If I Only Had 10 Minutes to Work on My Business

What if you only had 10 minutes to work on your business today?

Not an hour. Not an uninterrupted afternoon. Not even 30 minutes.

Just ten.

I've spent more than 20 years building a business alongside a full life, and one thing I know for sure is that small pockets of focused work still count.

This is one of my favorite applications of the 1% rule. You don't always need to make massive progress. Sometimes you simply need to keep the idea, dream, or business God has given you moving forward by 1%.

In this episode, I'm giving you four options for what to do when you've only got 10 minutes.

1. Follow Up

You've probably heard the phrase, “The fortune is in the follow-up.”

Who already knows what you do but simply needs to hear from you again?

Maybe it's a potential client, a customer, a wholesale lead, an unpaid invoice, someone you met at an event, or a collaboration that never quite got off the ground.

Don't spend your 10 minutes creating a complicated follow-up system.

Just follow up.

Send the email. Make the call. Send three texts. Reach out to five people.

There may already be opportunity sitting inside conversations you've started.

2. Create a Three-Day Marketing Plan

Forget three months. Plan three days.

Ask yourself: What am I promoting?

Then: How am I going to tell people about it?

Choose one product, service, appointment, podcast episode, event, or offer. Then decide how you're going to promote it.

Maybe it's:

• Day 1: Post
• Day 2: Email
• Day 3: Video or Stories

Your days don't even have to be consecutive. The goal is simply to give yourself a plan you can execute.

3. Organize Tomorrow

If today is already shot, use today to rescue tomorrow.

Choose three priorities.

Not 13.

Three.

Ask yourself:

• What needs to happen to keep my business running?
• What needs to happen to keep me caught up?
• What could actually move my business forward?

Then get specific.

“Work on marketing” isn't specific enough.

“Write Tuesday's customer email and send it by 10 a.m.” is actionable.

Use your 10 minutes to decide what you're doing, what order you're doing it in, and what you'll need to get started.

You're removing tomorrow's friction today.

4. Do a Brain Dump

You know how I feel about a good brain dump!

Set your timer and get everything out of your head.

Don't organize it. Don't make it pretty. Don't worry when personal things sneak onto the list.

Just dump.

Then, before your timer ends:

Group it. What belongs together?

Prioritize it. What actually matters right now?

Choose it. What are the one to three things you're going to take action on?

The goal isn't to accomplish everything on the page.

The goal is clarity.

Your 10-Minute Challenge: 

Don't try all four.

Pick one.

• If your business needs opportunity → Follow up.
• If your business needs direction → Make a three-day marketing plan.
• If your business needs focus → Organize tomorrow.
• If your business needs clarity → Do a brain dump.

Set the timer for 10 minutes and go.

Small pockets of focused work count. This is the 1% rule in action, especially during seasons when life gets in the way of the plans we had for our businesses.

And if you love this kind of practic