Are You Giving Your Subscription Box Business Enough Time?

Discover whether your goals for your subscription box match the amount of time you’re giving it and how to make the most of the time you have to give.

There are never enough hours in the day to get everything done. We’re all so busy. Working in traditional careers, taking care of our families, building our subscription box businesses. Most days, it’s all of that and more. 

We can’t create more time. Believe me, I’ve tried. To-do lists with unchecked items at the end of every day are proof that I haven’t figured it out yet.  

When we look at our subscription box businesses, the question we need to ask ourselves is, “Are we giving our businesses enough time - and the right time - to get the results we want?” 

We all dream of a wildly successful subscription box business, hundreds or even thousands of subscribers who LOVE getting our boxes every month, and enough recurring revenue to change our business and personal lives. 

But, I have an important question to ask you. 

Does your vision of the results you want to see in your subscription box business match the amount and quality of time you’re giving it?

If not, it’s time for an adjustment. You need to either adjust the amount of time you’re giving to your business or your expectations of the results you can get from that time. 

There is no right answer. There is only the answer that is right for you. But there are some questions to ask yourself and some things to look at that will help you get the most out of the time you do have.

Are you working on your subscription box business part-time or full-time? 

So many things determine whether you are able to work on your business full-time or part-time. Many subscription box owners inside Launch Your Box start their businesses with part-time hours. I did. I had a stable income from a corporate job and needed to keep that job until I had the confidence that I could replace that income with my business. 

It may take you some time to take that leap and go full-time. Or you may never go full-time. We have very successful members of Launch Your Box who have never given up their full-time careers. Owning your own business means you make the decisions about what works for your life.

When you only have part-time hours to devote to your business, it’s important not to compare yourself to someone who works on theirs full-time. You won’t get the same results because you are not able to give your business the same amount of time and attention.

Remember, someone else’s middle is not their beginning. 

It can be very discouraging to judge your results against someone else’s win. Keep in mind that you don’t know how much time and effort they put into that win. How much time they spent building an audience, perfecting their messaging, figuring out the tech, and curating their boxes. 

I talked about this with my friend Susan Bradley on episode 55 of the Launch Your Box podcast. Susan started a new business within the last three years and has been working on it part-time. I’ve worked on my business full-time for more than ten years. Not surprisingly, we’ve experienced different results.

Listen to this episode for more of our conversation. 

If, like Susan, you can only devote part-time hours to your subscription box business, how can you be the most productive in those hours?

Give yourself grace, but…

If you are working on your subscription box business part-time, I want you to give yourself grace. There will be a limit to how much you can get done and how quickly you can do it. But…

I also want you to give yourself a bit of a kick in the butt. Make sure the time you do have is used productively. I know when I am in a time crunch like when I’m heading out of town or facing a strict deadline, I can get more done in less time than when I feel like I have a lot of time to get something done. 

So how can you get more done in less time when less time is all you have?

1. Set a timer. 

A timer can be such a valuable productivity tool. If you have an hour - and only an hour - choose a task to accomplish and set that timer. Remove distractions before you start (that might mean closing the door and telling your family you’re off limits for 60 minutes).

Give that task your undivided attention for those 60 minutes. You’ll be amazed at how much you can get done in only an hour when you’re laser-focused. Dedicate that time to creating content, scheduling social media posts, curating your next box, writing and scheduling emails, or whatever will move your business forward.

2. Change when you work on your business. 

Are you giving yourself the last hours of the day to work on your business? Those hours, late in the evening, when everything else has been done and everyone else has been taken care of? 

So many subscription box owners fall into this habit. But I ask you to think about it for a minute. At the end of the day, when you’re already tired, what do you have left for your business? Are you able to do your best thinking, planning, and creating? I know I’m not.

What changes can you make to allow you to work on your business at a time when you’re more productive? That might mean getting up a little earlier, working during your lunch break, or even taking some time before dinner. Take a good look at your schedule and find those hours when you’re able to be most productive.

3. Give yourself time to work ON your business, not just IN your business. 

There’s a difference. When you work IN your business, you’re doing tasks. Things that need to get done. And there obviously needs to be time set aside to work in your business. Engaging with your audience, scheduling social media, answering customer service questions, setting up your tech stack. All the things. 

But… you also need time to work ON your business. Time to set goals and check in with those goals to chart your progress. Time to be creative. Time to plan. Time to get out of the weeds and look at the big picture. When you’re dedicating time to your subscription box business, make sure it includes time for this big-picture, CEO thinking.

All the time you spend “working” isn’t productive time. We spend so much time overthinking and not making decisions. I challenge you to get more productive - especially if you only have part-time hours to dedicate to your subscription box business. Set that timer, close that door, get laser-focused, and get ready to be amazed by how much you’re able to get done!