Foundation 3 of 20 · All Four
Busy Is a Feeling. Managing Is a Decision.
"How am I supposed to run the place when I'm too busy running it?" If you are the cook, the driver, the cashier, and the only one who knows the alarm code, here is the one job nobody in your business is doing, and the one hour a week that fixes it.
Last Updated: 10/25/2026 · Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
The Short Answer
What Does a Manager Do?
Textbook Definition
A manager is responsible for achieving results through other people by performing the four functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the work of the organization.
In Plain English
A manager runs the business instead of only doing its work. Doing the tasks is working in the business. Planning, organizing, leading, and checking the work is working on it. Somebody has to do the second job, or nobody is steering.
Why It Matters
Why Is Working Only "In" the Business a Problem?
When every hour goes to the work in front of you, nobody is steering. The same problems repeat. Bills go unchecked. The people who want to help never get asked. You end every week exhausted and no further ahead.
This is the job every textbook describes with the four functions of management: plan, organize, lead, control. In a small business, you will often do the work and the managing. That is fine. The problem is when the work eats every single hour and the managing gets none.
Signs you have this problem:
- You have not looked at the schedule, the books, or the equipment in a month.
- The same breakdown happens over and over and nobody owns the fix.
- You say "two minutes, tomorrow" more than once a day.
- An employee has asked to take something off your plate, more than once.
- You find out about problems only when a customer complains.
- You worked every hour last week and spent zero of them looking at the business.
What It Looks Like
What It Looks Like When Nobody Is Running the Place
From the Fabled Forest · Chapter 3
Fast Frankie the Fox built a pizza business from one borrowed oven into a restaurant and a fleet of three food trucks. Every customer knew him. Every supplier had his number. Every cook brought him every question, because he was the only one with the answers.
His trucks broke down three times in a month because nobody checked the oil. His best cook had been asking to make the schedule for weeks. Frankie had not looked at the books in a month. He worked every hour there was, and not one of them was spent looking at the business.
Doctor Owl did not tell him to stop making pizza. He gave him one hour a week, at a table with no oven, and five questions to answer out loud. In that first hour, Frankie found a problem that had been costing him money for two months.
Frankie's story is Chapter 3 of Management and Leadership for Small Businesses, Book 1 of Dr. Paul's Fabled Forest Business School Series.
The Fix
How to Start Working On Your Business: The Owner's Hour
You cannot find time to work on your business. You have to take it. Start with one protected hour a week.
Put one hour a week on the calendar.
Treat it like a customer appointment you cannot cancel. Same day, same time, every week.
Go somewhere the work cannot reach you.
Not the counter. Not the kitchen. Leave the phone in another room. The point is to look at the business from above, and you cannot do that from inside it.
Bring the paper.
Bills, receipts, delivery slips, the schedule. Put the bills next to what actually arrived. That is where money hides.
Answer five questions out loud.
What keeps going wrong? What is coming up? Who is waiting on me? What did I spend that I did not expect? What one thing will I fix this week?
Pick one fix and give it to someone.
One fix, one owner, checked next week. Usually the someone is the person who has been asking to help.
Dr. Paul's Insight
The most common mistake is letting the hour get swallowed by an emergency the very first week. There will always be an emergency. Protect the hour like payroll. Across 1,000+ clients, Dr. Paul has watched the owners who keep this one hour find more money in the first month than any new sales campaign.
Sample: The Owner's Hour Agenda
Print this and bring it to your hour every week. Fill it in by hand.
| 1. What keeps going wrong? | The thing that broke more than once this week, and who owns fixing it. |
| 2. What is coming up? | Deadlines, big orders, staff vacations, and renewals in the next two weeks. |
| 3. Who is waiting on me? | Employees, customers, and vendors who need a decision or an answer from you. |
| 4. What did I spend that I did not expect? | Put each bill next to what was actually delivered. Circle anything that does not match. |
| 5. What one thing will I fix this week? | One fix. One person who owns it. Check it at next week's hour. |
Sample for illustration. Keep the five questions; adjust the time and place to your week.
Watch
Video: The Owner's Hour, Step by Step
What Does a Manager Do? The Role of a Manager in a Small Business
Dr. Paul walks through the five questions and the owner's hour agenda on screen.
From the Book
What Is Hiding in the Shoebox?
Chapter 3 · The Role of a Manager
Two Minutes Tomorrow: A Fox's Treadmill
The fourth question took the longest. What did I spend coins on that I did not expect? Frankie tipped the shoebox out on the table and, because Doctor Owl only looked at him, began to sort. Bills on the left. Delivery slips on the right. He matched the first week. Forty sacks billed. Thirty-six signed for, in Marco's handwriting.
"That's a mistake," he said.
Was it a mistake? Find out what Frankie's first owner's hour turned up, and get the five-question scroll, in Chapter 3. Book 1 of Dr. Paul's Fabled Forest Business School Series.
Get the Book on Amazon →FAQ
Role of a Manager Questions
What are the four functions of a manager?
What is the difference between working on and in your business?
What does a small business owner actually do all day?
What is the owner's hour?
Keep Going
Related Foundations
The role of a manager connects to five other foundations. The owner's hour is where most of them start. New to a term on this page? Every one is in the small business management glossary.
Foundation 1 · Standard Operating Procedures
Get the routines out of your head so the hour is not spent answering questions.
Foundation 2 · Delegation
Hand off the work you find in the hour that someone else could do.
Foundation 4 · Prioritization
Decide what matters most this week before the week decides for you.
Foundation 7 · Planning
Turn the hour into a plan for this month, this week, and today.
Foundation 10 · Work-Life Balance
Working every hour is not dedication. It is a path to burnout.
Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, business consultant, author, and educator with 14+ years and 1,000+ clients served. Want a second set of eyes at your owner's hour? Dr. Paul works with owners one-on-one.
This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, financial, tax, accounting, or other professional advice. Dollar figures are illustrations. The Fabled Forest and its characters are fictional. For decisions about your own business, consult a qualified professional.