When you start a new business venture, if you’re an entrepreneur or a sole trader, you inevitably do everything for the business - marketing and sales, bookkeeping and customer service. While it would be better to have staff, or outsource tasks like your books and accounting, sometimes you don’t have the budget to do that.
You can manage all the tasks, however, if you implement some time management strategies.
The Entourage team works with small business owners all the time, and we can help implement some time management strategies that can free you up to do more in your business and more with your free time.
We’ve put together a list of our eight favourite time management strategies for small business owners - you. Read through and find some that work for you, and if you want more help with time management, get in touch and let’s have a conversation.
If you have some repetitive tasks and clear processes, ask yourself, can I automate this? Automation can save you valuable time, which you can spend working on your business.
Sometimes repetitive tasks can make us a bit lazy. Are you always pressing the same code to initiate the same function? This laziness can cause human error. Depending on the size of the error, it could cost you money.
Automation can help you by making everything consistent and correct each time that process is called into action.
Examples of automation can include:
If you want automation, do some research. There are multiple software packages for stock flow automation, CRMs, online surveys and more. Compare the different options out there for service, price and features. If there is a free trial, take it.
Find one that works for your stage of business and has capacity to scale with you, work with a partner to implement for and with you so that you're set up for success. Ensure that anyone who will be using any new system is trained and this training is documented so that going forward new hires are able to self train and take the pressure off you.
The 80/20 rule states that 80% of your results can come from just 20% of the action. This idea was formed by Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto, born in Italy in 1848.
How can you apply it to yourself?
Understanding what is working or most effective in your business can take up some time upfront but it will pay dividends later on. This is because time is being spent on activities that drive the business forward rather than because they have always been done that way.
As a small business owner one of the biggest challenges when looking to delegate is having the actual people in the team to do the work. A tight labor market has driven up local cost and driven down supply of people to do the work, making this even more challenging.
You cannot do everything. You may have to do everything when you start your venture, but once your business grows, you’ll have to let tasks go and enable others to do them for you.
One of the first tasks which gets delegated is usually bookkeeping and accounting. Leave the money and the numbers to people whose actual job it is, and save yourself those nights at the kitchen table trying to balance the books and going through crumpled receipts.
If you don’t have the budget or can’t find the local talent, one area our Entourage members have found success is through hiring offshore team members.
The level of sophistication in roles and the quality of talent available has increased dramatically over the past decade, moving beyond a typical virtual assistant doing basic admin tasks, to having subject matter specialists who can join your team now and become part of your long term growth plans.
Finally have trust in the abilities of other people to do the work. If you have grown your team, delegating tasks can give them ownership of tasks and make them feel a part of the business.
Use a calendar. Trust us, you will forget to do things if you rely solely on your memory. Either have a calendar and diary, which you check every morning first thing, or have a digital version you can sync with your smartphone.
Plan your day. We recommend planning your day the night before. This way you don’t wake up and have to think - what am I doing today? You can have breakfast, get ready for the day, open your diary and there it is.
A calendar shows you how your time is laid out in the day. You can discover how you’ve used your time poorly and begin to use your time more productively. If you schedule an hour for lunch, other people with access to your calendar will see that and not book meetings. Time to yourself is also valuable time.
Deadlines work, especially if other people know about them. They give you a goal to aim for and can motivate people to work harder, especially when the deadline is fast approaching.
You can work with deadlines in two ways.
Another great thing about deadlines is that you know the date you launch. You now know the date you can start to report and review.
For example, you have a new product which is going to launch in two months' time, and the date has been set. Between now and then, you need to:
What you can also do during this time is set up the parameters of the reporting you will do. This is excellent time management, because you’ll be ready to dissect your efforts from the word go, rather than gathering data and figuring out what to do with it.
Multi-tasking is actually a myth. What you’re actually doing is micro-tasking, multiple times. You focus on this task, then that task, without devoting all your attention to completing one task to a high standard.
If you want to make valuable use of your time, focus on one task, complete it, cross it off your to-do list (and celebrate), and then move on to the next task.
When are you most creative, most productive? Are you a night owl, or do you like to get up at the crack of dawn, do a workout and then power through the day? How about an afternoon with coffee and cake and energy?
The obligatory 9-5 work day does not take into account the different circadian rhythms different people have. If you’re working in your own business, you don’t have to stick to the 8-hour working day. Find when your sweet spot on the clock is, and work to that. Make the most of your productive time.
This may seem counter-intuitive for time management, but downtime is still time. Don’t be hooked into work emails, and don’t take work phone calls on your days off. You need to recharge yourself. You need to invest time into you.
What happens if you’re always “on”, is that you begin to feel like you’re always at work. Your business becomes your job. It begins to be in charge of you, not the other way around.
Learn to separate the two. It helps you stay excited and energised about your business, rather than dreading getting out of bed to answer emails and customer enquiries.
Do you need help with time management? Are you an expert when it comes to procrastination in regards to improving the effectiveness of how you and/or your team are spending their time? We can help.
The Entourage Growth Services has a team of advisors who can help you grow faster, by getting more of the right things done in your business, at the right time and in the right way.
Book in a time today to discuss how Growth Services can help you get it done.