How I Split My Week Between Two Businesses

People ask me some version of this question all the time: how do you run two businesses at once?

The short answer is that I don’t run them the same way. And I don’t try to give them the same amount of me.

Two very different worlds

Built to Flow is my business advisory. I advise business owners on where their business is, where their energy belongs and what to do next.

Crabtree Law Firm is the construction law firm Cole and I run together. We serve custom home builders, subcontractors, architects and engineers in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. Cole leads the legal work. I run the business side and the team.

One is built around conversations and strategy. The other is built around cases, deadlines and a team of 12. They need different things from me, so I stopped pretending they didn’t.

How the week actually splits

Right now, most of my week goes to Built to Flow, roughly 30 hours. About 10 go to the law firm.

That split isn’t a forever rule. It’s what this season needs. When the firm was brand new, the numbers were flipped. When we’re hiring or working through something big at the firm, they shift again. I check in on it often and adjust, instead of setting it once and feeling guilty every time real life doesn’t match the plan.

Keeping the two worlds separate

The most practical thing I did was give each business its own tools.

Built to Flow runs on Google and ClickUp. The law firm runs on Microsoft: Outlook, Teams and its own calendar. Nothing crosses over. When I open one, I’m in that business. When I close it, I’m out.

It sounds small. It made a huge difference. I stopped reading firm emails in the middle of a client session and stopped thinking about advisory clients during a firm meeting.

What each one teaches me about the other

Here’s the part I didn’t expect. Each business makes me better at the other.

Running a law firm keeps my advice grounded. When I tell an owner how to think about hiring, pricing or a key person who’s carrying too much, I’m not guessing. I’m dealing with the same things on the other side of my week.

And advising other owners makes me a better leader at the firm. I see patterns faster. I ask better questions. I’m quicker to notice when something has drifted.

The rule underneath all of it

Both businesses have to fit our life. Not the other way around.

That means some weeks one business gets less of me than I’d like. It means I say no to good opportunities that don’t fit the season. And it means I protect dinner with my family more fiercely than almost anything on either calendar.

Two businesses is a lot. It’s also the most aligned my work has ever felt.