Episode 322: Your Ideal CEO Week: Reclaim 3–5 Hours Without Burning Down Your Studio

If you constantly feel like you need more hours in the day, this episode is for you.

In this episode of the Female emPOWERED Podcast, host Christa Gurka breaks down why time scarcity isn’t the real problem for most boutique fitness, Pilates, yoga, and private-pay PT studio owners — lack of structure is.

Christa walks you through how to stop operating inside your business and start leading it like a true CEO — without giving up teaching, burning out, or dropping the ball at home.

You’ll learn how to design your Ideal CEO Week, identify where your time is leaking, and make small, repeatable changes that can immediately give you 5–10 hours back every week.

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ The difference between operator mode vs CEO mode
✔️ Why being busy doesn’t equal being productive
✔️ How to audit your time and identify what only YOU should be doing
✔️ The Elevate → Delegate → Delete → Delay framework
✔️ How to structure CEO time blocks that actually stick
✔️ Why delegation is a skill (not a personality trait)
✔️ Simple systems that reduce interruptions and decision fatigue

📥 Free Resource Mentioned in This Episode:

Download the Elevate & Delegate Worksheet used inside Christa’s mentorship programs:
👉 https://www.christagurka.com/delegate

This worksheet will help you:

• Clarify CEO vs operator tasks
• Decide what to keep, delegate, delete, or delay
• Create a repeatable weekly structure that supports growth

📸 Join the Conversation:

Take a screenshot while listening, tag @christagurka on Instagram, and share your biggest time suck right now — scheduling, emails, social media, staff questions, or something else.

If this episode helped you, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share with another studio owner who’s stuck doing all the things.

🎧 Female emPOWERED Podcast
Helping boutique fitness & wellness owners build profitable, sustainable businesses — without burnout.

Transcript

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies: 0:51

Oh, hey there everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Female Empowered Podcast. I am your host, Christa Gurka, and I think this episode is gonna hit home for every single small business owner who has ever said, I just need more time. I need more hours in the day. But here is the hard truth that I have learned is that we don't need more time, we need more structure, and specifically. You need what I like to call my ideal CEO business owner week. A simple repeatable structure that helps you stay on track, stay focused, and regain. 5, 6, 7 hours a week without wanting the need to burn down your studio or your business. So yes, it, it is a hundred percent possible and you don't have to stop teaching in order to make that happen. You don't have to, abdicate all of your responsibilities as a studio owner and you don't have to fail on the home front. It's a process and a practice where you. Learn to get unstuck from being stuck in operator mode and learn how to elevate yourself into a true CEO slash owner mode. And these little, little, small tweaks can really transform how your day-to-day looks as a business owner. It shows you. How just making 1% changes little by little by little can earn you real time back immediately. So before we dive in, and I know a lot of people listen to this while they're driving or while they're walking, so you can't grab it, but I did create a worksheet, download and opt-in for this episode, and it's an elevate and delegate. Worksheet that I use in my mentorship programs that I got from the EOS model, entrepreneurial operating system. And so it's something that I used when I was helping myself plan a real, ideal CEO week of sorts and learned how to elevate other people on my team and delegate out. So you can go ahead and download that at kriska.com/delegate. we will also link it in the show notes. So let's go ahead and get into this now. So why do we get stuck in operator mode? Well. Most studio owners, most small boutique fitness, physical therapy practice owners, we are the technicians. We start out being the product and delivering the service. And so what ends up happening is we're not actually running our business. We're running inside the business, and the business is running us. So what I wanna help. Business owners learn is how to own a business that runs rather than run a business they own. So if you are teaching or treating or working, delivering services in your business, 20, 25 hours or more, you're the one answering every staff question. You're the one answering every client question. You're solving the same problems over and over again. You're putting out fires all day. This. What we call being in operator mode, it's productive. Certainly you feel very busy, but it's not strategic and it certainly is not sustainable. It feels busy. So we feel like we're doing all of this stuff, but it doesn't move the needle in our business and what's, it's what? Keeps us stuck when we elevate ourselves into a true CEO or a owner leader. What our days look like is more planning, vision, casting, delegating. Forecasting, training team members and leading decisions rather than reacting. So we are responding to our business rather, rather than reacting to the business and listen, being in operator mode, it really is not a character flaw. It's a structural problem. It happens usually because, like I said, the business takes off without us really learning how to plan a system. Most of us started our business with no training in how to run a business, so we had training to become physical therapists. Usually three years or more, we had trainings to become Pilates instructors and yoga instructors, but we don't have training all the time. In running a business. And so this is what happens when we, we created bad habits for ourselves, not because we're not smart women, but because we just didn't know any better. So we've simply never been taught how to create time to be a true CEO in our business. And that, my friends, is what we're gonna fix today. So one of the things I do with my inner circle people and my mentorship group is. At the beginning of every year, we do a task audit. And this is what I did in my business for years and years and years. Before you build out a typical structure in a week for yourself, you need a clear picture of where your time is going and how much time you're spending doing what. So for one week, what I want you to do, and you can do it, you can use your phone, your notes app, you can have a spreadsheet, you can write it in a notebook. I want you to document what you're doing. How long it took you to do it, why you were doing it, and then I want you to decide, did it require you to be the one to do it? So you're gonna just keep a notebook. So Monday morning you're gonna wake up and you're gonna write down what you do. I return client emails, I check the messages, how long it took you to do all that stuff. I taught a class. And then when you're done with the week, you should go back and be like, did this one need to be done? And two, did it need me to be the one to do it? So the next thing we are gonna do, and you will see this in your, Elevate and delegate worksheet. Okay. We create this, these quadrants, it's like a big cross, okay? Big upside down. I think it's called the Eisenhower Matrix. I'm not a hundred percent sure. don't quote me on that, but I think it's called the Eisenhower Matrix. and so what you wanna do is you want to, in the lower right hand corner, all of those things that you did, you are gonna put in the lower right hand corner. You are going to put the things that you are not good at and you do not like doing. So let's say for example, it's you had to do website updates. Well, if you're not a website designer, you're probably not that good at it. And two, you probably don't like doing it. So if you don't like doing it and you're not good at goes in the lower right quadrant in the top left quadrant. Those are all the things that only you can perform. So in my business. right now the only, the thing only I can do is deliver this podcast. It's me on the podcast. So the recording episode is something only I can do, but somebody else can edit it. Somebody else can help me write the emails. Somebody else can help me do the show notes and all that stuff. But only I can do the actual podcast. So in the top left corner, all the things that only you. Can be doing right? Designing the customer experience, setting the vision. If you're sitting in the marketing seat, creating the marketing strategy. So that goes in the top left. Okay? And then what you want to try to figure out then is what are the things that you are going to keep doing? What are the high level CEO task that you will keep doing? Financial decisions, high level planning. Performance reviews and even I would say that performance reviews can be delegated to someone else depending on the structure of your business. What are you then gonna delegate to someone else? Alright, can you delegate If you have a podcast, editing the podcast, can you delegate creating graphics for social media? Can you delegate, client communication? Can you delegate your PTO and time off requests? Then the third category is what are you going to delete? Completely. What are you gonna delete? Maybe you have too many intro offers. This was something we talked about in the last episode. Too many intro offers is confusing. So maybe you're just like, we're gonna simplify. We're gonna delete all these intro offers, which means we don't have to work on all of these extra automations. Okay? Maybe you are going to delete sending out personalized handwritten letters'cause it's taking more time. As you grow your business, maybe you are going to delete running a scorecard or a spreadsheet that has 25 KPIs that you really don't need to be managing and checking weekly. All right. And then the last part is what are you going to delay? Okay, what are you gonna delay special projects? what are you going to put in the parking lot, right? So like, yes, I'd like to do this, but it's not really necessary for me to do right now, so I'm gonna delay that'cause I don't have enough time on my plate. Okay, so what are you gonna keep doing? What are you going to delegate to others to do? And when you delegate it, they should own that entire. Process that entire task. So for example, if you're delegating to someone PTO and time off requests, they're not gonna come to you and say, oh, Jane just asked for time off. They're gonna say no. Jane asked for time off. She got someone to cover her shift, so-and-so's covering her shift. It's already been updated in that schedule system. We will let you know if we need anything. Okay, so make sure they own that entire process. So what are you gonna do? What are you gonna delegate? What are you going to delete? You no longer need to do this anymore. And then what are you going to delay for later? Okay. Once you really have all of this done, you will see where you are leaking time, because oftentimes we spend our time just because it feels comfortable to us in things that we don't need to be the ones doing. Right. We should identify the CEO priorities. Things like reviewing the weekly KPIs and metrics. That doesn't mean you have to be the one to get them, but you should be reviewing them. Okay. Marketing and content planning and projects. So if you are the ones that are doing things like. Creating the graphics. That is not something necessarily you need to be doing, but it keeps you off of doing the stuff that really moved the needle in your business. We get distracted by that because it's easier, it's less mind consuming. Alright? And so you always wanna add in your non-negotiables, which is like, you're, you're. Client facing hours if you had them. Obviously picking up school, your personal workouts if you need to go to the doctors and all of that stuff. Okay. And then what I want you to try to do is add, try to start adding in in 2026. This is something that I think would be super, super valuable for most business owners, is adding in CEO blocks in your week. Okay? So how do you do that? Can you start to add in? Two to three hours at the beginning of the week. Like Mon, this is how I started Monday mornings from eight to one started being my, Weekly admin time, so I would usually have my leadership meetings on Monday mornings. I would do my KPIs and metrics on Monday mornings. I would record my podcast episodes on Monday mornings, so I would just really batch time to do a bunch of these things. Then on Fridays I had another CEO block that was basically buffer time, things that kind of got. Put on the back burner or a fire, I had to put out a fire so I needed extra time to catch up. So I did one early in the week and one late in the week, and then I just started saying, nothing goes on those times unless it's an absolute emergency. So I would say no to meetings. That didn't happen on those days. I would say no to school events that didn't happen on those days. So that that way it took the mind work and the guesswork out of, these are the days that I have and times that I have to catch up on my admin work. And it really did allow me to uncover five to 10 hours a week of reclaimable. Time so that I could focus on what was really moving the needle in the business. The next step is to make sure that the people that you're offloading some of these tasks to are accountable, and that you train them and they know what done looks like and they understand how to replicate the process that you want handled. Okay? Where most owners get stuck is implementing this process. They get stuck in doing things. That they don't need to be doing. So in other words, they'll like, they don't turn off their notification. So a Slack message comes in about, oh, so and so's in sick, and, and then you immediately answer it because you're distracted. And so now you're like, oh, I'll go cover this. And now you waste your time or spend your time, I don't wanna say waste. Spend your time doing other things. And then you're like, well, I didn't get that done. I didn't get this blog done. I didn't get this podcast episode created. I didn't get this performance review created. That's why I say when you're going to be in structured CEO time shut your notifications off. there should be somebody on your team that can handle them so that you can focus on the things that you should be focusing on. Operator mode for most of us feels comfortable. It feels familiar, it feels productive because we are busy all the time, but busy doesn't necessarily mean. Productive, right? CEO mode for a lot of us feels risky. Our brain is defaulted to always be feeling busy, but we don't build scalable, sustainable businesses by being busy all the time. We build them with intentionality. And delegating is the bridge between those two identities, right? Delegation. Delegation isn't just a switch, you turn on and off. Delegation is a behavior and a muscle that you build with repetition, with doing it, getting it wrong, learning from your mistake, doing it over again. You get stronger each and every week. And imagine if you started doing that. Now today, January, 2026, how good you'll be by the time December, 2026 rolls around. What are some small tasks? this is the actionable part of the podcast. What are some small tasks that you can do right now that can help you buy back some of your time? Standardize your weekly meetings. I'm a big, big proponent of this, if you have a weekly meeting with your admin person, with your second in charge, with a manager, with anyone on your team, same day, same time every single week, If they're monthly, same thing, same day, same time every single month. And you create a document that's basically called your issues list. And it could just be a Google doc and you write the date on it, January 13th, 2026, and everyone who's invited to that meeting has access to the doc and they just write all of the things they wanna talk about. And when you have your meeting, you just go through the things line by line. So this means they don't have to interrupt you 50 times a day asking you a question about something that's gonna take place a month from now. So it really limits and decreases the amount of daily check-in, you know that you're gonna talk to them about it on every Monday, so you don't really have to bother them with it throughout the week. Second, batch your admin tasks. Stop grazing on emails all day. Check your emails once in the morning, once in the afternoon, or have someone else check them for you even better, and send you a list of things that you need to reply to and let every them reply to all the other things. Or if you're doing performance reviews, maybe you batch those. You're like, okay, the first Monday of every quarter, I'm gonna do performance reviews so they don't get lost in the crazy hustle bustle of the business. Most of you are creating SOPs. Decide which standard operating procedure, which process you are going to. Create and focus on and optimize each and every week. Okay. And really you could do that each month. This is what we're doing in the accelerator program. With the Fit BS accelerator, we're taking one process each and every month. So by the end of the year, the women in the group will have 12 built out, fully built out pro processes that not only they have, but are being replicated and followed by all in the business. Train your team to make decisions and then allow them to make the decision. So you can use a lot of like if then framework. Here's a perfect example. If someone is asking for a refund of less than$50, you can make that decision and refund. You don't have to come to me. Okay? If someone, Has it wants is if you're in charge of of PTO, here's a policy, here's a procedure. No two people can be off at the same time. As long as they get their coverage, it's okay to approve it. So let them make the decisions and then allow them to be accountable for those decisions. Try to delegate one task that's on your plate a week at the end of the year. You will have delegated 50 tasks to somebody else. Okay? Maybe it's delegating. No client, no client complaints. Get to you, somebody else handles it. Maybe it's delegating the team meetings. Maybe you don't have to go to every team meeting, okay? But try to delegate one thing a week. Or if you think one thing a week is too much, maybe try delegating one thing a month. Building this kind of momentum in your business comes from these small little wins. I say that action creates clarity. So when you feel like, oh, I don't know what to do, I don't know how to get started, start with one thing. I was helping my son study for, an exam that he was having. They were talking all about Newton's laws The whole idea is that an object in motion will stay in motion and an object at rest will stay at rest unless something else, another force impedes upon it, right? So if you're at rest, you need something to push you to start moving, right? We're all movement people, we should remember this. And so we need something. So this is your something. I am pushing you to start the ball rolling, to start delegating tasks, take action, and that will help you create clarity. Okay. These small little tweaks alone can give you some more. Time in your day, in your week and using the worksheet that comes along with this episode will help you do that. So once again, you can grab the worksheet that goes with this episode. It's called the Elevate and Delegate Worksheet, and you can grab it at www.krista.com/delegate. Okay? Once you do that, you will walk away know, knowing what you're gonna continue doing. What you're gonna delegate and who you're gonna delegate to, what you're gonna delay and what you're gonna delete. Alright? And then once you do that, if you're part of the accelerator program, we are gonna learn how to systematize each and every one of those processes so that by the end of this year, 2026, you'll have a fully built out system of your business that is running on autopilot. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. I'd love for you if you did one thing for me today, could you take a screenshot of you listening to this episode and then tag me on Instagram at Christa Gurka and let me know what your biggest time suck is right now. So take a screenshot of this episode, tag me@christagurka and let me know. My biggest time suck right now is handling scheduling requests. My biggest time suck right now is social media. and we can work on it together. I'd love to be here to help support you. thank you as always for listening. I love my audience, and until next time, my friends, bye for now.