Running a business is a lot like “running” (with your spouse) a marriage and family.

There are so many allegories between the two… it’s why I started my personal podcast, the .

In a family, there are things that make you busy that just don’t matter as much (i.e. trying to keep your home perfectly spotless all the time, being at every social event to keep family/friends happy, binge watching shows often because it’s convenient) and then there are the things and habits that help you develop a fruitful, close-knit family dynamic (i.e. eating dinner at the table often, reading Scripture together, date nights with your spouse, 1:1s with kids).

Similarly, in business, there are those tasks, projects, or things you focus on that are simply making you busy. These look different for every business and the things keeping you busy could actually be something that does make you money, like sponsorships.

I actually did a session with a creator last year who was making $350K/year with his business. He was doing a LOT of things right, but he had no more capacity to grow and felt like he was losing his work/life balance as a result. His exact words to me were…

“Tim, help me get my life back.”

After reviewing all of his revenue streams, we learned he was making $30,000 of that $350K a year doing sponsorships (which is great – that’s a full time job for lots of people!)

However, sponsorships were taking about 70% of his time and he didn’t even enjoy doing them.

Most creators start their channels/businesses because they want to be their own boss, having control and creative freedom over their content and products/services, but with sponsorships, this creator felt pressure from the contracts he had signed and wasn’t always happy with the end result. But it didn’t matter. He was contractually obligated to create the content the brand wanted and he did it.

After we had all the numbers, I told him to just stop doing sponsorships.

I know that’s shocking to some of you because that’s $30,000/year that stops if sponsorships stop… but that was 70% of his time!!! If the other 91.5% of his income was generating the majority of his business revenue, it made WAY more sense to free up that 70% of his time to the things that would serve his audience way better, help him grow his channel, revenue, and in turn give him his life back.

And that’s exactly what he did.

Here’s what it boils down to.

In order to grow a thriving business, you NEED to say no to distractions disguised as opportunities.

i.e. If it does not make CRYSTAL clear sense to your business to say yes to, say no.

This has become one of my Tim-“isms” since reading it in “The Pumpkin Plan” and I live by it now.

It will save you SO much time and energy so you don’t get your time sucked into doing things you didn’t really want to do in the first place (and isn’t really serving your audience well).

The other MAJOR question I read in this book, by Mike Michalowicz, that changed the game for me, was:

“What do you want to be the BEST in the world at?”

It took me a while to think about that. I didn’t really know how to answer it at first.

Today, I know I want to be the best in the world at providing YouTube strategy to business minded creators that are reaching people and changing lives. Not those that are interested in money or popularity for the sake of being rich and popular, but those who see influence and wealth as tools we further use to reach people and change their lives.

Once I realized this, I had to make some hard choices and fire some clients and end some projects I was working on to free me up to serve these creators and fulfill that mission.

It’s hard and it hurts a little at first… but it always ALWAYS ended up being the right choice to stop the things that weren’t providing enough value, so I could focus on the right things that were serving people better.

So, what do YOU want to be the best in the world at?

Where are you finding your busy and what’s sucking up your time? Are they with things that are growing your business, giving you life, and generating revenue? Or do you feel burnt out, overwhelmed, and stuck in your business?

Start asking yourselves these questions and let us know if you decide to make any changes.

We love cheering you on when you’re doing so well and helping you through those “stuck” seasons.

Thanks for reading!

Keep changing lives,

Tim

P.S. These are big questions and hard to work through on your own sometimes. Just like every good athlete needs a coach, every good business owner does too. I’d love to be your business coach and help you find clarity on the things that are keeping you stuck so you can have your LIFE back and grow your business! If you’re interested in meeting up, .