For a long time, I had my hands in everything.

Every call, every decision, every problem that came up on a job site somehow found its way back to me. At first, that felt like part of the job. Stay involved, keep standards high, make sure nothing slips.

But after a while, it started to wear on me. Days felt packed, but progress didn’t always match the effort. Stepping away for even a day felt risky.

That’s when it became clear. The issue wasn’t how hard I was working. It was how everything was running through me.

I don’t need longer days. I need fewer things depending on me.

Here’s what I’ve been tightening up:

The biggest wake-up call was realizing I didn’t even have time to sit down and look at my own schedule. Read more →

Becoming the bottleneck doesn’t happen overnight. It builds job by job.

I’d hop on calls with clients because it was faster than explaining things to someone else. I’d answer questions from the crew on the fly instead of pointing them to a system. I’d handle small issues myself because I knew it would get done right the first time.

None of that felt like a mistake. It just felt like staying on top of things.

But over time, it meant everything started running through me. If I wasn’t available, things slowed down. If I got pulled in too many directions, jobs backed up.

At that point, the business could only move as fast as I could.

So I started with something simple:
I pulled my last two weeks and looked at where my time actually went.

I looked for:

The shift has been straightforward. Not everything needs to come through me for the job to get done right. Watch the full episode →

Delegation was rough at first.

Not because the crew couldn’t handle it, but because too much lived in my head. How I talk to clients, how I expect things done, how I handle issues on-site. A lot of that wasn’t written down anywhere.

So when I handed something off, there were gaps. Things would come back to me, or I’d step in to fix it. What’s been helping is building a simple “Second Brain.” Nothing fancy. Just a place where I’m writing things down as I go:

It’s not perfect, but it’s already cutting down the constant questions and check-ins. The crew has more to work with, and I’m not getting pulled into every small thing.

1. Run a time audit. Look at the last two weeks and flag anything that didn’t need you involved. Start here →

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2. Use the Four Ds. Go through your current workload:

1. Do Only you can handle it

2. Delegate Someone on your crew can take it

3. Delete It doesn’t need to be done

4. Defer It can wait

Most of what’s on your plate doesn’t need to stay there.

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3. Document one process. Pick something your crew asks you about all the time. Write down how you want it done, step by step. That’s how you start building something that runs without you being everywhere at once.

Google's NotebookLM is Grant's go-to for building a company Second Brain. Upload your SOPs, core values, lead response protocols, pricing logic — and your team can query it like a search engine that only knows your business. It cites its sources, so you know exactly where every answer comes from. Free to use. Try it here →

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