If you know exactly what you need to do in your business, but you can never find the time to actually do it, this one’s for you.

Years ago, someone asked me a simple question at a table full of women entrepreneurs. I didn’t have an answer, and honestly, I felt so dumb. I still think about that question almost every single week.

The question was: “What’s your schedule?”

On this week’s episode of The Classy Career Girl Podcast, I’m sharing that story, where I still struggle with this today, and seven tips that help me make a schedule as an entrepreneur and a mom, even in a really full season.

You can listen right here:

The question I couldn’t answer

I was about six months into my business, and only three months into running it full time. I had a newborn. I had a business I believed in, and I knew it was going to work. I just couldn’t figure out how I was going to find the time.

I went to a women’s entrepreneur event that was set up like a mastermind table. There were about five women at my table, and we went around sharing our biggest challenge.

When it was my turn, I said, “I have a newborn, I’m building this business, and I don’t know how I’m going to find the time.”

They didn’t give me a big strategy. They didn’t tell me to hustle harder. They just asked, “OK. What’s your schedule?”

And it was a lightbulb moment, because I didn’t have one. I didn’t know how many hours I wanted to work. I didn’t have time blocked for anything. I was trying to fit my business into whatever was left over.

Why it was so hard

What made me feel so dumb was that I used to be really good at this. When I was an employee, I went to work at 7 and came home at 5. I did a good job. I got things done.

So why couldn’t I get my act together as an entrepreneur?

Here’s what I figured out. When you’re an employee, someone else builds the structure for you. There’s a start time, an end time, meetings, a boss expecting things by Friday. When you work for yourself, or you’re building something on the side, nobody builds that structure for you. If you don’t create it, it doesn’t exist.

So I kept getting distracted and pulled in another direction, and my work time ended up being whatever was left. Usually that was when I was completely exhausted.

It’s still true today

This isn’t a “that was years ago and now I have it all figured out” story.

Today I have three girls, I homeschool, and John is at work all day. I’m figuring out how to clean the house, get the kids to their activities, make dinner, and still run my business. I know exactly what I need to do. Finding the time is the struggle.

Just last week, after homeschooling all day and early morning sales calls, it was finally time for the creative work and I was exhausted. I had to lie down and take a nap. That’s exactly what used to happen when I had a newborn too.

So the question isn’t only “What’s your schedule?” It’s also “How do you run a business when you’re tired?” Most of us aren’t working with a perfectly rested brain and a quiet house. We’re working in the middle of real life.

7 tips to make a schedule that protects your dream

1. Decide how many hours you actually want to work

This was the first thing I couldn’t answer at that table. Not how many hours you should work, but how many you want to work in this season. Maybe it’s 10 hours a week while you’re still in your job. Maybe it’s three. When you have a number, you can plan around it. When you don’t, the work spills into everything and you always feel behind.

2. Find your energy hours

An hour when you’re fresh is worth three hours when you’re running on empty. For me, it’s mornings. I work out, shower, and go straight into my office to do the creative work before the day gets crazy. Yours might be nap time, your lunch break, or Saturday morning. Put your most important work there, not your email.

3. Guard those hours like an appointment

I’m writing my book right now, and Thursday mornings are my writing time. I don’t schedule calls. That’s the only thing I do in that block, and I actually look forward to it all week. If you wouldn’t cancel a meeting with your boss, don’t cancel the appointment you made with your dream. A plan on a page is a draft. A plan on your calendar, with a reminder, is the plan.

4. Give each block one job

Instead of doing a little of everything every day, give each block a theme: a writing day, a calls day, a content day, a planning day. When you already know what the block is for, you don’t waste the first 30 minutes figuring out where to start.

5. Pick your top three and stop there

Every day, pick your three most important priorities. Not twenty. If those three get done, the day was a win, even if the laundry didn’t get folded.

6. Batch and get ahead when you can

I record a few podcasts in one sitting and write a week of posts when I’m in the zone. Some of my best seasons were the ones when I knew life was about to get busy, like planning for a new baby. I got way ahead, simplified, asked for help, and cut my workload. Those weren’t always the biggest years, but sometimes they were some of my best.

7. Simplify, and ask for help

Look at your week and ask what you can stop doing, what you can make simpler, and what you can hand off. Every time I’ve hit a wall, the answer has been asking for help. You don’t get extra points for doing it all alone.

Your next step this week

Write down how many hours you want to work on your dream right now. Find your energy hours. Then put one protected block on your calendar this week, give it one job, and guard it.

You don’t need to overhaul your whole life. You need one guarded block of time, pointed at the thing that matters most.

You can listen to the full episode on The Classy Career Girl Podcast.

A few questions I get a lot

How do I make a schedule as an entrepreneur?

Start with how many hours you want to work, then find the time of day when you have the most energy. Put one protected block on your calendar for your most important work, give it one job, and guard it like an appointment.

How do I find time for my business when I have kids?

Stop fitting your business into the leftovers. Use the hours when you have energy, like early mornings or nap time, pick your top three priorities, and batch work when you have a good week so you can get ahead.

How many hours a week should I work on my business?

There’s no right number. Choose what fits this season of your life, whether that’s three hours or twenty. Having a number is what lets you plan around it.

Come to my free webinar this Wednesday

If you know you’re in the wrong career and want out, but you don’t know where to start, let alone how to find the time, I’d love for you to join me.

This Wednesday, October 14th, at 6pm Eastern, I’m hosting a free live webinar called Break Free From the Wrong Career. We’ll talk about how to break free from a career that doesn’t fit your life anymore and start building work that actually supports the life you want.

Save your seat here. And protect that hour on your calendar. It can be your first guarded block.

You’ve got this.

Anna

P.S. Want more? Find all the episodes on the podcast page, or start with my business plan course.