What should I focus on to scale up, as a web development agency business owner?

I would advice you to understand the three stages of focus namely, Orienting, Selective Attention, Open Awareness. Currently I believe you are in Orienting stage. Try to move on to the next stage and that would help.
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Hi !

It sounds to me like you're working mainly IN your business instead of ON your business. You're always behind on task, and lack time to do what you really love, web development and more of that! You don;t know whether you should hire, because you don't see time to train that person, and the risk seems high.

Many business owners are stuck here...

Well, that's what most of my clients told me before they worked with me.

Does that sound in any way familiar to you?

To grow, you need to move to working ON your business 80% of the time. To grow you need to start developing an organization, step by step.

It starts by freeing yourself up from tasks that drain time, energy, and money from you as a resource, and moving that into processes and a structured workflow. Then setting a strong and articulate direction for the company, broken down into OKRs is the next step I'd focus on. Thirdly, build a hiring plan around that, and start to grow step by step.

Clients I've helped typically say that finally, they have time to grow their business, thanks to a shortened learning curve that saved them time and money to get to a new level.

If that's something that matches your situation, feel free to ask me more questions.

Best, Leon

This is the reality for organically grown Agencies. I experienced the same when I had my business, and I didn’t even have a business partner. 11 years later we were over $20m and 200 people in my team. Those early days were tough, the model is hard when your team size is small. If you book a call I will tell you how I did it (without a business partner too) .

Hey

I've had experience growing service businesses and agree with some of the answers you've received already.

The key is identifying the use of your time and it's already been mentioned that you are spending too much time working in your business instead of on your business.

My recommendation is to spend a week or two tracking your task and time so you get a clear picture of what you are spending your time on in your business. Using an app like Toggl will help with this.

Once your time has been tracked, you can review where you are spending your time and then applying the XDS approach to your tasks -> What can I eliminate entirely (X), what can I delegate (D) and what can I systematize (S).

If in doubt, be ruthless and eliminate.

Once you've gone through this process you can start executing the XDS method to free up your time - outsourcing and automation will be key to this. It seem like an uphill battle when you get started but as soon as you buy into the method and seeing the results (i.e. free time) then you can turn start answering your question of what you should focus on to scale up, because you will have the time and headspace to actually think about and try new tactics and strategies.

If you want to chat this through further and how you can implement and execute XDS I'd be happy to jump on a call!

Good luck