How to stop working 24/7 as a small business owner...

OK, so you love your business, but you’re also SO done with living in your inbox, right?!

You’re juggling client calls, invoicing, family life and an ever growing to-do list that somehow N.E.V.E.R. gets smaller.

Well buckle up, because today I’m sharing the exact steps to reclaim your evenings, weekends (and maybe even take a proper holiday) without your business falling apart!

1. Time block⏰

The key to not working every waking second is ruthlessly defending your calendar. I’m talking:

• Morning Magic (i.e. 8–10am) do the deep work, like strategy, content creation, anything that needs ALL your brainpower

• Admin Hour (i.e. 10–11am) invoicing, email triage, scheduling socials

• Client Calls (i.e. 11–1pm) keep these in a neat block so they don’t bleed into every other minute

  
  

  “But Abbie, my clients book at random times!”

  Solution: offer set slots in your booking tool (Calendly, Acuity) They pick, or wait ’til the next slot opens. Simple!

2. Automate the stuff you hate 🤖

Seriously, why are you still manually posting to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn… and then emailing each person back?

• Social scheduling: use Buffer, Adobe Express or Meta Business Suite to batch schedule a week’s worth of posts in one sitting

• Email templates: create canned responses for FAQs

• Invoicing: switch to software that chases late payments for you, like Xero or QuickBooks

Once set up, you’ll literally forget half those tasks exist. Bliss!

3. Delegate and outsource (yes, even if you’re still scaling) 🤝

OK, I get it - you’re on a budget. But think about this: every hour you spend doing data entry is an hour you could be landing new clients.

• Power hours: hire a VA (like me) for a focused two hour blitz of admin

• Freelancers: use one (like me) to support with one-off design, writing or web tweaks

• Intern short stints: university students often want part-time projects for portfolio pieces (and they’re brilliant at research!)

4. Set (and enforce) boundaries 🚧

You’re allowed to close your laptop at 6pm, and here’s how:

• Auto replies: “Hey! I’m off duty until tomorrow at 9am. If urgent, please contact…”

• Office hours: publicise your working hours on your website and socials

• A no 'just one more quick thing' zone: If it ain’t on the calendar, it ain’t happening today!

5. Use simple systems to stay organised 📋

Chaos = overwork. So simplify!

• Trello/Asana: one board per project. Move cards from To Do → Doing → Done!

• Weekly review: 30 minutes every Friday to clear out tasks, plan the next week and celebrate what you actually achieved

• Templates, templates, templates: from blog briefs to invoice reminders, reuse what works

6. Learn to say 'NO'...nicely! 🙅🏼‍♀️

You can’t (and shouldn’t) do everything. If a client or idea doesn’t fit your goals, it’s OK to bow out. Keep a friendly 'Thanks so much for thinking of me! Right now I’m focusing on [X], but I can recommend…' template at the ready.

Ready to reclaim your time and stop working 24/7 as a small business owner?

This isn’t rocket science, deep down you know all this stuff, it’s just about prioritising what moves your business forward...and delegating the rest!

Let’s get you actually working on your business, instead of in it...

➡️ Download my free The 5 Step Admin Fix Guide and start reclaiming your time today!

Here are some client success stories that I wanted to share 🙌🏼