There have been some great comments.

I heartily recommend Michael Gerbers E Myth books. The concepts of working in your business versus on your business, and of developing systems as the principle entrepreneurial responsibility are both dear to my heart.

The one additional action I would suggest is to identify what you should be doing, what makes sense for you to do and what should be dumped. We all do tasks that could just as easily be done by someone else -- at a much cheaper price. For example doing our own bookkeeping or formating our own reports. When we're under-utilized it may make sense to do this work. However, if we find ourselves working over 40 hours then it makes more sense to offload this work to someone else (i.e. outsource it or hire someone part time). A bookkeeper for example can be hired for $20 an hour in many cases.

The key is to do what is most important first, then the next most important task. Start with the end in mind, assign priorities and don't be afraid to let someone else deal with what you can't do. As entrepreneurs our first and most important task is to work on our business. As professionals our next most important task is to earn money (i.e. billable time). Other tasks necessary to running a business follow after that.

If you run out of time while you're in the billable time area then you need to hire more professionals (even if they are part time or recurring). If you run out of time during the overhead work then you need to outsource tasks (i.e. hire people in those areas).

It's a simple matter of return on investment. Put your time where it will earn the most for you.

Glen Ford, PMP
http://www.vproz.ca