Running a home based business can sometimes feel like it is taking over your entire life. But with a few simple strategies you can make the most of your time to successfully achieve your business goals, spend time with your family and enjoy all the benefits that come with owning your own business.
Avoid distractions - Interruptions are one of my biggest culprits of bad time management. Family loves to just stop by, friends call, telemarketers call, etc. But there are only so many hours in a day. Save that call to your friends for the evening time. Even other home business owners who aren't really calling to just talk business...yes you know who you are! If you have small children at home, find a solution. Hire a nanny to come in and watch them during the day or put them in day care. Besides, honestly do you really answer the phone when you have kids running around? Find a way to get yourself at least a few days a week kid free.
Don't take on more than you can chew - I know this is an obvious one right? NOT! I hear it all the time: I don't have time to do everything I need to do. Everyone has bookkeeping to do, sales letters to write, clients that need to be emailed or marketing strategies to develop. It can get completely nuts! You must learn to space yourself out a bit. Don't take on too much. If you can't handle taking on 10 new clients each week, then don't do it. I know we are all eager to get business in the door, but most clients are calling you because they want you or your product, even if that means they have to wait a little while. As a photographer, I could have sessions scheduled in June that were booked from April and yes they are waiting for me. But because they waited, I will be able to give them better service and more personalized because I am not going crazy running from session to session and the editing can be more creative because I can take time to do it right. Why? Because I have only taken on as much as I can truly handle and now have managed my time better to handle only a certain number of clients.
Give yourself time - Give yourself plenty of time for deadlines and try to finish them early. Doesn't it make you just sick to your stomach, when you have a client calling you asking where their order is that you promised them and you are now 2 days late because you just got so busy and haven't even had time to order it? Don't promise 2 weeks for orders if it really takes you four on average! It is better to impress with early delivery than to disappoint with late delivery.
Start your day off right - Every day I know I have many tasks that I have to take care of for my business and my clients. Sometimes it can be so overwhelming that I know I won't have any time to do the simple things like visit business message boards, read that new business book or catch up on the various business periodicals I get in the mail. So every day my day begins with a cup of coffee and 1 hour of "me time". You should be educating yourself with a new business book or industry specific book all the time. If you don't have the funds to buy a new book every week (which is about how often it may end up being) then get a library card and visit your library once in awhile. But no matter, what curl up with a book, or read online articles or visit forums. Just do something to get that brain going for the day. This is part of how I spend my day, every day, and allows me to fit these less important like tasks into my day without making me crazy.
Do the hard stuff first - Start your day off with what you think might be the most stressful or worrisome task. When you first start the day you are energized and since you had that first hour of relaxing you time as I talked in the tip #1, you are doing even better. Get the worst one over first thing of the day because all of the tasks you have for the rest of the day are easier and less stressful, which makes you more productive and not so inclined to give up for the day!
Utilize a to-do list - Have you ever watched the movie Harry Potter, I think it was the 4th one, where Dumbledore takes his thoughts magically out of his head and puts them into that bowl so that he can organize them and remember them for later? Well that is basically what we are doing with a To-Do or Task list. There is just no way possible that we can keep everything in our business and personal lives straight. If you are like me, you think "Oh I have to remember to do that" and 5 minutes later you are thinking "what was I supposed to remember to do?" Well, a To-Do list is the answer to this problem. Your To-Do list should be organized and prioritized in some manner that you understand what should be done first and which items are critical to be done first. You might order them, or if you are like me, you might color code them. The great thing about the To-Do list is that it is right in front of you all the time. Mine is on a white board right a bove my desk and reminds me what I have going on. And it doesn't let me forget things I have coming up that must be done.
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