What Does Time Mean to You?

by Internet marketing for seniors team | Oct 25, 2016 | Time Management strategies

Think about time management. Is this something that you have been told you need to do or do you really want to get control over your time? You can learn many techniques for time management but you’ll never put them to good use unless you actually believe in the concept. So how to you think of time? Is time something to spend or something to invest?

What Does Time Mean to You?

If you see time as something to spend, then you will fit well into a high structured business where the tasks are established as well as the time frames for task completion. You may want to save time instead of spend it, so you’ll find ways to cut corners at work or rush around doing personal tasks.

You are likely to say, “If I rush through this meal then I’ll have time to go to a movie.” That’s more about allocating minutes to use elsewhere than making choices about the value of the activity compared with the time necessary to do it.

Investing Time

On the other hand, if you prefer to invest your time, then you are more choosey about what you will do with your time. By thinking of how to invest time instead of how to spend it, you give time use a greater long-term value.
You also think of time as the precious commodity that it is. For example, if you want to finish a college degree or start a home based business, you must decide whether to invest your evening and weekend hours in your new venture or watch another video.

Crashing

It’s easy to decide to crash on the sofa after a hard day’s work. You have to be committed to your dream to get up and walk away from the television or computer game and invest a few hours each evening on your future. Time moves forward, you can’t save it to use later. That’s why you need a plan each day on where to invest your time for maximum advantage.

Perhaps you have said that you don’t have enough time to start a home-based business or go back to school. If you will take a hard look at how you use the time after work in each day and on the weekends, you can probably find at least two to three hours each day and five to eight hours on the weekend to invest in your future goals.

The Tradeoff

Initially, this will seem you are giving up something when you miss the latest episode of some reality show or watch one football game instead of four games. It’s definitely a tradeoff but you are the ultimate winner as you invest time into something will take you farther in life than just sitting on the sofa.

When you need more money, you can borrow or charge it. But when you need more time, you have to work within the 24-hour limit. Print two schedules with 24 hours or 24 lines on each page. Start with how you currently use your time.

The Time Machine Diary

Block out enough time to drive to and from work or any other transportation time that you need between tasks. Don’t edit, you need to see where your time really goes. After completing the actual time log, use that information to design how you would like to invest your time.

You may not be able to convert to your ideal day immediately, but by having this plan, you can begin to make the changes needed to turn your ideal day plan into your everyday plan. When you think of time as an asset to invest in, then you become more likely to follow your ideal day plan and respect your time.

The 80/20 Factor

Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto discovered that 80% of Italy’s wealth was in the hands of 20% of the population. This may not have been a revelation to the poorer class of Italians in the late 1800’s, but it did become a concept that has been widely applied in all types of business.

The Pareto Principle basically says that 80% of the outcome is from 20% of the input. In a time management context, you can say that 80% of your time is used by 20% of your clients.

Chances are you could easily name (and recall the phone numbers) for the 10 -20 most demanding clients that you serve. Those might be your 20%. The other 80% of clients are far less demanding and create little time demands.

In business

Of course if 80% of your income is derived from the sales or service fees of that 20%, then you are less concerned about spending the extra time. Unfortunately, you may be overwhelmed by the demands of the 20% which do not generate the majority of your income.

Using your client contact time well is extremely important to increase your business. While you might think that continuing to provide a high level of service to existing clients is the way to go, you’ll quickly run out of time and fail to generate any new clients.

That’s there Pareto’s Principle works against you. As you bring in new clients to your business, you want to transition them to the 80% that require less service demands as soon as reasonable so that you have time to add new clients.

Analyze

The first step is to analyze your client contact time for several days, preferably for one week. Just keep a notepad by your desk or an open file on your computer. Log your time with each client and a brief note about the conversation.

This will cause you to be more aware of time wasted in conversations with clients. Sure you want to be friendly and ask about their family, business, etc, but keep it short. As you get to know your clients better, it’s easier to spend too much time chatting about non-business matters.

The Ideal Balance

You need to find a balance between being too curt and distant v. too much talk about trivial things. If you reduced each of these conversations by 10 minutes, you could reclaim another hour easily, maybe more.

The second step is to structure your day for client contact. Even if your job is to be on the phone all day, make the effort to group your calls. Plan to make new client calls in the morning when you are fresh and enthusiastic. Set aside the afternoon for current client follow-up calls.

If you have any problem client calls to make, group those in a one hour block and get it over with at one time period. Decide in advance how much time you want to spend on each type of call, and then time yourself. As you get accustom to the flow of each type of call, you will begin to stay within the scheduled time naturally.

Finally, if 80% of your revenue or income consistently comes from 20% of your clients, consider hiring an assistant to work on some of the less important details in serving the other 80% of your clients.

That frees your time to spend with the 20% of clients who are supporting most of your lifestyle. If you can make more money by working with fewer, qualified clients, then your time spent with them, no matter what you chat about, is time well spent.

Time Management for the Self Employed.

by Internet marketing for seniors team | Aug 23, 2016 | Time Management strategies

The Obstacle of Time Management

Many people who become self-employed later on in life find that they have problems with time management.

There is a lot of reasons for this; new business owners often find that they have too much work to do. They haven’t the resources or experience to get somebody else to get the work done. Procrastination can also be a big problem you put things off because you can’t tackle things.  Worse still you convince yourself you’re working when in fact you’re doing something inconsequential like checking whether you have made any money online every 15 minutes.

Lack of planning is a serious problem. For planning to be effective, it has to cover every single step of the project. While this might seem a bit daunting knowing every single piece that has to get done means that you have less opportunity to kid yourself you have plenty of time. It’s paramount when you’re self-employed that you deliver what you promised when you promised it!

Get Noticed For The Right Reasons

It’s never good to have a reputation for not completing work on time. Another great reason for having a detailed list of action steps is that it stops you being overwhelmed. If you’re doing a large project, it’s a bit daunting unless you break it down into mini tasks. First of all, divide the project into chunks and allocate how much time you have to do each of those chunks.

It’s never good to have a reputation for not completing work on time. Another great reason for having a detailed list of action steps is that it stops you being overwhelmed. If you’re doing a large project, it’s a bit daunting unless you break it down into mini tasks. First of all, divide the project into chunks and allocate how much time you have to do each of those chunks.

Don’t Con Yourself You have More time Than You Have

While this might seem a bit daunting knowing every single piece that has to get done means that you have less opportunity to kid yourself you have plenty of time. It’s paramount when you’re self-employed that you deliver what you promised when you promised it! It’s never good to have a reputation for not completing work on time. Another great reason for having a detailed list of action steps is that it stops you being overwhelmed. If you’re doing a large project, it’s a bit daunting unless you break it down into mini tasks. First of all, divide the project into chunks and allocate how much time you have to do each of those chunks.

Maintain Quality Control

When you rush work because you haven’t enough time you inevitably have to cut corners, and this always leads to a reduction in quality! When you work for someone else, it’s not that important that you do your best all the time at least in your mind but is imperative if you are self-employed. Sometimes it’s worthwhile having a project manager. If your primary business model is product creation, then it’s worth considering hiring someone to oversee the project.

Outsource the graphics and find three or four good freelance ghostwriters so that they are on hand should you ever need them. Make sure that you have a good copywriter to write your sales copy because this is an important area and even if you write yourself writing sales copy is a specialist job.

Focus on the jobs that you are good at! Get other people to do the menial grind that frees you to do things which are important such as marketing. It’s all about freeing yourself for the most lucrative tasks in the ones you find personally most rewarding.

Cash Flow Problems

Cash Flow Problems there are many reasons for cash flow problems and even the best run businesses have them from time to time because sometimes they happen as a result of something you can’t control such as the current market. Most the time they arise because you do not have good money management skills or there is insufficient marketing or branding. Sometimes the overheads are far too high, and they could be reduced to make them more manageable. When money is tight, inevitably business owner slow productivity which contributes in itself to the cash flow problem.

First of all decide if you have a long-term cash flow problem or a short-term one. In general short-term cash flow problems appear without warning. It may be you lose your biggest customer, or your largest customer goes bankrupt. Often short-term cash flow problems can be alleviated by taking on extra work even if that work is at a reduced profit margin; it’s important to cover your bills.

Long-term cash flow problems also sometimes occur because of industry practices. For instance, some local authorities may not pay you for several months. Sometimes the old-fashioned barter system works well in this sort of situation. If you can’t afford to pay for the solutions you need to barter for those services.

Making the Most Of Your Family

Your friends and family can be your biggest supporters or the most efficient detractors when you are self-employed. Make sure your friends and family understand your work obligations. It is not acceptable to ask you to do run around tasks in the day just because you don’t have a boss!

Make sure that your family and friends don’t interrupt you unless it’s a matter of life or death. Setting boundaries is a good idea it helps to keep productivity flowing. Emergencies do happen, and this is the time you can cross boundaries. It is important to make your family realize you are working even if you are doing so from home.

Your business is a business, and it is not a hobby if you treat it like a hobby then so will other people. Be firm, explain that you have a deadline, and it is necessary for you to work and not be distracted. Make sure that anyone who works with you is aware of their obligations, train them if necessary because if you don’t this will slow down productivity every successful business has systems in place.

The Pros and Cons of EMploying Family

If you employ your family, there are pros and cons to this. When it works well, it works fantastically well, better than any other system because you can trust them and you know them and understand them. However when a family member does not pull their weight, then there may be a problem.

As difficult as this situation is you have to let that person go to protect the family. Don’t forget it’s your responsibility to make your business success – if you don’t, then no one else will. Mindset severely affects business productivity If you have turmoil in your private life, then the chances are this will have an impact on your business. It makes it tough for you to keep on top of the tasks if you are distracted.

One of the biggest obstacles towards productivity is if you think you know it all! That stops you working and looking for faster efficient and less expensive ways of production. Apart from anything else learning encourages personal growth.

Even if you are happy with the way things are running don’t fail to see new opportunities. Everybody has difficulties in life, but it’s not barriers that are the problem. It’s how you are affected by those obstacles. Remain focused and take each obstacle is a time find ways to go over the obstacle, under it, through it or around it. Whatever you do don’t let the obstacle stand in your way.

Time Management for the Self Employed Needs not be an issue

Often it is applying a different mindset. Discipline or rather self-discipline is a lot easier when your business becomes profitable.