How to work less without earning less: five changes for service business owners

The short answer

You can work less without earning less by changing what you spend your time on, not just how hard you work. The five changes that made the biggest difference for me were: knowing what enough is, finding the work that actually makes money, stopping or handing over everything else, charging properly, and making the income predictable. None of them happen overnight, but each one gives you hours back.

Where I started

I spent 14 years in property finance, first at a real estate fund and then running my own financial modelling business. By the end, I was working around 50 hours a week, saying yes to everything and slowly starting to resent the business I'd built.

Today that same business takes me about two hours in a normal week. I didn't sell it, and I didn't find a magic piece of software. I made a handful of changes, one at a time, over about six months.

Here they are, in the order I'd do them again.

1. Work out what enough is

Most business owners are chasing a number they've never checked. Before you can work less, you need to know how much you actually need to earn, otherwise "less" always feels risky.

I wrote a whole post on how to work out your enough number. The short version: price up the life you want, add savings and a buffer, then work out what the business needs to make to cover it. When I did this, I found I'd been chasing far more than we needed.

2. Find the work that actually makes you money

This is where most people get a shock. Track your time for two weeks in 30-minute blocks, and be honest about it. Then put your income next to it.

Almost everyone finds the same thing: a small part of their work brings in most of the money, and a large part of their week goes on admin, chasing, fiddling and favours. One business owner I worked with was spending 60 to 70% of their day on low-value admin instead of finding new work.

When I did this, it was obvious. The bespoke one-to-one work brought in the most money but also took the most out of me. The training and mentoring was the bit I loved, and it could be done in a fraction of the time.

3. Stop it, simplify it, then hand it over

Once you know what's not pulling its weight, go through it in this order.

• Stop it. Some of it doesn't need doing at all. You'd be surprised how much.

• Simplify it. Cut the steps, the bespoke versions and the "just this once" extras.

• Hand it over. Whatever's left, give to someone else, a system or a bit of automation.

The order matters. If you hand over a messy job, you just pay someone else to do the mess.

A surveying firm owner I work with made one of his team head of a whole service line. In his words: "He's taking 90% off me and Alice. Feel happier." A few weeks later he told me he now spends 0% of his time on diary management and has put his business development time up to 40%.

4. Charge properly

Low prices are one of the fastest ways to end up working every hour. If every job is only just worth doing, you need lots of them, and you can't afford to say no to anyone.

If you're being haggled down over a few hundred pounds by a client who then asks for more work and pays late, have a look at your price, and at who that price attracts.

The same surveying firm owner put his prices up to what we'd worked out they should be. His message: "We have put up prices to what you suggested and are still winning jobs!"

5. Make the money predictable

Working less only feels good if you're not lying awake worrying about next month. Most service businesses run on a feast-and-famine cycle: you get a big project, focus on it completely, forget that it'll end, and then suddenly there's no work.

To make income steadier, keep a small amount of time every week for finding new work, even when you're busy. Look at whether any of what you do could be sold more than once, like training, a template or a membership. And look for work that repeats, like retainers or ongoing support, rather than one-off projects.

For me, this was building an online training business alongside my one-to-one work. It meant I wasn't starting from zero every month and selling more of my own hours.

The honest bit

This took me about six months, and my income dipped while I made the changes. I accepted that because I'd worked out what enough was, so I knew how far it could dip before it mattered. Without that number, I'd have panicked and gone straight back to saying yes to everything.

Where to start this week

• Work out your enough number.

• Track your time for the next two weeks.

• Pick one thing you'll stop doing completely.

That's it. Don't try to do all five changes at once.

Questions people ask about working less

Can you really work less without losing income?

Yes, but usually not by doing the same things faster. It comes from dropping the work that doesn't make money, charging properly for the work that does and handing over what you don't need to do yourself. Your income might dip briefly while you make the changes, which is why it helps to know your enough number first.

How long does it take to cut your hours?

For me it took about six months to go from around 50 hours a week to a few hours. Most people see a difference within the first month just from stopping things that don't need doing.

What should I hand over first?

Start with the jobs that take a lot of your time but don't need your expertise, like diary management, chasing invoices and admin. Simplify them before you hand them over.

Do I need to hire staff to work less?

Not always. A lot of hours come back from stopping work, simplifying it or automating it. When you do need help, a freelancer or a few hours a week from an assistant is often enough to start.