TIME TRAPS: Why Business Owners Spend Time on the Wrong Stuff

Clare Mayell
Sep 9
3 min read

Busy all day… and nothing to show for it?

That’s the trap so many owners fall into - hours lost chasing updates, sorting delivery issues, or double-checking things that should already be sorted.

By the time the day’s over, the big stuff - existing clients, new clients, strategy, growth - is still untouched.

The fitted wardrobe that nearly didn’t fit?

One of our clients runs a fitted wardrobe company. High-end, bespoke installs where everything has to be seamless.

She started like most founders: doing everything herself. Measuring, quoting, ordering, scheduling. A lot of it in spreadsheets, a lot of it in her head.

As reputation grew, she added help one person at a time. A PA. A delivery role. A client support hire. A couple of contractors for specialist jobs.

With every hire, the cracks got wider:

Systems that didn’t talk.
A PA stalled because decisions sat in her inbox.
A client support rep chasing a client who’d already signed off.
And the big one: a wardrobe that nearly didn’t fit because the van left without the right screws.

Every time, the fitters called the owner. She dropped everything - again. Hours lost. Money wasted. Credibility on the line.

The work was growing. But her time wasn’t.

Three traps stealing your hours

This firm hit all three of the classic time traps:

Tech Trap → Too many spreadsheets. No dashboard. Systems that don’t talk. Hours lost chasing info instead of chasing new leads.
Process Trap → Relying on memory and luck. Vans sent back across London. Costly re-makes. Problems piling up instead of building capacity.
Founder Trap → Every decision through her. A PA waiting for sign-off. A team nervous to act. Her time spent on micro-decisions, not growth.

Different traps, same result: busy all day, but not on the right things.

The fixes that freed her time

Nothing we did was rocket science. The owner could have worked it out eventually - but not running at full pace every day.

We ran a Tech Audit and tackled it step by step:

Joined up systems so sales, delivery and client care all saw the same picture.
Added a fitter checklist - every item ticked before vans left the studio. Responsibility shifted from the owner to the team.
Added a client checklist - parking, access times, stairs/lifts - so installs ran smoothly with no surprises.
Put up a simple whiteboard where the PA listed only urgent blockers - the things that genuinely needed the owner’s input.
Set clear permissions so new hires and contractors knew exactly what they could see and do.

Quick wins first, then bigger fixes. All manageable alongside the day-to-day.

Outcome

The difference was obvious and immediate:

No wasted van runs.
No costly re-makes.
Referrals up because installs were seamless.
The PA moving faster with fewer interruptions.
And the owner finally focused on new clients.

Most importantly, she got her time back.

Evenings weren’t swallowed by admin and problem-solving. Her time was hers again - free to spend on growth, not the wrong stuff.

Once the foundations were in place, she didn’t need us anymore. The systems were strong enough to scale on their own.

Your Next Step

It’s not about working harder. It’s about spotting the traps and avoiding doing the wrong stuff one step at a time.

That’s what the Clarity Club and Insights are for. They help you grab the quick wins that free up time straight away, then work up to the bigger fixes - alongside peers who are tackling the same challenges.

Take the free Time Traps Snapshot and uncover where your hours are really going.