The number of hours entrepreneurs work vary with the size of the company, number of employees, and nature of the business where sole proprietors tend to put in more work. Online businesses also tend to require more time input at the beginning with some late night and early morning schedules. Those who delegate and outsource may not need to work more hours. If your productivity is high you can achieve more in fewer hours of work.
We asked entrepreneurs and business owners how much they work and here are the responses.
#1- Between 55 to 60 hours
I usually look at anywhere between 55 to 60 hours. This doesn’t include the time spent researching and studying the industry. It’s a necessity and it's something we have to do in order to keep up with the tides as they change with new technologies and platforms. Overall, there’s a lot of time spent both in and out of the office, especially when particular departments hit roadblocks and they’re depending on you to come up with a solution.
Thanks to Carla Diaz, Broadband Search!
#2- More than 40 hours or less
On average I spend about 30% of my time working, but that average comes from a mixture of weeks where I work for more than 40 hours and somewhere I work far less. As a CEO, a large part of my responsibilities is networking and strategizing. These things can be planned in advance, of course, but opportunities can arise at any moment: a surprise meeting to confer with a colleague or a new innovation hitting the market that will change our marketing approach.
Thanks to Jaymee Messler, The Gaming Society!
#3- 30 hours per week
It varies, but I would say that I work around 30 hours per week. I think it's important to have a good work-life balance, and that means finding a job that doesn't require you to work 60+ hours per week. Working more than 40 hours per week can actually have negative consequences on your health, including increases in stress levels and the risk of heart disease. That said, there are times when it's necessary to put in extra hours, especially if you're trying to launch a new business or close a big deal.
Thanks to Ryan Fyfe, Workpuls, Inc!
#4- 40 hours per week
As a business owner, I never realized how hard it was to count the hours I work per week until I had to answer this question. Generally, I would say that I work the regular 40 hours per week most people work; however, it's probably much more. Having to control a lot of processes and things via phone, I end up dedicating more time to work while being elsewhere. With a home office, I'm seeing how blurred the lines between work and personal life are because I know that there are days (even my days off) where I just end up working till 11 or 12 pm, if not more.
Thanks to Stefan Smulders, Expandi!
#5- 20-25 hours
As a digital business owner, I’m fortunate enough to be able to put myself in a position where I can choose to work my own hours. On average, I work 20-25 hours per week. Many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of overworking themselves, and I made sure that I and my staff members won’t be part of that statistic. Burnout is one of the number one problems of remote work, and it is important to prevent yourself from experiencing it. And sometimes, the quality of work matters more than the hours you put in.
Thanks to Jack Miller, How I Get Rid Of!
#6- 30-35 hours per week
My name is Cornelius Fichtner. I run a Project Management podcast with 500+ episodes and over 1,000,000 listens. My team works remotely – and I’ve found that since we went 99% remote, I need to work less. The reason is that I don’t socialize with colleagues – or have unstructured meetings – as much as I used to. I think I put in 6 hours of focused work 4 days a week and do another 6-10 hours of administrative work and meetings. So that puts me at 30-35 hours per week.
Thanks to Cornelius Fichtner, OSP International LLC!
#7- More than 50 hours a week
My name is Richard. I own a chain of brick-and-mortar stores as well as an eCommerce store that raised $300k on a $5m valuation and is in hypergrowth. I have to manage a large number of employees across my businesses. As a result of having to manage so many people and us growing so fast, I’m working 50+ hours a week right now. A lot of this is low-intensity work, like talking to suppliers and partners and overseeing shipments and logistics.
Thanks to Richard Clews, Pants & Socks!
#8- 60 hours a week
A typical employee works about 40 hours a week. As the CEO, I work more than that. On average, I'm always the first one in the office and the last one to leave. But even though I devote a lot of my time to work, I still have to allot my time wisely. You have to delegate and let your people do most of the work. You're there to manage and ensure that everything is working according to plan. I spend about 60 hours a week just to get things done.
Thanks to Jeremy Clifford, Router CTRL!
#9- Maximum 30 hours a week
Thirty hours a week is the maximum amount of time I spend working.
Although I am an early riser, I am not an early starter; I must ease into my day. Mid-morning and mid-evening are my most productive hours. I work quite hard for almost three hours and then require a break! I achieve more when I work exclusively during my peak productivity periods. Late in the evening, I usually feel rejuvenated and have more creative juices flowing, so I work a few extra hours.
Thanks to Robyn Newmark, Newmark Beauty!
#10- 50-55 hours a week
As the Co-founder and Head of Business Development & Innovation, I typically work 50-55 hours a week. Roughly 80% of those hours are from Monday to Friday, as I find the weekends a good time to get in some work without interruption. As a working parent, I log off for several hours in the late afternoon to early evening during the week, then hop back on at night for a few hours. I track all of my hours in a simple time tracking app so that I can keep a pulse on where I spend my time.
Thanks to Whitney Hill, SnapADU!
#11- 36 to 40+ hours a week
My daily schedule has definitely shifted over the course of the pandemic. As a working mother and wife, I begin my day early and I am working on and off throughout the day and sometimes into the night. I’m generally responding to calls, and emails into the evening and sometimes working from my computer if needed. I’m in the office much less now, but still working an easy 36 – 40+ hours a week.
Thanks to Dana Coronado, Income Properties Los Angeles!
#12- Roughly 50-60 hours a week
As a co-owner of a digital marketing agency, I spend a lot of my time managing our team, improving internal systems and handling sales calls that come in. We are a completely remote company, and it doesn't feel like work a lot of the time! However, at our stage, there are so many things that need to get done to satisfy client requirements or scale our operations that I spend roughly 50-60 hours per week dedicated to working on our business.
Thanks to Aaron Traub, HVAC Marketing Engine!
#13- 35 hours a week
As an entrepreneur of a business that has taken off during the pandemic, at the height of the past year I was working up to 70 hours a week but this has settled down now to 35, which is the exact same as my employees. The reason I've been able to bring it down by almost 50% is thanks to the growing gig economy of workers who have taken on some of my administrative work – specifically a virtual assistant has been absolutely invaluable to improving my work/life balance.
Thanks to Jenna Carson, Money Lucid!
#14- Too many hours
We all know that we should set better boundaries to make sure we have a stable work-life balance. But that doesn’t always happen for business owners and entrepreneurs. Like most CEOs, if someone asks me how many hours per week I work, the answer is likely “too many.” Most people think of entrepreneurship as a lifestyle filled with setting your own hours and working from remote locations. entrepreneurs work more than other professionals, even after their business becomes self-sustaining.
Thanks to Kyle Risley, Lift Vault!
#15- I work 100 hours/7 days
I have two businesses yet when you ask me if I am enjoying my weekend, I chuckle…I don’t even sleep yet to enjoy a calm weekend. Probably ever. The truth is when you own not just one but two businesses you never stop working – especially if you are the kind of entrepreneur who catches ideas and runs with them! Even when they come to you in the middle of the night and jolt you out of bed! I can say that I never stop working. Like, let’s say 100 hours/7 days? I am preplanning future marketing, strategy with LTOs as well as pondering if last week's post translated into connection and profits.
Thanks to Christine Staley, Magic City HOAGIES!
#16- Approx 45 to 50 hours
What makes things more challenging is that a lot of the time I work remotely, so there is no leaving the office – but I do try to maintain a balance. On average I put in is around 45 – 50 hours a week but that is not consistent. How many hours I work depends on how much work needs to be done. What appealed to me about having my own business was that my work hours would be flexible, but the reality is when you are responsible for a
a business that you are still trying to grow, flexibility is a luxury.
Thanks to Eran Galperin, Gymdesk!
#17- Flexible – however much I need to
I’m a huge champion of flexibility and freedom when it comes to business, and that extends to the hours I work. Because of this, I choose my working hours as I go, and they change every week – some weeks are heavier and I work most of it away, and some weeks allow for more breathing room. Owning a business is a massive undertaking, so I manage my time as strictly as possible to ensure that I’m using my working hours optimally and leaving room for life when I can.
Thanks to Nick Drewe, Wethrift!
#18- 40-60 hours a week
Well, to state numbers, as a real estate investor turned entrepreneur, I work for around 40-60 hours a week. However, being an entrepreneur, I feel I work throughout the day hours. Though I do have a good balance between my personal and work life, owning a business is like owning a child. So, if that analogy makes sense to you, I am subconsciously working on my business and ideating even if I am not actually sitting and working. Surprisingly, it is a good feeling and I do not complain. It is all worth it in the end.
Thanks to Devon Wayne, ASAP Cash Offer!
#19- More than 50 to 60 hours
I'm mostly clung to work coma! I mean, I work for more than 50-60 hours a week (including weekends). And the working hours also differs depending on multiple factors (last-minute meetings, presentations, client call, etc.), and I’m sure every entrepreneur would nod their head on this. Adorning the CEO chair is no less than being a tough cookie where I’m not only aiming at my company’s vision and mission but also in the process of creating an impact in our niche.
Thanks to Saikiran Chandha, Typeset!
#20- 45 hours a week
I work about 45 hours a week which gets pretty tough sometimes. But given my busy schedule throughout the weekdays, I have made strict rules concerning taking off on the weekend. So I do not work on weekends until and unless it is very important and requires my involvement. However, I have observed that an average entrepreneur works about 40 hours per week. These include DCes working at their own businesses and running other people's businesses.
Thanks to Marilyn Gaskell, True People Search!
#21- On average 40 hours a week
It depends on the week. Some weeks I work more than 50 hours, and some weeks I work less than 40. But on average, I would say that I work around 40 hours per week. There are a lot of factors that go into how many hours you work each week. For example, some weeks you might have a lot of projects that need to be completed, while other weeks you might not have as much work. Additionally, your availability might vary depending on your personal schedule.
Thanks to Lisa Dietrich, kochbox.net!
#22- Approx 35 to 40 hours a week
On weekdays, between 8 AM and 1:30 PM, I do 4 1/2 hours of uninterrupted, focused intense work at my home office. That is, three 90-minute sessions with 30 minutes break between each one. After lunch, I spend 2-3 hours in the office doing shallow work like meetings, emails, calls, etc. Thus I work around 7 to 8 hours a day which is around 35-40 hours per week.
Thanks to JD Bhatala, Affiliate Income Mantra!
#23- Maximum 70 hours per week
My work hours vary a ton depending on business needs. As a CEO, I feel like my name is on the door, so it's my job to make sure things get done. The flip side to this is that I feel free to take it easy during slower times. I've gone through stretches where I've worked 25 hours per week, and I've also had stretches where I've worked 70 or more hours per week. As the company has grown, and our projects have become more complex and involved more people, I've found myself on the higher end of that range more frequently.
Thanks to Zack Robinson, Test Geek!
#24- Between 10 to 20 hours
When I created Assistant Advice it was because I wanted to work fewer hours and have more focus on my work/life balance. Luckily, I have been able to do both, and I now work on my business for between 10 – 20 hours per week. By setting clear weekly work schedules I know what to work on and how much time to set aside to complete it. Obviously, there still has to be a degree of flexibility, but now I don’t feel guilty when I turn off the laptop and switch off the phone!
Thanks to Taylor Watson, Assistant Advice!
#25- Between 30 to 35 hours a week
Throughout my career, I’ve tried many different schedules and I believe I found the one that works for me, it improved the quality of my work and I am much happier. I work between 30-35 hours a week, I am currently trialing a 4 day week taking Fridays off. I only take Friday off if I can finish all the tasks for the week by Thursday 6 pm, it’s my personal reward for being efficient. I’ve only been doing it for one month and it is working up until now!
Thanks to Viviana Viale, Vivi Haus!
#26- Approx 80 hours a week
In a typical week, I put in approximately 80 hours. I'll be honest with you: I'm a workaholic. On weekdays and weekends, I work 12-14 hours. My thoughts about work are continually on my mind, even when I'm not actively engaged in them. While away from the office, or even when I'm on vacation, I maintain contact with my staff, vendors, and customers. Despite my best efforts, I will never wholly separate myself from my business.
Thanks to Guy Hadas, Age Group!
#27- 40 to 42 hours a week
Apart from taking a week off, I consistently worked 40 to 42 hours a week in the past years. I believe in taking adequate breaks to enjoy my hobbies and relax. It helps detox your mind and make it fresh and focused for the upcoming week. Well, the working hours also depend on your mood. There will be days you feel a bit more energetic and also the days when you won't even feel like leaving your bed. And it's okay.
Thanks to Glen Carroll, Clicks Marketing!
#28- 50 hours a week
I think this is a great question, the short answer is about 50 but having spent a bit of time considering it, I concluded that a lot of the time when you run your own business you are working without realizing it. As a CEO I end up spending a lot of time reading about new strategies for the industry, reports on Google updates, and also thinking about ways to improve customer ROI. So I think the answer is you never really “stop” working as you are always thinking about business in between other daily tasks.
Thanks to Shane McEvoy, Flycast Media!
29- Between 40 to 50 hours a week
There is not a fixed number of working hours for a week. But it's somewhere between 40 to 50. It all depends on the amount and nature of work. I usually work from 9 to 5 on weekdays and on weekends. However, I keep a check on the progress at weekends too. I prefer a proper working environment with fewer interruptions and distractions, so I go to the office daily and work till 5. If extra work or something is pending, I work extra hours too.
Thanks to Zach Wimpey, Craig and Landreth Clarksville!