During my 8 years with JDR I have worked with many small business owners and no matter what industry they are in, they all seem to have the same struggle with time management. In this article I will be sharing my top 5 tips with you on how to manage the time you spend on your business better.
As a small business owner managing what you do with your time in your business should be a high priority for you. Like all business owners I’m sure you want to maximise your profits, and the way you do that is by spending more time on managing income activities rather than on non-income activities.
Here are 5 tips on how to manage your time better so that you can make more money, and improve your quality of life.
1. Focus On Generating Income
Split your tasks into two separate lists those that produce income and those that don’t. Once you have done this set up a system that will enable you to spend the right amount of time on income producing tasks, such as marketing strategies and lead generation tactics, while making it easy to do other tasks. In my opinion as a small business owner you should try and spend at least 40% off your time working on your business rather than in your business.
This will give you plenty of time to work on your lead generating strategies and marketing strategies etc. Many small business owners are afraid to delegate tasks to their staff but in my opinion delegation is a must in order for you to have the time you need to grow your business. So don’t be afraid to pass on some of your daily work load to your staff members to free up some of your time.
2. Set Goals
Set yourself and your business clear goals. Writing out your daily, weekly, monthly and annual goals is an important factor in effective time management for any small business owner. If you don’t know what needs to be done and what you’re working towards, you will be stumbling around with no direction. Ask yourself the following two questions……..
1. What is your ultimate business goal?’
2. What do you want to accomplish this year?
Once you have answered these two questions write down what steps you need to take in order to achieve those goals? These steps will become your initial goals, as they will enable you to get closer to the ultimate long term goals you have set for yourself and your business.
3. Create A Plan
You must have a written plan for your business, the best way to create this plan is to start with your end goal (which should be your ultimate goal) and work your way backwards until you reach your ultimate goal. If you don’t have a plan in place you will most definitely lose your way and there is a very good chance that your business will suffer.
4. Schedule Everything
The truth is that, in my opinion, schedules are a necessity for small businesses. You can set yourself amazing goals alongside the best plan in the world. But without a schedule in place those plans and goals will never come to fruition. Once you have put your schedule together, stick to it! Make it a rule that you only reschedule for really important things or emergencies.
5. Track Your Results
I can’t stress enough how important it is to track your results! If you don’t track your results how do you know if you are accomplishing the goals you set yourself and your business? Once you have evaluated your results if you are disappointed with the outcome, and you are not seeing the results you want, then maybe you should reconsider things. It could be worth re-working your plan. Remember if plan A doesn’t work, yes it’s a disappointment but there are plenty more letters in the alphabet! It might be time for plan B!
For more small business tips check out the JDR YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAqOnTPPkmD0rkUUBAQ5nfA
