How to Step Back From the Grind Without Stepping Away

Book review of “9 Ways to Leave Your Day-to-Day Operations" by Lloyd Thompson shows how business owners can free up time and concentrate on what truly matters to them.

Ever thought about how much time you could save and better use for your business if someone would take care of the day to day operations in the same manner as you would do?

The book “9 Ways to Leave Your Day-to-Day Operations” shows exactly that as a highly practical guidebook for business owners who would love to step back without stepping away.

This book sits in somewhere in the triangle of business, self-help and leadership. Instead of long fluffy theory it only focuses of what helps to get the most out of it – as the target audience is keen to get time back instead of time wasting by reading what’s not relevant. It is like a field manual for entrepreneurs seeking to prevent burnout and concentrate on the company’s vision.

Sydney-based Lloyd Thompson is an in-the-trenches Director of Operations helping founders reclaim their time and sanity as a fractional DOO, a role his clients didn’t know they need. Through his consultancy VirtualDOO, he guides tech startups, eCommerce companies, and fast-growing small to medium businesses. His experience managing high-performing teams across industries shines through anecdotes and real-world examples.

The book flows through nine practical “Ways to Leave” as the title promises. It begins with solving pain points and ends with determining the reporting cadence. Each chapter introduces a concept, illustrates it with stories from his clients, and concludes with actionable guidance.

Lloyd introduces a tenth bonus way as a gentle nudge toward his own services – a nice touch that feels more like a helpful conversation than a sales pitch. Supporting time-poor business owners, he wrote the book in a casual conversational style which resonates well with his audience.

Some of the quotes of the book stand out and have a lesson within worth reflecting on, such as “A secret vision is hard for the team to work towards.” Some of them are so simple: “If two people are accountable, nobody is.” Having worked in the automotive industry, this one resonates well with me: “Constant kaizen is about embracing ideas and suggestions for improvement.”

How adaptable is this book for own practice? Coming initially from a family background and observing my parents’ pain on the sum of the required operational tasks, I’m sure that the book will hit with early-stage startup founders and solo consultants who waste too much time without fulfilling their initial purpose. As they won’t be able to hire a full-time DOO right away, the concepts from simple Standard Operation Procedures (SOP) up to leadership frameworks are highly appreciated.

This book is special for me mainly because it has a jargon-free condensed language listing all that matters to be applied quickly. Beyond executing activities as a result of reading the book it also offers an understanding of human dynamics between the stakeholders – like a systems-thinking book with a human heart.

Lloyd gave huge inspiration for fellow writers of how to turn expertise in a compact, valuable book. The short format with only 84 pages supports attention span issues giving immediate value. His structure combining real-life stories and applied core principles offers a replicable blueprint. And Lloyd’s conversational tone drives the reader into the content quickly with a call to action in mind.

Q&A with Lloyd Thompson

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

Some years ago, I did a Webinar called “9 Ways to Exit Your Day-to-Day Operations”. One of the listeners said, “That would make a great book”.

I was recommended www.90minutebooks.com to help me produce the book from my webinar. The copywriter from this company said what about “9 Ways to Leave…” because it reminds her of the song “50 ways to leave your lover”. I was instantly sold on that book title after that.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

Three or four months. I already had the core content from my webinar. Even though it’s a short book, I wanted to review it a number of times to make sure I had not too much and not too little.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

The book describes tools and frameworks that I have been using. Big influences would be ideas from Good to Great by Jim Collins, Traction by Gino Wickman and Simplified Agile Project Management concepts.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

Since writing the book, I’ve added more tools to my business. At some point, I may update the book to add more content, however in the meantime I’ve been adding extra content to my website resources page. You can find tools and frameworks that we use, and it is linked from the website of my book: www.virtualdoo.com/ways.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

I’m pleased with the result and know I can do more with the book in terms of sharing it before I consider writing another. For example, I’d like to do an audio copy to release on Audible.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

Authority builder. It results in podcast guest bookings. It’s a quick way of explaining to someone what kind of services we can help people with “Here, look at the chapter titles – these are some of our core offerings”.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Be intentional about what you want out of your book. For me, I want my book to start conversations with people who may either benefit from my help or would like to talk about these kinds of services, e.g. a podcast host.

Lloyd Thompson: “9 Ways to Leave Your Day-to-Day Operations”, 2022, ISBN 979-8-3568-7145-0 (Paperback), Kindle eBook or free PDF download. More about the author and the book