03-19-2026SOLOPRENEURSHIP

This is the most overlooked hour in a solopreneur’s week

Why we need dedicated time for admin work.

Anna Burgess Yang is the author of Work Better, a newsletter about the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn't suck.

I’m obsessive about my to-do lists. Everything I need to get done goes on my list so I don’t lose sight of it.

But as a solo business owner, I ran into a problem: when do I have the time to actually work through my list? Anything urgent, I’d work on. Anything non-urgent, well…

Stuff that keeps a business running gets perpetually pushed to “later.” However, “later” can eventually cause problems – like your website is out of date, your files are a mess, or your inbox is chaos. You can’t ignore the small, boring, non-billable tasks, or they’ll compound. 

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Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn't suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more, visit workbetter.media.

Why you need a dedicated admin hour

The default solopreneur mode is often reactive. You deal with admin tasks only when they start causing you or your business some pain. 

If you set aside a recurring block of time on your calendar, it turns admin tasks into routine maintenance instead of a crisis response. I use Friday mornings. Some weeks it’s 30 minutes; other weeks it’s longer. The point is that I protect that time and stick to it every week. 

An admin hour also creates a psychological boundary. Client work has its time, and your business should also get some attention. When you know admin time has a designated slot, you won’t feel the constant pressure of an unfinished to-do list. 

What to do during your admin hour

The specifics will depend on your business, but here are the tasks I cycle through most often during my admin hour.

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