Your Fun & Profitable Online Business · Episode 54
CEO Hour: Why You Need Time to Work ON Your Business
If every hour goes to clients, emails, content, and tiny fires, who is deciding where the business is going? CEO Hour creates protected space to stop reacting long enough to lead.
Press play and make room to lead the business you are building
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The shift CEO Hour is designed to create
From reaction mode to direction mode
Working in the business keeps it running. Working on the business decides where it goes. CEO Hour is the protected bridge between those two roles.
Emails, client work, content, files, admin, tiny fires, and all the things that make you feel busy without necessarily moving the business forward.
Think, simplify, decide, improve, follow up, design, experiment, and make one intentional move that shapes where the business is going.
It is completely possible to work on your business all day and still have almost no time to lead it. Client work gets done. Emails get answered. Content gets posted. Files get found. Problems get solved.
And then another week passes without the offer getting clearer, the system getting fixed, the follow-up getting sent, or the idea you care about moving forward.
Busy and building are not the same thing
Working in the business matters. It is the work that keeps the promises you have already made and the machine already running.
But if every available hour gets absorbed by that work, there is no room left for the role that decides what the machine should become.
That is why reaction mode is so draining. You can be productive all day without getting the feeling that you are actively shaping anything.
CEO is a way of operating, not a title you earn later
Wendy’s version of CEO is not corporate, stiff, or performative. It is a reminder of the kind of energy you need when you step out of the weeds.
Build from imagination instead of urgency. Make room to experiment, design, and think.
Direct your effort toward where you are going, not only toward whatever appeared most recently.
See what you are building and trust that small strategic moves can compound over time.
That combination creates forward momentum. And forward momentum is hard to create when you never step back far enough to choose a direction.
When you are buried in the weeds, pull one of three levers
CEO time gives you enough distance to notice what does not need to stay exactly as it is.
Move repeated manual work into a checklist, tool, template, or simple process so it stops draining the same decision from you over and over.
If someone else can do it well enough, protect your highest-value time for the vision, decisions, and direction only you can provide.
Not everything deserves a system. Sometimes the smartest move is removing the offer, task, idea, or obligation entirely.
Growth does not always require adding. Sometimes the most strategic move is subtraction.
Why one focused block works
CEO Hour moved away from two shorter work blocks because the work of leading often needs enough uninterrupted time to get beneath the surface.
Not a giant strategy session. One meaningful thing that helps you build, improve, decide, or move.
Celebration helps create reinforcement, and reinforcement makes it easier to return to the rhythm next week.
The point is not to create another complicated ritual. It is to protect enough time that the work which matters but never feels urgent finally gets a turn.
CEO work can be surprisingly ordinary
One of the most useful parts of this episode is the reminder that working on your business does not have to mean mapping a five-year plan.
- Update your website bio.
- Clean up an offer description.
- Create your first onboarding checklist.
- Send the follow-ups you have been avoiding.
- Block off time to think.
- Review something repetitive and decide whether to automate, delegate, or eliminate it.
The distinction is not about how impressive the task looks. It is whether the task is helping you shape the business instead of only respond to it.
The free coworking hour is really a leadership practice
That is what makes CEO Hour bigger than coworking. Yes, you are working beside other business owners. But the deeper purpose is that you have already made one decision before you arrive: this hour belongs to the business you are building.
You do not have to wait for things to calm down. You do not have to earn the title. You do not have to complete every client task first.
You make the decision to lead, protect the time, and give one meaningful thing your full attention.
Create your own CEO Hour this week
- Block one recurring hour. Treat it like a client appointment, not optional leftover time.
- Choose one task that works on the business. Pick something that improves direction, clarity, systems, offers, visibility, sales, or follow-through.
- Protect the depth. Give the task uninterrupted focus instead of squeezing it between reactive work.
- End by naming what moved. Reinforce the progress so this becomes a rhythm, not a one-time burst.
Questions about CEO Hour
What is CEO Hour?
CEO Hour is a protected block of time for working on your business instead of only working in it. Wendy’s free CEO Hour gives business owners focused coworking time to make one intentional move that helps shape where the business is going.
What is the difference between working in and working on your business?
Working in the business keeps current operations running: client work, emails, admin, content, and daily tasks. Working on the business focuses on direction, improvement, systems, offers, strategy, follow-up, and the choices that determine what happens next.
What should I work on during CEO Hour?
Anything that intentionally moves the business forward can count. Examples from the episode include updating your bio, improving an offer description, creating an onboarding checklist, sending follow-ups, or simply making protected space to think.
What does CEO stand for in Wendy’s framework?
Creativity, Energy, and Optimism. It is Wendy’s reminder to build from imagination, direct your energy on purpose, and trust that small strategic moves can compound.
Why does CEO Hour include celebration?
Because celebration creates reinforcement. Ending by recognizing what moved helps make focused CEO work something you are more likely to return to consistently.
You do not have to create this rhythm alone
Join CEO Hour
Bring one meaningful business task and spend a protected hour working beside other entrepreneurs who are choosing to lead their businesses, not just keep up with them.
Read the full episode transcript
Episode 54 transcript: CEO Hour: Why You Need Time to Work ON Your Business
Hey there, welcome to episode 54 of your fun and profitable online business. This is the podcast where we make growing your business feel as good as it looks. I’m Wendy Muzzy, a certified money coach and online business strategist, and I help women entrepreneurs build fun and profitable businesses with systems and intention. And today we’re talking about a shift I’m making, I’m sharing my thoughts behind it, and I’m talking about how it impacts every business owner. Specifically, my free co-working group, which I called Power Hour, is becoming CEO Hour. I’m hosting it at the same time with a similar vibe, but with a slightly different intention. And that intention is what we’re discussing here today. All right, let’s get to it. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had some incredible conversations with some amazing business owners. And interestingly, a lot of them have had a similar theme about feeling meh. Could be the time of year, it could be what’s going on, it could just be business stuff. But if this sounds familiar, please know you’re not alone. Here’s what I’m noticing. These women are spending a lot of time answering emails, posting content, tracking down files, putting out tiny fires, but they’re not seeing the results in their business. And here’s where I think they’re getting stuck. They’re working in their business all hours of the day, but they’re not being intentional about working on their business. And these are two completely different roles. Working in your business is what keeps it running, and that’s definitely needed. But working on your business determines where it’s going. And when you don’t create space to work on it, your business stops expanding. Maybe you’ll tell yourself you’ll get to it when things calm down. And in here, in this space, you feel productive, but not intentional enough to feel powerful. I call this reaction mode as opposed to direction mode, and it’s exhausting. I think it’s especially hard because you didn’t take the leap to start your business just to react to everything around you. You started it to create something, to feel engaged in something that actually matters to you. And when that energy isn’t there, that’s when I see high-achieving entrepreneurs ask themselves if they’re really cut out for this. Let me lovingly say, this is not evidence that you’re not capable. It’s usually proof you’re operating as the employee, the assistant, the tech support, the content creator, but not the CEO. Now, CEO doesn’t mean corporate, stiff, or bossy, unless that’s what you want. If so, that’s great. No changes needed. But for me, CEO means creativity, energy, and optimism. C is for creativity, because we’re building from imagination, not urgency. We’re giving ourselves room to experiment, to think through new ideas, and to design something that really excites us. E is for energy, because we’re engaged with where we’re heading, not just tackling what’s in front of us. We’re directing our efforts on purpose. And O is for optimism, because we can see what we’re building. We trust that small strategic moves will compound, and that is something we create, not just hope for. Now, this combined is all about forward momentum, and we cannot create forward momentum if we never step out of the weeds long enough to choose the direction. So what do you do if you realize that you’re buried in the weeds? Here are three approaches I teach my clients. Number one is automate. If you’re doing something repeatedly and manually, it’s a candidate for automation, easy. Now, this isn’t about building a complicated process. It can be as easy as using a checklist or a free tool to move it from one step to the next. The goal at the end of the day is to protect your mental bandwidth. And every repetitive task you automate is one less decision draining your CEO energy. Now, number two is delegate. If someone else can do it 80% as well as you, it’s time to get it off your plate. Not because you can’t do it, but because your highest value is in your vision and your direction. And delegation protects this value time, even if it’s just a few hours a month to start with. Number three is eliminate. Now, I find it funny how underrated this is. Not everything needs to exist. That extra offer you can’t figure out can be scrapped. Or that new idea you keep trying to force, it needs to be taken off the list. Because growth doesn’t always require adding. Sometimes it requires subtraction. And in these cases, the most strategic move is simplifying so you can put your energy where it needs to go instead of scattering it all around. And here’s the thing, you will not clearly see what needs automation, delegation, or elimination if you’ve never stepped back long enough to evaluate it. You’ve got to set aside time to work on your business. And this is where my reformatted CO hour comes in. Instead of the two 25-minute blocks Power Hour used to have, we’re shifting it to one focused 50-minute block and then a celebration at the end. Why? Because people ask for it, and CEO work requires depth. This time is to make sure you’re putting your business first. It’s not just checkbox work. It’s intentional work. And even one focused task done on purpose can make all the difference in the world. That celebration at the end, too? It’s intentional. Celebration creates reinforcement and reinforcement creates consistency now imagine this you’re ready for ceo hour it’s wednesday at one o’clock if you’re on the eastern time zone wherever you are else in the world you can calculate it you log in ready to join other business owners choosing to lead their business you spend the focus time block working on your business you wrap up feeling clearer, accomplished, like your CEO mode is activated. Now let me say something important here. CEO hour isn’t for people mapping something complex. Working on your business this week could look like updating your website bio, cleaning up your offer description, creating your first onboarding checklist, sending follow-ups you’ve been avoiding, or just blocking the time off to think. All of it counts. And when you do it, you’re not just running a business, you’re a leading one. You’re not just busy, you’re building. And that’s where your joy is hanging out. Not because everything’s perfect, but because you’re actively shaping your business and heading where you want to go. All right, let’s get your action step this week. I want you to block an hour on your calendar, make it a recurring event, label it a CO hour, and take that time to work on your business. Remember, what you do during this time isn’t about complexity. It’s about intentional forward movement. Make sure you protect that time block just like it’s a client appointment because it matters more than a client meeting, I could argue. And if you’re ready to do it with other people who get it, join us Wednesdays at 1. You can sign up at wendymuzzy.com/CEO. And I have to say this, if this is something that keeps popping up as something you’ll do eventually, this is your nudge. Now is the time. You’ll be so incredibly happy you didn’t wait. All right, today we talked about the difference between working in your business versus working on your business. We talked about the three levers to pull when you’re stuck in the weeds, which are automate, delegate, and eliminate. And how CEO isn’t just a title you earn at some magical point. It’s a decision you make when you choose to lead your business instead of just managing it. And that decision can start with one focused hour. All right, until next time, have fun working on your business.