Time Management for Business

Time Management for Business

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The common thinking when it comes to business is "time is money."  In order for a business to be successful, it has to be well-organized and efficient with its time.  Proper time management in business is often the key to being successful with both customers and employees, and putting time management strategies to use can have an immediate impact on a business.  If a business is having trouble managing time efficiently, the following time management tips may help.

When analyzing time management in business, one of the first steps is to decide what has the highest priority at that moment and for the upcoming week.  One of the best time management tips for this is to develop an Action Plan for the upcoming week.  This plan should be thought about at the end of each week, and developed in time to be implemented the next week.  Friday is often a good day to develop the next week's Action Plan.  A staff meeting can be held to find out what got done, what didn't get done and what is the most pressing assignment still awaiting completion.  Employees and management can work together to develop an Action Plan, listing the top three items that need to be completed the next week, what day they will be done and who will be in charge of seeing them be completed.

After settling on an Action Plan, the next of the time management strategies is to prioritize.  Take a close look at the items on the Action Plan, and see which of these is most urgent.  Ask yourself how each task will impact the business, and will it have a negative impact if put off too long?  Do the same with the second and third items, and soon the Action Plan will not only have what items need to be accomplished, but in what order as well.  Learning to correctly prioritize for a business is much like triage for a hospital, where the most serious problems get done first and so on until everything is finished.

The next and perhaps most important step in time management for business is learning how to stay focused on the task at hand.  No matter what type of business a person is involved in, there are always distractions trying to intervene.  Some of the biggest problems with distractions come from people who are self-employed and working from home.  With family and friends always wanting to stop and talk for a few minutes, it's much too easy to let the day slip by without getting much work done.  The best way to handle this is to have a regular work schedule, such as 8-5 Monday through Friday when you are officially working.  While hard to initially implement, it can work wonders once followed.  By staying disciplined and keeping distractions to a minimum, much more work can be completed and much more money made.  By using these time management tips, an individual or organization can find themselves being much more productive.

Social Time Management

Social time management tools

One of the most prominent issues with using social media for business purposes is that it is often time consuming. It may only take a matter of seconds to post to your social account. However, checking out your posts, analyzing your data, and managing your multiple accounts can consume much of your precious time. Consequently, this leaves you little time to plan and improve your online social strategy and manage your business.

Because of this, if you are using social networking sites, you need to make sure that you are only utilizing sites that attract people who are in your target audience. [tweet this].

Choose sites that offer social marketing strategy tools that are helpful to you as you manage your online campaign.

Certain sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, have their own audience engagement and analytics tools within their sites, allowing the user to examine how effective his/her methods are. But, each of these tools will work only in their respective sites, so users still have to manage social network accounts separately. For many, the emergence and availability of social media dashboards have made managing multiple social networking sites easier.

Social Media Dashboard: How Can It Help You?

Simply defined a social media dashboard is a tool that lets you monitor and contribute to multiple social network accounts in one place. Among the popular dashboards are Hootsuite, Social Sidekick, and Crowdbooster. They provide analytics, interlinked social networks, and help make social engagement time-friendly. 

1. It lets you organize everything in one place

You can identify, retrieve, and organize valuable data from each of your social network accounts in one place with social media dashboards. Posting and tweeting is made extra easy using dashboards since they give you the ability to schedule your posts and tweets throughout the day. Thus, you get to avoid the tedious and time-consume task of posting and tweeting at numerous times during the day.

2. It makes comparing multiple analytics in one place possible

Perhaps one of the most advantageous aspects of these management dashboards is that the user can now target specific analytics within the social media world and compare certain social networks with one another. Are you using your LinkedIn site as effectively as your Facebook account? Are your tweets as popular as your Pinterest pictures? These analytics allow you to target your brand’s audience and thus enable you to fine-tune your strategies. 

3. It gives you a better picture of your audience

Tracking your audience’s interactions helps you to engage with them more effectively. One of the most prominent issues with engagement in social sites is that not every business understands that each social audience is different. Each social site has an audience that is specific to it. While users will also have accounts on various sites, they are always looking for certain characteristics within your social outreach. 

While it is possible to post the same material to multiple sites through social dashboards, it is also important to keep in mind that each audience requires a unique approach. 

Time is only wasted if it’s spent ineffectively. [tweet this].

Utilize the analytics gathered to help engage your online audience in the manner they want you to. Be sure that your online efforts as a whole are audience-focused because that’s what the social world is all about. 

Balancing Fun and Work: Making Your Summer Marketing Efforts a Success

Personal branding benefits from your vacation 

Running a small business is one of the most exhausting jobs on the planet. When you are in charge of a small company, you are directly or indirectly responsible for every aspect of its operation. Burnout is a common problem with small business owners, especially ones trying to expand their businesses through creative marketing efforts while trying to make some time for family and friends. Fortunately, there are a variety of clever strategies you can employ to boost your marketing efforts this summer while preserving your personal life.

Make a Schedule and Stick to It

When you're your own boss, it's easy to work constantly. There's always more to be done, and many people start to feel guilty when they still have unfinished business to attend to. The problem with working constantly is that it is a recipe for burnout and failure. To keep from pushing yourself too hard, you should make a schedule and stick to it faithfully.

Write down when you are going to work and when you are going to spend time with family and friends. Give yourself some flexibility but not too much. Most small business owners don't have problems with laziness; they have problems with working excessively.

Establish a Special Place for Brainstorming

Most people, even creative business owners, assume that brainstorming is something that works equally well anywhere. Well, the truth is that the quality of a brainstorming session is highly dependent on whether or not you feel comfortable where you are brainstorming. The more comfortable you feel with your personal environment, the more creative your ideas are bound to be. If you want to come up with the best ideas possible for your marketing efforts, make sure you spend some time finding the ideal spot for brainstorming sessions.

Outsource Some of Your Marketing Efforts

Your time is best spent brainstorming marketing ideas, not personally implementing all of them. Try to always keep in mind the fact that you don't have to do everything by yourself. Effective marketing help can be obtained by outsourcing some of your marketing efforts. One of the best kept secrets of people that conduct successful telephone, email, and website marketing campaigns is that they focus on what they do best and hire others who really are experts in the area of “marketing”.  They can help specialize in your word-of-mouth marketing so you can focus on what you do best!

Plan Your Vacations Very Far in Advance

When it comes to vacations, the further ahead you plan, the better. As a busy small business owner, you can take the time for vacations, but you have to be intelligent about it. Plan all of your vacations a minimum of three months in advance. This will give you plenty of time to get ahead in your work so you can take a couple weeks off when your vacation comes.

While you are on your vacation, try to avoid the temptation to do any real work. While this may sound counterproductive, the truth is that if you don't allow yourself to have a real vacation (by continuing to work while on your "vacation") you won't feel rested at the end of your vacation. Your batteries won't be recharged.

If, on the other hand, you allow yourself to have a genuinely relaxing vacation, you will be able to work much more effectively on your return to your regular business activities. Nothing helps success like a well-placed break now and then. Give yourself time to relax on occasion, and you will reap the rewards.

Measure the Results of Your Marketing Campaigns

It may surprise you just how many business owners spend a lot of time and money marketing their products and services and never bother trying to measure the effectiveness of their marketing strategies. There are a lot of theories when it comes to marketing, but the truth is that you ultimately can only rely on the results you are getting from your campaigns. That's why it's so important to make every effort to track the results of your marketing campaigns. Good campaigns produce good results: Bad campaigns don't.

You need to find out what works for you as quickly as possible in order to leverage your results. Good marketers don't just come up with more good marketing ideas; they scrap bad marketing campaigns faster than mediocre marketers do. Pay attention to the results you are getting with your campaigns, and you will be much more likely to notice which ones are succeeding and which are failing.

Questions to Ask Yourself to Help Make the Most of Your Summer Marketing

1. Do I have a solid schedule that I can stick to?
2. Do I have a special brainstorming place?
3. Am I delegating some of my marketing tasks?
4. Am I planning my vacations and travelling far enough in advance?
5. Do I know which of my marketing campaigns is the most effective?

Direct Selling Moms - 3 Tips To Focus

In a study conducted by the American Sociology Association (ASA), they found that working moms multitask more than their counterparts. They also found that the experience is more negative for moms.

The study found that moms multitask 10 hours more in a week compared to dads. When parents were asked about how multitasking made them feel, most moms said that the experience was negative for them, while dads saw it as a more positive experience. The study also found the discrepancy in multitasking activities among moms and dads. When moms multitask at home, they engage in childcare or housework activities. Dads, on the other hand, engage in activities like talking to a third person or self-care.

As working moms, we have a responsibility at home and at work. Most of the time work gets sacrificed because of the things we have to do for our family. When we are running our own business, all the more that we need to stay focused on our goals, and at the same time, our family.

Here are 3 tips on how to stay focused on your business, and at the same time, be happy with your life:

Time management – So little time, so much to do. The moment you wake up in the morning, your mind starts thinking about all the things you need to do for the day. In order to be productive, you need to get into the habit of managing your time properly. Use a planner or calendar and list down all the important things you need to do for the week. Then write down the small things, like grocery or laundry, school meeting, etc. Scheduling your time and strictly following it will let you stay on top of things.

With your busy schedule, you cannot rely on your mental notes alone. In fact that “mind clutter”, will often work against you. Get rid of it!  Once you get into the habit of reducing everything into writing and scheduling it for yourself, you will have a more organized week. Time budgeting is just or even more important than financial budgeting. It’s vital for you to know the “real time” it takes you to get tasks done.  Underestimating your time investment in tasks only leads to frustration and failure.

Your own home office – Setting up your own office will help you focus on your business. If you don’t have an extra room that you can use at home, at least find a spot that you can call your own. Once you find your spot, let your household know about it. Let your kids know that they can’t play with your computer or printer. Having your own office will give you freedom to do your work. If you can find the quietest spot in your house and set up your office there, all the better. This way you can concentrate on work when it’s time to do work.

Ask support from your family – having a family is about support and teamwork. The demands of life will always get to you but the battle will be worth it when you know you have your family’s support. Communicate with your husband and ask him if both of you can take turns in taking care of your children. Find ways on how you two can maximize your full potential both at work and at home. If you have teenage kids, communicate with them as well. Tell them about what you do so that they will understand. If you have your family’s support, it will be easier to juggle your time between your family and business.

There are no shortcuts to success. We have to make time for our family and business if we want to be successful in both. We have to stay focused on our business goals and at the same time be here for our family. Adopting time management practices will help us stay on top of things. This will increase our productivity and help us become more efficient. Setting up our own office at home also increases productivity and helps us focus on the things that we need to work on. And lastly, success is easier to achieve and tastes significantly sweeter when your family supports you all the way. 

What Everybody Needs to Know About Protecting Their Time

With busy schedules and a variety of things to be done, it’s hard to go on without organizing our schedules on our calendars. If we want to be productive, we have to take the time to fix our schedules for the week or at least days in advance. Then we have to religiously follow it so we don’t waste any time. There are many ways on how we can organize our schedules. There are planners, organizers, smartphones, your Outlook calendar, and many more. Digital calendars like the ones on your smartphone or Outlook are gaining popularity because of syncing capabilities. It’s easier to access schedules without the need to carry a planner.

When we schedule activities in our calendars, our tendency is to write down meetings and important activities for the week, only. We forget that we also have to do other tasks that need our full attention. What you can do is “block time” for your own activities. Even the simple ones if you need to. This is your way of protecting your time, a way to accomplish things that you need to do and have more control of your time. If you’re using Outlook, it’s easier to block your time because others can see that you can’t be disturbed. Here are some of the advantages of protecting your time:

·         Less invitations to last minute meetings – with fast-paced work environments, meetings are unpredictable. You do one, then two, the next thing you know you are stuck in more meetings. When you are finally done, you are piled up with more work and less time to finish it. If you already blocked your time, others will know that you are not available and you will avoid getting last-minute meeting invitations.

·         Prevent others from stealing your time – the concept is similar with last-minute meetings. If people see that you’re already busy with something else, they won’t bother you. They’ll let you work on the things that you need to do. You’ll avoid being volunteered to help or show the new employee around, or help out with other tasks.

·         Time to get things done – because you already protected your time and made others aware that you are going to be busy most of the day, you have more time to get things done. You become more productive and you don’t waste time bumping off schedules for unexpected tasks and meetings.

Now that you have an idea of how protecting your time can help you become more productive and in control of your time, here are some good practices that you can start with.

·         When blocking your time, include everything that you think will need some time to finish. Even the simple ones like running an errand. You can also include personal tasks so that you don’t forget anything and avoid stressing yourself out later on.

·         Make sure that you use just one calendar. This will make it easier for you to see and plan out your activities. You can separate priorities for work/life in your calendar. Sticking to one calendar will help you organize and protect your time properly. This also guarantees that no activity is overlooked or goes overlapping.

·         Show no mercy! Schedule as much as you can. Get into the habit of scheduling more than 50% of your time or more, in a day. This will keep you focused on the things that you need to do. Even if it includes the simple tasks and personal ones. At least you already get a clear idea of how you are going to spend your day. Making you more productive without wasting time on thinking about the next thing you are suppose to do.

Managing your time is important and protecting it will help you be more productive. With busy schedules, we tend to get things mixed up or sometimes forget about the things that we need to do. When we protect our time by putting down all our activities in a day or week, we are preventing others from taking our time and we are preventing ourselves from being distracted.

Protecting our time is important because it is too valuable to be wasted. Before we realize that we’ve already wasted most of our day, it would be too late and the next thing you know you are already running late to your next appointment. Start your week by blocking your time. Make use of just one calendar and schedule everything you need to do for the week. Then work on your daily schedule and do your best to religiously follow it.

Just Take A Break!!

by Julie Barnes

Can taking a break really make you more productive? As an entrepreneur, you push yourself to the limit, trying to get that last to-do done. Sometimes, it can seem like it takes forever to finish one project, even though you refuse to take a break until it’s done. But what if I told you that by taking several breaks throughout the day, you can actually accomplish more.

Yes, it’s true!

According to Wikipedia, it’s estimated that, in adults, the human brain can only focus its attention on a chosen task for up to around 20 minutes maximum, before it needs a refresher.
So take a break! Go get your timer from the kitchen or download some cool timers online at http://www.online-stopwatch.com, http://www.vickiblackwell.com/timer.html, or http://timberfrog.com/countdown.

1. Turn off all distractions –

• Email
• Cell phone
• Twitter
• Facebook

2. Set your timer for 20 minutes.

3. Now focus in on the project at hand.

4. When the timer goes off, take a 5 minute break.

• Take a walk
• Grab a cup of coffee
• Do some yoga
• Turn on your favorite music and dance
• Play with your pet

5. Repeat

Another great benefit of taking a short break – it allows your brain to formulate ideas and work through any creative blocks.

When was your last break?


Julie Barnes is the author is this post. Julie is excited to be living in Generation E – the age of the Entrepreneur. As a writer, she enjoys writing about all aspects of the entrepreneur journey. She enjoys interviewing entrepreneurs whose experience and wisdom can inspire others to follow their entrepreneurial dreams. Julie lives and works in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, KS with her husband Ron and lovable dog Hank. You can visit her site at http://www.julieabarnes.com . Follow Julie on Twitter at http://twitter.com/juliebarnesks. Become a Facebook friend at http://www.facebook.com/people/Julie-Barnes/1003024246 

Julie Barnes is a regular contributor to the Secrets of Success Blog.

"Ready for a Time Management Tune-up?"

by Ali Brown

Summer’s fun has come to an end, and for many of us, the kids are back in school. Fall is a precious time to buckle down and get some real work done with your business before the holidays are here. You may feel busy at every moment, but at the end of the day are you pleased with your results?

“It's not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy. The bee is praised. The mosquito is swatted.” -Mary O’Connor

Perhaps it’s time for a time management tune-up. Here are some strategies to get you started:

1. Organize. If the clutter in your office and on your desk bothers you, spend some time getting it organized. A clear workspace will free your mind and rid yourself of distractions.

2. Prioritize. If all of your “gotta-dos” are swimming around in your head making you feel anxious, write them down on a list. You’ll feel better as soon as you do. Next, prioritize the list into:

a. Urgent – things you must do that affect your bottom line, such as preparing for a client meeting

b. Important – should-dos, such as doing your invoices to keep the cash flow coming in

c. Can wait – still need getting done, but you have some time, such as renewing your web domain before it expires

Sometimes you’ll have competing urgent tasks, and you’ll be torn over which one takes precedence. When that happens, follow the money--which item will affect your business’s income the most. That should reveal a clear winner, and if it doesn’t, quickly compare one to another, and do first the one that you select the most often.

3. Delegate. Ideally you’ll want to delegate your “important” and “can wait” tasks to your assistant, if you have one. Feel the relief already? Now you can focus on those urgent tasks that you identified with greater focus. By handing off the less urgent to-dos to someone else, you have prevented them from becoming “drop everything and do it” emergencies later.

4. Plan. Don’t let your email inbox schedule your day. Instead, take control of your agenda and determine what you want and need to get done before you get started. Use your online calendar to gently remind yourself of your pre-planned activities. Schedule your most taxing tasks for when you are most alert for greatest productivity. If you’re best in the morning, do your toughest tasks then, and save your afternoons for coffee meetings with clients.

5. Cushion. People who are always late don’t seem to know how long things take, and it’s always longer than we think. For example, you know an event is at 3pm, and it is only 1pm, so you have plenty of time. But when you add up how long it takes to shower, do hair, make-up, press your blouse, and drive in traffic, you might realize that you are already late before you started.

Try working backwards from the time you want to arrive at a function, preferably a little early to network, and subtract out the time it takes to put yourself together. Add some “cushion time” so that you’ll be relaxed when you arrive. Remember to add this padding to your calendar or online scheduler so you won’t box yourself into an impossible situation.

6. Protect. Zealously protect your calendar. People will want pieces of you throughout the day zapping your energy and time. You owe it to yourself and to others who have scheduled time with you to protect your time. “No” can be a difficult word to say, but you’ll find it can be liberating.

7. Focus. Remove your distracters to get something important done well in a short amount of time. You know what they are, and they can be addictive: cellphone, email, Facebook, etc. Just turn them off for an hour or two to be really productive. You’ll be amazed and how much you can get done!

After putting these strategies into action, be sure to schedule in a reward for yourself for being so diligent and purposeful. Like the bee, you’ll be praised, but be sure and treat yourself to some honey as well.

© 2010 Ali International, LLC

Self-made millionaire entrepreneur and Inc. 500-ranked CEO Ali Brown teaches women around the world how to start and grow profitable businesses that make a positive impact. She was named one of 2010’s Enterprising Women of the Year and was recently included in the Ernst & Young 2010 Class of Entrepreneurial Winning Women. She was ranked on Forbes.com as the #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. Get her FREE weekly articles and advice at www.AliBrown.com

6 Tips to Help You Stay Productive

by Shannon Suetos
 
Ever had one of those days where you seemed to get off task no matter how much you tried not to? Of course you have, we all have been there—whether it is going on Facebook for a minute and it turns into an hour, or we get lost in the comments of an article the fact is it happens.

Staying productive will not only help you and your business, but it can keep your mind clear and less stressed. Procrastinating tasks only leads to build up and an overwhelming feel that is not healthy. Try these 6 tips below to keep you on track and in the fast lane of productivity.

Calendar

Utilizing your email calendar can be a great way to stay on task. Email providers like Gmail and software programs like Outlook or Mail have great calendar features just waiting for you to take advantage.


Having a reminder pop up that an important task, or phone call is coming up can do wonders. You may already remember to do the task, but that constant reminder should keep you from procrastinating.

Folders/Labels


Most of us get hit by a large amount of emails every day. If this is the case for you, having your inbox filled with 200 emails can be overwhelming. A great way to fix this is to label your emails accordingly.

Have a folder for items that need to be addressed immediately, and also folders for co-workers and clients. Once you have read the email, and done the task throw the email into the appropriate folder. This will clean up your inbox, and keep you on task more than you can imagine. Set a goal of keeping only 10 or so emails in your inbox will help keep you on task, and hopefully speed up your response times for clients.

Priority Lists

As a business owner you have multiple hats you have to wear. Because of this you should begin each day by making a list of things that need to be accomplished. Put the items that are the most priority at the top of the list and work your way down. Crossing off each item that gets done will also be an added bonus for you, and a visualization of what your accomplishments are for the day.

Plan ahead and think about how long each task should take—and try to stick to it. The goal is to have a set schedule and stay as close as you can to the desired finish time.

Take Breaks

If you don’t take breaks, it could actually be counterproductive. Burn out can occur, and you may not produce your best work. If you work from home, get up and walk around the block or go out for lunch. The same goes at the office—clearing your head even for 5-10 minutes can really help.

Limit Social Media

If you engage in social media for your company you may not be able to cut this out completely. If this is the case, schedule an amount of time each day to focus on your social media efforts. This can be good for many reasons, one being your followers will know when to expect to see you on, and engaging with you.

A lot of us can get lost easily on Facebook and Twitter. You see a picture or article you find interesting and then your mind drifts into a new subject and it’s a ripple effect. Next thing you know an hour has passed, and you haven’t done any real work.

Stop Working When You Go Home

If you work from home this could be even more difficult. Pick a time each day when you should be done working, and stick to it. Working yourself to death will do nothing but be counterproductive, and stress you out. If someone sends you an email at 9 o’clock at night, it can wait until the morning. There are far and few between times that you would need to answer it.

Keep your business phone and personal phone separate. There is no need to check up on your work email while you are at the grocery, at your kid's soccer game or any other personal activity. It may be hard at first, but you will soon find it is actually more relaxing when you aren’t thinking about work 24-7.

Shannon Suetos is an expert writer on document management software based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as document software at Resource Nation.

Save Time with These Five Web-Based Tools

by Julie Barnes

As busy entrepreneurs, we are always looking for ways to save time in our businesses. Using the following web-based tools will not only save you time, but could save you some money, as well.

1. Wordpress (http://wordpress.org/) – Gone are the days, when we have to rely on a web designer to build our websites, or wait days for just a simple copy change. Not to mention the cost associated with the website. Besides static websites are a thing of the past. You can easily install Wordpress on any domain through your web hosting service. In Wordpress, you can add pages, make copy changes or make blog post without waiting or paying a website designer. Another benefit – Google loves Wordpress when crawling sites. Wordpress is free to install.

2. Hootesuite (http://hootsuite.com/) – Let’s face it. We have to utilize social media as part of our marketing, but it can take so much of our time. If we don’t watch it, a whole day can go by where all we have done is Twittered and Facebooked. With Hootsuite, you can manage multiple social media accounts at one location. One of the greatest features of Hootesuite is that you can track any link posted. You can also schedule your post, so you do not constantly have to log on and post. Now you can schedule your social media time. Hootesuite is a free service.

3. Tweet Adder (http://tweetadder.com/) – Researching people to follow on Twitter is another time-consuming process. By the time you look at their page, then their website you can spend hours on Twitter. Tweet Adder is a fabulous service that allows you to search Twitter using keywords. Tweet Adder will search for followers using the keywords entered, and then follow that person. Tweet Adder will also follow back anyone who is already following you. You should limit your following to about 50 a day to prevent Twitter from thinking you’re a spammer. You can take your Twitter time down to minutes a day. Tweet Adder has a demo that you can try, and then it will cost you $55.00 for 1 profile. This is a lifetime membership with no monthly fees.

4. Skype (http://www.skype.com) – You can do so many things with Skype from instant messaging, phone calls, video calls, and video presentations. You can set up different profiles from customer service, consulting, to personal to utilize in your business. Some features are free while some have a cost associated with them, so be sure to check the features out that you need.

5. Carbonite (http://www.carbonite.com/) – Carbonite is one of the best time saving services out there. No longer do you have to schedule a time to backup your system. You simply download the software onto your computer; Carbonite then scans and backs up your computer, then continually backs up your system as long as you are connected to the internet. Another fabulous thing is, if you have a hard drive that crashes, you can access all of you backed up files and then download them onto your new computer. How fabulous is that? Carbonite will cost you $54.95.

Implement these tools to see how you can find more time in your day.


Julie Barnes is the author is this post. Julie is excited to be living in Generation E – the age of the Entrepreneur. As a writer, she enjoys writing about all aspects of the entrepreneur journey. She enjoys interviewing entrepreneurs whose experience and wisdom can inspire others to follow their entrepreneurial dreams. Julie lives and works in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, KS with her husband Ron and lovable dog Hank. You can visit her site at http://www.julieabarnes.com . Follow Julie on Twitter at http://twitter.com/juliebarnesks. Become a Facebook friend at http://www.facebook.com/people/Julie-Barnes/1003024246 

Time Management for the Entrepreneur

by Deborah A. Bailey

It’s the end of the day and you’re feeling overwhelmed because you haven’t accomplished everything that you set out to do. Not to mention the fact that now there are more things to add to your “to do” list. If you’ve ever had that experience then you know how frustrating it can be. Where did the time go?

Even though we all get the same 24 hours in a day, we might not be using that time as efficiently as we’d like. A friend of mine, who’s also an entrepreneur, says she’s only getting a couple of hours sleep a night because she’s trying to get everything done. It’s not unusual for her to go to bed at 5:00 am, only to have to get up again at 8:00 a.m. to start working again. Though we can have good intentions when we start out, it’s so easy to get sidetracked with time wasters. If you find yourself wondering why you’re not getting things done, it’s time to change how you’re managing your time.

• Don’t answer every call as it comes in. Screen your calls and return the lower-priority calls at a later time.


• Close your email program. Reading and replying to emails all day long is a major time stealer. Choose two or three times during the day to check your mail.


• Keep a list of things to accomplish for the day and stick to it.


• Take time for breaks in order to keep your energy level up.


• Working for hours without clearing your mind will make you less productive.


• If you work from home establish boundaries. Don’t get stuck on the phone with friends or family who feel that if you’re at home you’re not working.


• If a potential client contacts you, arrange a time to meet. A consultation that you think will take 15 minutes could end up taking a large chunk of time out of your day.


• Create systems to handle repetitive, day-to day tasks.

If you plan out your day and create systems to stay on track, you’ll be able to accomplish more. At the end of the day you can look back on all the things you’ve completed and not be frustrated by what’s been left undone.

Deborah A. Bailey is author of two non-fiction books including, “Think Like an Entrepreneur: Transforming Your Career and Taking Charge of Your Life.” She's also the creator and host of Women Entrepreneurs Radio, a weekly internet talk show. Her fiction work includes a short story collection and a novel, available on Amazon.com. 

For more information, visit http://www.BrightStreetBooks.com.

Limit Yourself For Greater Efficiency

by Caroline Melberg

Part of Caroline Melberg's marketing strategies Networking for Small Business, Small Business Finance, Tools for Small Business, Traditional Marketing for Small Business

Time management. Just thinking about it makes us sick, doesn’t it? In truth, we need it. It’s necessary. It keeps us on track and makes us more efficient.

Greater business efficiency boils down to just one thing: How you spend your time. It’s the most important thing in business. Making money is good. You always want to make a profit. But if you lose revenue over a bad decision, you can always turn that around and increase your future revenue. You learn. You turn a loss into a gain. But if you lose time then you can’t get that back. That makes a time a bit more valuable than money, doesn’t it?

Small business owners are typically more strapped for time than their big corporation counterparts. Corporate executives usually have access to free training tools that help them become more efficient managers. Small business people, though we face the same challenges, are on our own. We’ve got to pay to play. Many of us feel that we can’t afford to shell out the dollars for the efficiency training, so we go on and on and on spending our time on things that don’t matter and in the process lose out on ROI. It’s one of the reasons many small businesses go down before the five year mark.

One tip I’d like to share for making your business day more efficient and allowing you get more done is this: Limitation. Grasp it.

Yes, I’m talking about limiting your activities. Let me explain:

Many of us, when we hear of the great new tool that everyone is using, rush over to give it a try. Some of us have so many social media accounts that we don’t use that if we started using them all then we’d only spend one day a month at each one, or less. Stop that!

The key to more efficiency is to learn what is truly important to your business and to focus on that. Do you need all those social media accounts? Maybe not. Maybe you just need one or two. Or maybe more, but who’s going to manage them?

There are two ways to increase your efficiency: Hire someone to handle the tasks that are eating up your time, and that costs money - although, it may not be a bad solution for some of you - or to limit the amount of time that you spend doing unnecessary things. In some cases I’d say hire someone and pay them $8-$10 per hour to handle those menial tasks that you shouldn’t be doing. In other cases, and in a lot of cases, I’d say cut out completely some of those things you are trying to do and just focus on the important ones. I’ll bet you get more done.



Online entrepreneur Caroline Melberg, "the Local Small Business Internet Marketing Guru" publishes the award-winning "Small Business Maverick Internet Marketing Secrets " weekly eZine. If you're ready to jump-start your marketing, increase your sales and leverage the power of the Web to market your local small business, get your FREE subscription now at
www.SmallBusinessMavericks.com.