Working on the Business
There’s a phrase that comes up a lot in business circles: work on your business, not just in it.
It was popularized by Michael E. Gerber in The E-Myth Revisited, and for good reason.
It’s a simple idea, and a hard one.
Working in the business is the urgent stuff. The full days. The messages. The things yelling for attention right now. It feels productive, because you’re busy.
Working on the business is quieter. Higher leverage. And much harder to make space for.
I’ll be honest: I struggle with this constantly. Even though I know it’s important, it’s unbelievably easy to keep moving, head down, solving the problem right in front of me, without ever stopping to ask a more uncomfortable question:
Is all this work actually taking me where I want to go… or is it just burning me out?
Someone once shared a metaphor with me that really stuck. It’s often attributed to Stephen Covey:
Management is cutting through the jungle as fast as you can.
Leadership is making sure you’re cutting through the jungle in the right direction.
That feels exactly like the difference between working in versus on the business.
I’m trying to get better at creating space for that kind of thinking — not just weekly, but monthly and even annually. And the funny thing is, when I actually make the time, I enjoy it. The clarity that comes afterward is significant. Decisions get easier. Focus sharpens. Energy comes back.
My mind, however, is… loud. Busy. Chaotic. So I have to use tools to slow it down enough to think clearly. For me, that tool is writing. Pen or pencil. Paper. Something about physically writing helps gather my thoughts into something coherent, instead of a swirling pile of half-ideas.
It can feel impossible to “find time” for this kind of work, especially in our industry. But every time I manage to do it well, I end up with more time in my week — because I’m finally focused on the right levers, not drowning in busywork that doesn’t move the needle.
So I’m curious:
Do you create time to work on your business, or do you mostly work in it?
I’d love to hear what that looks like for you.
Cheers,
Stephen
