Short and simple recipe for success in 90-minute bites

This is a relatively short and simple book with one key proposition: find 90 minutes in your day to grow your business.

In a world in which businesspeople are consumed with meetings, writing reports and responding to emails, it is all too easy to forget about the business of communicating with potential new customers, upselling to existing ones or renewing and strengthening bonds with those that we have worked with in the past.

The book has a wide selection of short case studies of entrepreneurs who have locked themselves away from routine work distractions to do just that and have impressive results to prove it.

We hear about Laura McDougall, who runs Hoss Equine, a horse-supplies company in Cardiff. Quickly after applying the 90-minute philosophy that saw her setting aside protected time to develop her business, she saw her business grow by 235 per cent.

This special time is focused on a combination of looking for new customers and increasing average spend of existing customers.

New activities have included delivering valuable content to her prospect list some four to six times a month via email and direct mail, creating and implementing a loyalty scheme, restructuring her website to boost online sales and increasing average prices by 5-10 per cent

Botterill and Gladdish go heavy on the science piece of the 90-minute idea. They say research shows this is the optimum amount of time to spend on an activity and that our day should ideally be broken into 90-minute slots.

Exercise and even rest periods optimise at this length, it appears. No need to feel guilty about an hour and half of napping, as long as it is done between 1pm and 4pm, it seems. It will improve your cognitive functions of creativity, memory retention and even emotional stability we are told here.

Magic number

Ninety is a magic number, they clearly believe. From the early days of cinema to the present, the majority of films produced have been about 90 minutes long, as this has been seen as the optimum concentration and engagement level for the viewer.

An accountant quoted here, James Sheard, has run the maths. He says that putting aside 90 minutes a day, five days a week, 48 weeks a year to work on your business equates to the equivalent of an extra two months' work on your business development.

The 90-minute sessions need to be highly structured, the authors advise. A list of the tasks to be achieved during this period should be determined the day before so that you can hit the desk running.

Environment is important too. You need a desk with all of the materials you will need close at hand and it is important that others – such as family members at home or work colleagues in an office – are encouraged to respect your golden time.

Early start

An early start tends to work well for those who are productive in the mornings.

A working mother quoted here with a two- year-old daughter takes this to extremes with a 5am start but has apparently reaped huge rewards in her voiceover business.

While the point is clearly made, the authors seem somewhat fixated on the number 90, dragging in numerous references to the importance of this figure from a biological and even historical perspective.

The book is not rocket science. Nonetheless, applying the simple principles outlined here should benefit many entrepreneurs.

For those wanting more, there’s an accompanying online resource including a weekly 90-minute planner and a tick sheet of the things that you should be doing in your 90 minutes and those that you should not.