Time is money, so work on ways to save a bit of both.

It takes a lot to run your own business. From small day-to-day tasks to big-picture planning, a franchise owner’s time must often be split between a hundred different concerns. For a multi-unit franchisee, this pull is multiplied exponentially.

1851 recently spoke with Peter Greene, a multi-unit Which Wich franchisee who now owns and operates eight Which Wich locations in Arizona, to find out his secrets for maximizing his limited time as a multi-unit franchisee. Here, according to Greene, are the top five strategies for franchisee time efficiency.

Understand what really matters
One of the biggest questions Greene said you must consider when running multiple businesses is, “What do you spend your time on?” You simply can’t be everywhere at once or give every problem your undivided attention, so make sure you know your key indicators and what defines success.

As Greene said, “Prioritize and manage those few important things. Don’t sweat small things, or you won’t make money, and you just won’t get anything done.”

Use your resources
One thing Greene stressed is to make sure you do not duplicate work that others could do. Specifically, make sure to understand what systems and technologies you have and ensure that you are using them to the fullest. Time spent doing a task that could already be done by someone else on your team is time wasted.

Use the time you have
While answering questions for this article, Greene was on his hands-free device driving between two of his restaurants. By utilizing “dead” time behind the wheel, for example, he is able to maximize his day.

Find time to step back and think about the whole day
“Own the day before it owns me” are words Greene lives by. He suggested you make time during each day (his is in the morning before he heads to work) to look at the big picture and know what needs to get done. It is easy to get lost in the little things without that overall perspective.

Invest in your people
Greene sees so many people try to do everything in their business, but said that it is just not sustainable. He said: “Invest time in training your people to do things. Learn to delegate. Trust them.” And while Greene certainly has to place a lot of trust in his people to manage eight Which Wich locations, he still must verify that everything gets done.

“A quick phone call is all it takes to make sure everything is running as it should,” he said.