Core versus non-core activities

A start-up only has limited resources and needs to ensure they're invested in activities that are core to helping the business grow.

I've been spending some time with Mike Knapp, our Director of Technology and Founder, reviewing what I'm working on, and a question we keep asking ourselves is how core is each activity to achieving the goals we have for Shoes of Prey and Sneaking Duck.

Where can I free up more time to spend focusing on what I need to do most: marketing, raising capital, business development deals, hiring – all activities that will help the business to continue growing quickly.

The activities that come up as non-core include speaking engagements, writing for other websites, networking/non-core business meetings, TechTalks, even writing on 22michaels.com.

That said, there is still a lot of value in these non-core activities, particularly the latter two, but where I can streamline what I'm doing I should.

The Tech Talks have been working well as a way to network and meet fellow entrepreneurs without having five meetings a week to do this.

The blog acts as a good reflection and planning tool, particularly if I write on topics that are core to what we're working on at the time.

To help streamline the first two activities I only write for other sites where I can still use the posts on 22michaels.com and I'm only going to do larger speaking engagements that don't require significant preparation.

How do you evaluate and free up time to ensure you’re maximising the amount of time you're spending on core activities?