And why that difference will make or break your growth.
As a CEO, your time is your most valuable asset. But too often, we see founders and leaders buried in the day-to-day—approving invoices, chasing updates, answering questions they shouldn’t need to answer. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. But it’s also a red flag.
The difference between working in your business vs. on your business isn’t just about delegation. It’s about building the systems, structure, and strategy that free you to lead at the level your company needs.
Let’s Define the Divide
Working in your business looks like:
- Jumping into every project to fix what’s broken
- Being the point person for approvals, updates, and decisions
- Manually piecing together processes because no system exists
- Constantly reacting, rarely planning
Working on your business looks like:
- Designing and optimizing workflows that scale with growth
- Setting a strategic vision and ensuring your team has the tools to execute
- Empowering your team through clear roles and efficient systems
- Analyzing performance and making data-driven decisions
The Hidden Cost of Staying In It
You didn’t start your company to become the bottleneck—but that’s exactly what happens when systems are missing or misaligned. When you’re the glue holding everything together, growth slows. Mistakes increase. Burnout creeps in.
And worst of all? Your team becomes dependent on your availability instead of empowered by your infrastructure.
How to Make the Shift
Moving from in to on isn’t a mindset switch—it’s an operational one. It requires:
- Optimized, documented workflows
- The right tools integrated into the right places
- Automation of repetitive, manual tasks
- Dashboards that give you real-time clarity without daily check-ins
- A strategic tech partner who understands your business beyond the buzzwords
That’s where we come in.
Where 26 Pins Fits In
At 26 Pins, we help CEOs reclaim their time by building the systems their business needs to grow—intentionally, strategically, and sustainably. Whether it’s workflow automation, CRM optimization, or process mapping, our work removes the friction so you can focus on the big picture.
Because when you work on your business, you build something that doesn’t rely on you to survive.
Ready to step into the CEO role your company truly needs?
Let’s identify the first system to offload.
Book a Free Discovery Call →