lots of employees if you're doing their job for them?