Working IN, ON or OUT of the Business: What’s the difference?
You’ve probably heard the advice: “Work ON your business, not just IN it.” It sounds simple, but most business owners get stuck in the day-to-day, never quite escaping the grind.
Just last week, a business owner told me he wanted more time to “work ON his business.” When I asked what he meant, he said: “Going out and making more sales.”
But here’s the truth: more sales isn’t always the answer, especially if your business is already overloaded. And it’s definitely not what is meant by working ON your business.
In his case, he had just finished telling me his team were already stretched too thin and often working overtime. More sales could actually put his business’s reputation at risk. Why do it?
What he really needed was time to step back and think about how to improve the way the business worked – without everyone in his team being under the pump and needing to run to keep up. He needed to clarify where he was going, free up his own time, and build better systems to streamline the operation, and support his team, not just chase more revenue.
Strategic, Operational and Tactical
If you read last week’s post on tactical, operational, and strategic thinking, you’ll start to see how those same ideas align with working IN, ON, or OUT of your business. One way to make sense of it is to picture your business as a triangle—with three levels, each guiding a different type of thinking, decision, and action.
Top Level – OUT of the Business (Strategic Thinking)
This is where you step back from the noise to observe market trends, customer wants, competitor moves, and relevant innovations to see gaps and emerging opportunities.
You ask: Where are we now? Where do we want to go? Who do we want to become in our market? What could make us different, and better? This is big-picture work. It’s about direction, positioning, long-term relevance and impact.
Middle Level – ON the Business (Operational Thinking)
Here, you build systems, develop people, and resources to improve how the business works.
You ask: What needs to be better? What should we develop or improve to grow and scale? It’s about improving capability, capacity, efficiency and effectiveness so your team performs better and your business runs smoother.
Bottom Level – IN the Business (Tactical Thinking)
This is the frontline – making sales, delivering services, doing admin, managing customers. It’s urgent, necessary, and important, but most owners spend too much time here.How to Know the Difference:
- Short-term impact? Probably IN the business (Tactical thinking, decisions and activities)
- Medium-term impact? Likely ON the business (Operational thinking, decisions and activities)
- Long-term impact? Almost always OUT of the business (Strategic thinking, decisions and activities)
For example:
If you’re chasing a one-off client, that’s tactical. That’s an IN the business activity. If you’re securing or developing a high-value, long-term relationship that could reshape your business, that’s strategic. It’s an OUT of the business activity. The work that follows (planning, drafting agreements, building systems, training your team) is operational. They are ON the business activities.
Better Thinking Takes More Time
OUT of the business is where design happens. It takes more time and thought because the decisions made at this level shape everything else. ON the business is about development — improving systems, people, and resources so things run better. IN the business is about delivery. It’s fast-paced, reactive, and focused on execution.
Of course, strategic decisions often flow into operational development — and if you have the time, you can always apply strategic thinking to tactical work, especially before it begins. The key is knowing how much thinking is needed — and at what level — to get the results you want.
Why Does This Matter?
When business owners don’t make time to work ON or OUT of their business, they get trapped IN it – always reacting, rarely leading, and often falling short of their potential.
If you’re working all hours just to keep up – and you want to get ahead – read that last sentence again. Slowing down and stepping up might be your smartest move yet.
Strategic decisions flow down into operational improvements and show up as better tactical results. That’s how you build a stronger, more resilient business that performs better, achieves more and lasts longer.
Where Are You Spending Your Time?
Are you focused IN, ON, or OUT of your business? Or are you one of the few who’ve found a way to balance all three?
More importantly – is the time you’re spending giving you the results, progress, and enjoyment you are wanting? If not, what will you change? How will you go about it? And when will you start?
What Next?
If you want help creating space to think, reset the bar, clarify your direction, or create more momentum, check out my Strategic Reset offer.
Or just keep an eye out for the next article, where I’ll help you uncover the type of thinking you’re using most — and when to change it to achieve better results.
Cheers,
Geoff
