Stretched thin from wearing too many hats? Try this.

_{[Read time: 3 minutes]}

After 5 years of wearing many hats, I finally found a way to stop feeling stretched thin.

Now the truth is, I chose to wear all the hats — delivering services, marketing, and all the admin stuff. You name it, I did it.

And even today, I still do it all (and want to).

It’s by design.

That said, I put myself at risk of stretching myself too thin.

Because there are always a million things I could be doing (and never enough time).

Seemingly always on the brink of overwhelm.

I now use the 60/30/10 time split rule.

Here’s how the 60/30/10 rule works:

• 60% to revenue-generating activities (~3 days per week). These activities are directly tied to income today — delivery services, sales calls, and other client interactions.

• 30% to business development activities (~1.5 days per week). These activities are the seeds for future revenue — content creation, marketing, networking, and building authority in my space.

• 10% to admin activities (~0.5 days per week). These are the must-dos to keep the business going — invoicing, financial planning, and backend details.

Now I realize I run a one-person business. But I’ve now worked with enough small companies to know that this time rule applies to founders of businesses with up to 9 people. Above that, it gets a little more nuanced.

How you can get started:

Audit your time (and have your team audit theirs, if applicable).

Literally, it’s that simple.

Start by tracking your time over one week. You can’t know how to reshape your time until you know how it is actually spent.

And be honest with the results. Fudging the numbers does you no good.

That’s your awareness level.

Why 60/30/10 really matters:

Think of these splits as your business model health indicators.

When one category’s percentage is too high or too low, it tells you something in your business model is broken.

3 examples of broken indicators (and how to fix them):

1 — When revenue-generating time is over 60%: You’re likely neglecting business development. And when this happens, you run the risk of exhausting your pipeline. Then you get this revenue rollercoaster, with sparse months followed by ones that overload your capacity.

The fix? Consider raising your prices to find the point at which sales conversion naturally lowers and settles on a 60% level (and because of the higher price, you still hit revenue volumes).

2 — When admin time is over 10%: Your business is administratively inefficient. And when this happens, your admin work steals time from revenue-producing work.

The fix? Look to outsource admin work to software (automation) or hire a professional to do it for you. Sure, there’s a cost — but if your time gets rerouted to revenue-generating activities, it pays off in focus and returns.

3 — When business development time is over 30%: You’re not converting leads into clients, which strangles your business inflows.

The fix? Hire a marketer, coach, or consultant to help transform development efforts into revenue. The point of “business development” is to eventually convert leads into clients — not just develop them.

Is my 60/30/10 rule perfect? No.

But it works super well for me because, as a founder who wears many hats, I know there’s always more to do than time allows.

I am willing to fight the time battle every day; I just don’t want to lose it every day.

If you’re feeling stretched thin (but you like wearing many hats), try the 60/30/10 rule.

That’s it for this week. Thank you for reading.

See you next week.

— Peter

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