The 80/20 Entrepreneur

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Welcome to Better You, the weekly newsletter that merges practical wisdom with tangible steps for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and professionals seeking sustainable growth. Today, we’re zeroing in on a simple but powerful principle: the 80/20 rule. Also known as the Pareto Principle, it suggests that 80% of your results often stem from 20% of your actions. If you feel scattered across endless to-do lists, this might be the perspective shift you need to start making real progress.

The Turning Point

Melanie built her freelance marketing business from scratch. Early on, she did everything: designing social media graphics, writing blog posts, managing invoices, jumping on sales calls, often until midnight. Despite the hustle, she found herself constantly behind and unable to grow. A chance conversation with a business mentor led her to the 80/20 principle. The mentor asked one question: “Which tasks actually move the needle in your business?”

Melanie began sorting her weekly tasks into categories: client delivery, lead generation, administrative work, and personal development. She was stunned to discover that only a handful of tasks (roughly 20%) accounted for the majority of her income and growth, primarily her high-value marketing strategy sessions and consultations with potential clients. Emboldened by that insight, she decided to double down on those activities and either eliminate, delegate, or automate everything else. Within months, her revenue climbed, and her work hours decreased.

Below are the six steps that helped Melanie, and can help you, focus on that critical 20% to unlock 80% (or more) of your results.

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Step 1: Identify Your High-Impact Tasks

Before you can embrace the 80/20 principle, you have to know which tasks are generating results. For some, it’s direct client work; for others, it’s sales calls or content creation that drives inbound leads.

1. Make a Task Inventory: Write down every recurring task you handle in a typical week, big or small.

2. Highlight What Moves the Needle: Reflect on which tasks consistently bring in revenue, expand your reach, or significantly impact your business or career goals.

3. Quantify Where Possible: If you can tie tasks directly to metrics (like revenue generated, leads gained, or time saved), do it. This solidifies which tasks are genuinely critical.

Your “20% tasks” often have a disproportionate return on investment. Once you identify them, you can decide how to structure your time around them.

Step 2: Ruthlessly Eliminate or Delegate the Rest

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you likely spend more time on low-impact tasks than you realize, emails, minor design tweaks, endless social media scrolling in the name of “market research.” To free up energy for that all-important 20%, you must either eliminate or delegate the other 80%.

• Eliminate: Look for tasks that no longer serve a real purpose. Sometimes, we keep doing things out of habit. Ask yourself, “Is this truly necessary?” If the answer is no, stop doing it or replace it with a simpler approach.

• Delegate: Hand off tasks that can be done (often better!) by a virtual assistant, a freelancer, or a team member. If it’s not in your zone of genius and if it doesn’t directly affect your bottom line, it might be a good candidate for delegation.

Melanie originally spent hours every week scheduling social media posts. She hired a virtual assistant who now batches and schedules them. Not only did this free up her calendar, but the posts also look more polished.

Step 3: Create a Focus-First Schedule

Once you know your high-impact tasks and have cleared away the noise, your next step is to build a schedule that prioritizes those top activities.

• Block Out Prime Time: Dedicate your best hours, whenever you’re most alert and creative, to your key 20% tasks. If you’re a morning person, schedule important strategy work or sales calls first thing.

• Use Time Blocks: Assign specific blocks in your calendar to do focused work on one high-value project at a time. Give yourself a buffer between blocks to avoid mental fatigue.

• Limit Context Switching: Group similar tasks together. Do all your calls in a set window, your writing in another, and your admin work later. This reduces the mental overhead of constantly switching gears.

The more energy you devote to high-value tasks during your peak hours, the easier it becomes to drive impactful results without spreading yourself thin across the day.

Step 4: Leverage Simple Systems and Tools

Supporting your focus with easy-to-implement systems can amplify the impact of your 20%. We live in an era of automation and streamlined processes, use them.

1. Project Management: Tools like Trello or Asana help break down tasks into manageable steps and give you a clear overview of what needs tackling first.

2. Calendars and Appointments: Use Calendly or a similar tool to avoid the endless email dance of “What time works for you?”

3. Templates & SOPs: Standard Operating Procedures can simplify tasks you do repeatedly, like onboarding new clients or drafting proposals.

By systematizing repetitive work, you ensure your mental energy remains available for the creative, revenue-generating, or problem-solving tasks that form your 20%.

Step 5: Track, Measure, and Adjust

Implementing the 80/20 principle isn’t a one-and-done move. Your business, projects, and personal life will evolve, so your critical tasks may shift over time.

• Set Measurable Targets: If your goal is to close more consulting deals, track the number of discovery calls you book each week. If you’re aiming to expand your reach, look at email subscribers or social media engagement.

• Review Weekly: Take 15-30 minutes every week to see what worked and what didn’t. Are you hitting your targets? Did you spend too much time on low-impact tasks again?

• Make Incremental Tweaks: If you realize a certain task no longer yields results, remove it from your high-priority list. If a new opportunity emerges that resonates with your long-term goals, add it to the mix.

This feedback loop helps you consistently refine what “20%” means in your current season.

Step 6: Protect Your 20% with Boundaries

Even after identifying and scheduling your 20%, distractions are relentless, urgent emails, client fires, or the temptation to say yes to every request. Protecting your focus is an ongoing practice.

• Practice Saying No: You don’t have to attend every meeting or jump on every opportunity that comes your way. Get comfortable declining or deferring things that don’t align with your priorities.

• Turn Off Non-Essential Notifications: Do you really need to see every like and comment pop up on your phone? Probably not. Limit notifications to only the ones you truly need.

• Communicate Your Boundaries: If you have a team or work with regular clients, let them know you have dedicated blocks of “deep work.” Most people respect clear boundaries if you set them from the start.

When you safeguard your most important tasks, you’ll be amazed at how much more you can accomplish in the same (or even less) time.

Pulling It All Together

Being an 80/20 entrepreneur means letting go of the belief that all tasks have equal importance. You’re acknowledging a fundamental reality: some actions have more impact than others. By identifying your key activities, clearing out the clutter, creating a focused schedule, leveraging tools, and maintaining strong boundaries, you’ll find yourself generating greater results in fewer hours.

This isn’t about doing less overall; it’s about doing less of what doesn’t matter and more of what truly counts. The reward? A more profitable, more balanced business that leaves you with the energy and headspace to innovate, grow, and simply enjoy life.

Until next week,

, Better You