07/09/2026
One of the interesting things I've been looking at while developing an efficiency audit for SMEs is something most businesses don't put on their P&L:
The cost of the owner's time.
It's amazing how many business owners spend hours every week chasing invoices, approving minor decisions, fixing scheduling problems, answering routine questions and doing administration.
They're often the most experienced and commercially valuable person in the business—doing some of its lowest-value work.
So perhaps the question isn't just, *“Could someone else do this?”
It's also:
“What am I NOT doing while I'm doing this?”
A useful exercise is to look at your week and put everything into four categories:
• Only I can do this
• Someone else could do this
• Technology could help do this
• This shouldn't need to be done at all
That last category might be the most interesting.
Sometimes efficiency isn't about doing things faster.
It's about asking why we're still doing them.
If you run a business, I'd be interested to know: how many hours a week do you reckon disappear into things you probably shouldn't be doing anymore?
