Christopher C. Papin: The Same 168 Hours as the MVP

Christopher C. Papin runs a CPA firm and a law firm at the same time, and almost every conversation he has with a small business owner starts somewhere financial. A tax bill. Cash flow. Buying a partner in or out. Chris tells Zaneta Chuniq Inpower that it almost never stays there. It resolves to overwhelm, and to time.

His book is called 168 Hours, after the number everybody gets. As he puts it, the NBA MVP has the same week as the last man on the bench. One of them just spends it differently.

What you'll hear

• The pie chart split three ways - work, family, rest - and why taking from one always means giving from another
• Why a weekly cadence beats a daily or a monthly one, argued through diet and fitness
• Analysis paralysis, and his blunt read that the same people will find the next obstacle to stand behind
• The book as a worksheet whose deliverable is your own business plan, not somebody else's
• What a youth soccer player emailing "I have less than an 80, I'm sitting out this game" teaches about accountability
• Succession he lived rather than advised on, when his father died and his brother took over the family business

The episode turns unusually candid partway through. Zaneta says out loud that she is thinking of closing her own side business, and Chris coaches her on air instead of selling to her. His answer is that there is no right answer - go do, reflect, adjust, repeat.

The full write-up is here: What a CPA and Attorney Taught Me About Reclaiming My 168 Hours.

Chris practices law at Papin Law Firm and posts regularly on LinkedIn. 168 Hours is on Amazon under his name.

More small business conversations at Unscripted Small Business. Hosted by Zaneta Chuniq Inpower.