Every founder I coach is doing at least 3 things they should have stopped doing 6 months ago. Here's how to find yours.

When I was running my technology advisory firm, I had a moment that changed how I think about business forever.

I was sitting in a meeting I had no reason to be in. I didn't need to approve anything. I didn't need to make a decision. I was just... there. Because I had always been there.

That meeting was costing me 90 minutes every week. Multiply that by 48 weeks a year and that's 72 hours - almost two full work weeks - spent on something that would have run fine without me.

That was my "one thing." And removing myself from it was the first domino that led to removing myself from the day-to-day of all 11 businesses I've built.

The Real Problem Isn't Hard Work - It's Working on the Wrong Things

Here's what I've learned coaching founders doing $500K to $5M: the problem is never that you don't work hard enough. The problem is that you work hard on the wrong things. You're the bottleneck and you don't even see it because being busy feels like being productive.

Most founders at this stage are stretched across every function - sales, operations, hiring, client management, even tasks like approving invoices or scheduling meetings. The result is a business that can't grow past the founder's personal capacity.

"You don't need to do less. You need to stop doing the one thing that's keeping you from doing what actually matters."

The founders who scale aren't the ones who grind harder. They're the ones who get honest about what they're holding onto that someone else could do 80% as well - and let go.

The 10-Minute Bottleneck Exercise

Here's your homework this week. It takes 10 minutes.

Open your calendar from the last 2 weeks. Look at every meeting, every task, every recurring commitment. Ask yourself one question for each: "If I disappeared tomorrow, could someone else do this?"

You're going to find at least 3 things. Pick the one that eats the most time. That's your "one thing."

Now ask: What would it take to remove myself from this in the next 30 days? A hire? A system? An SOP? A conversation with your team?

You don't have to solve it today. You just have to name it. Because once you see it, you can't unsee it. And that's where the work starts.

What Happens When You Name It

I do this exact exercise with every client in their first week. Most of them find 5-10 hours a week they can reclaim just by naming the thing they've been holding onto.

That reclaimed time doesn't just mean fewer hours at the office. It means space to work on the things that actually move the business forward - strategy, partnerships, hiring, building systems that scale.

Ready to Find Your One Thing?

If you already know your "one thing" but you're stuck on how to actually remove yourself - that's exactly what we work on together. I'll map your bottleneck, show you the system or hire that replaces you, and build a 90-day plan to get you out of it.

Book your free strategy call →

Jordan Solender is a business coach for founders doing $500K-$5M who are stuck working in their business instead of on it. He's built 11 businesses with 8-figure exits and removed himself from the day-to-day of all of them.

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