53% Income Increase Working Only 24 Hours a Week
“Balance is not something you find, it’s something you create.”
Yep - you read that correctly. Last year (financial year 2023/2024) I increased my income by 53% only working 24 hours a week.
I love my numbers! I love data and statistics so as part of my annual business review I have been looking at the systems, processes and performance of each “department” in my business.
I was absolutely gobsmacked when I realised that I have made a 53% increase in my income compared to last year. That felt huge. I have really invested in myself and the business this year to achieve that but I still felt the need to pinch myself at my success.
But what shocked me the most was that I achieved this huge increase in only 24 working hours per week.
I am extremely passionate about maintaining my boundaries around work and not logging on during evenings and weekends. I know the optimum number of hours that I can work to succeed but also maintain my health and energy.
When I saw the increase in my income I was sure that I had been burning the candle at both ends. I mean, I didn’t remember working long weeks or not taking planned holidays. I didn’t feel like I was on the edge of burnout.
I have to admit, I even triple checked the systems to make sure it was true. But sure enough, in black and white, there it was.
53% Income Increase Working Only 24 Hours a Week
How did I do it?
I treat my solopreneur business in the same way I would expect a corporate business to act at the end of year. Review the targets, set new goals and put a plan in place for how to achieve them across the business.
During the first few years of my business I have made steady progress in financial growth as well as finding the right life balance for myself. I put boundaries in place that were non-negotiable and I put boundaries in that allowed for flexibility (check out my blog on how I work 24 hours a week for more on this topic).
I will talk about some of the business actions to increase my income in another blog as that is massive in itself but, spoiler alert...I didn’t increase my prices at all!
In addition to having boundaries, I have also been tracking my time. This step has been integral to hitting both goals.
In tracking my time, firstly I can be sure that I am keeping to my schedule. I am not going off on a 4 hour Canva expedition or wasting time messing about with my website. My budgeted “work” time is consciously spent. I have client hours that I need to manage as well as business tasks and having the data of what time I have spent where, means that I am able to reflect on my week, making sure to use time wisely.
When I say use time wisely, what exactly am I saying? Well it comes back to the Canva rabbit hole. I don’t want to spend 20 of the 24 hours I have for my working week on non-income generating tasks. I have to carefully balance my time.
Having this data also means that I am able to see how long a task truly tasks. I don’t schedule myself 90 minutes to build a funnel if I know that I need to set aside 3 hours. Equally, that quick social media post that I thought would take 5 minutes - straight away you can see that the task and distraction involved meant I lost 30 minutes.
“It takes 23 minutes to refocus after distractions.”
I regularly review this data too. It helps me to see if there are patterns in my productivity further improving my efficiency.
But the really key thing I can see - the tasks that I need to be outsourcing. My billable time is precious and so I look to see what tasks that have a low ROI can be given to the team or in fact, stopped altogether.
So how can you increase your income and work the hours you want?
Put in the boundaries - decide when and how you want to work and implement the change. For some tips, check out my blog on my 24 hour work week.
Bring structure to your week - you can’t just spend the days aimlessly wandering from task to task. You need to be purposeful with your actions. Time-block your time, and use those boundaries to work when your energy is at its best.
Record the data and learn from it - it's like when you’re on a diet and not losing weight. If you aren’t being truthful with your calorie tracking, you can’t see that the extra serving of dinner or the second chocolate biscuit is what is sabotaging your progress. The same applies to time. If you don’t know where you spend it, you don’t know where to save it.
