Do you have a hard time getting things done in your business?
Do you struggle with managing your time?
Do you spend more time hanging out online than you do working?
Life as a home based entrepreneur definitely has its perks, but it also has its challenges as well.
Having flexibility is nice. Time freedom, even better. But sometimes we get way to comfortable, and find ourselves doing very little to advance or dreams and visions.
Not cool.
For many years I struggled with finding a “balance” between my personal life, family life, and business life. To be honest, one area always seemed to get way more than the other two because I could never seem to get it together.
I would create my To-Do-List each night of the six most important tasks to do the next day…but some how, they never really got my attention. Either I just didn’t feel like it, something was going on with the kids, or other things would just come up (at least that’s what I liked to tell myself).
Then one day it really hit me…
Even though I was spending a ridiculous amount of time “working”, I wasn’t getting the results I wanted.
Though I was always busy, I wasn’t being productive.
Believe me, there is a major difference.
Let’s be real…we are all passionate entrepreneurs here, I know that. But we are in this to make money. Nothing wrong with that. Until you hit that point where you finally wake up, and realize you are not living up to the ‘Entrepreneurial You’, that you first envisioned yourself being, these tips probably won’t work for you.
4 Steps to Get Things Done In Your Business
Get your mind right
One of the first things I had to do was shift my thinking (meaning I had to stop playing and get serious – and so do you). You can call yourself an entrepreneur all day every day, or…you can actually be one.
In order to be one, you gotta be generating consistent revenue.
I had to shift my thoughts and activities, to align with my goals instead of my freedom based lifestyle. Just because we can work when we want, doesn’t mean we should. Take your business serious and show up…no excuses.
This may sound basic, but work out your income plan. We all have a figure in our head of how much we want to make every month. But you need to actually write it down on paper. Then you need to get real…is that amount realistic? How much time (grind & hustle), are you WILLING to put in to make it happen?
Calculate down to the dollar amount, how many product/services you need to sell on a monthly, weekly and daily basis…taking into account your time commitment. AGAIN, be real. The less hours you plan to work, the harder you will have to focus in the hours you do work.
You see, we do control our time and you’d be surprised at the amount of stuff you will actually get done, when you learn how to control yours with discipline.
If it don’t make money, it don’t make sense
Do you consider yourself a serial entrepreneur? Meaning you start business, after business, after business? Now, I’m not knocking anyone’s hustle…but this doesn’t work for the majority of entrepreneurs.
Let me clarify here. I’m not referring to having multiple leveraged income streams. I’m talking about entrepreneurs who have multiple businesses (usually in different industries) believing that is the quickest way to generating more revenue.
If you can relate, and you find yourself struggling to stay afloat, you’ve got too much on your plate. If you aren’t generating a solid and consistent revenue in your primary business or opportunity…why take on another?
Pick one endeavor and commit to building it until you maintain a profit level comfortable for you before you jump to something else.
Don’t jump at every opportunity to make money if you haven’t made money…make sense?
A little focus can go a long way.
Set and schedule your working hours
Yes, in an actual calendar. Not the one you’ve created in your head.
If you already determined how many hours you are willing to work like I suggested before, this will be a breeze. Now for me, I found that the less set hours I have scheduled on my calendar, I actually get much more done than I ever had before.
I literally work less than 4 hours per day and less than 20 hours per week.
I earn more income now, than I ever have when I was working around the dag on clock.
I’m not saying this will work for you, what I’m saying is you have to be realistic and consistent about your scheduled work hours. When you are, it becomes easier to plug in and prioritize the daily activities you have to complete to produce the results you desire.
To-do-lists never worked for me because I could only see it as one huge project. That overwhelmed me into procrastination. Things flow better for me when I know how much time I have to complete a project. Then I’m better able to prioritize by due date, importance and size. Next, it’s easier to break it down into smaller chunks (tasks), that I can spread out, and fit into my daily activities.
Structure works best for me, so my calendar stays the same from week to week. I know what days and times each week I’m working on content creation, follow-up calls, client coaching sessions, and project tasks.
My best suggestion for you is to design a system that fits into your current lifestyle, then stick to it.
No time to waste, get focused
Whether you want to admit it or not, most people today just can’t focus on one thing at a time. This was a big challenge for me and one I work on regularly.
During your designated WORK hours…unplug and focus.
That means…
Turn OFF your phone – let it go to voicemail
Turn OFF your notification – let them wait
CLOSE those 20 browser tabs – they are too distracting
With the buzz, dings and chimes of the “social” world will live in today, somewhere along the way we forgot what it’s like to be NOT so connected.
Nobody needs your instant attention every second of the day. We have to remember how valuable our time is. Distractions are the number one reason entrepreneurs can never focus long enough to get anything done.
I hear it all the time…I don’t have time to blog, I don’t have time to set up a system, I don’t have time to watch that video…but those same people are posting on Facebook every 20 minutes.
HELLO…we must get back to prioritizing our time.
Your business requires more than 15 minute spurts of focused attention. If you want to get things done in your business – things that actually make you money, unplug, ignore and get un-socially (so what if it’s not a word, I’m making a point) focused, during your scheduled work hours. Period.
I promise, you aren’t missing anything that takes precedent over your dreams.
The process to getting things done is simple…
It all begins with you defining the type of business model that works for you.
We are quick to listen to everyone else, and what they are doing, then attempt to apply it to our own situation. The problem is, we are all unique individuals with different ideologies, beliefs and goals.
Though the suggestions of coaches, consultants, mentors, marketers and other entrepreneurs can be a great starting point, ultimately…you may have to pick and choose different methods that you feel naturally, make sense.
Create your own set of rituals that work for you…I tried many different things (like to-do lists), which weren’t very effective for me. What I realized is that I’m not the type of person who can just go with the flow when it comes to my business.
I need structure, organization and control over my time.
I work best when I can start my work day in my creative zone, instead of tackling emails, messages, or other administrative duties. That disrupts my natural flow and energy. But other people find it quit the opposite.
I’d love to hear some of your tips and strategies for getting things done…feel free to share in the comments below.
If you’ve been working hard on your business, but are not getting the results you desire and would like some clarity and direction, click here to learn how I can assist you.
“Helping passionate women entrepreneurs build their business
online so they can spend more time living, and less time working.”
Tamyka Washington
