Newsletter
| May, 2006 Time management When things get busy, business owners tend to drop their marketing efforts. The consequences of course are uneven sales and production cycles. What I find is that when my marketing efforts drop off I can predict when the sales will drop off based on what I know of my sales cycle. This not only leads to unwanted down time but unwanted periods of time between checks coming in! Here are a few things I do to stay on track with my marketing and other tasks: Daily to-do list and schedule OK, I admit it, I'm a list maker. However, I'm not so compulsive that checking off items on my list becomes the most important thing. But when I'm busy or when my flow gets disrupted, the list keeps me on track. A to-do list can only get you so far though, so I also create a schedule of the activities based on my to-do list for the day. The schedule keeps me on track but also keeps me from attempting too much in a day. Create a long term calendar I designed a calendar document that is a two week grid and has room for projects and general to-do activities. The two week view helps me map out my work flow and what I need to accomplish. It also helps me create my daily to-do list and schedule. Designate specific days for activities I used to try and do a lot of different things during the day and found I would often accomplish very little. Eventually I found that I could designate whole or part days to certain activities such as sales, marketing or paying bills. This allowed me to balance my week and my energy, set my expectations, and get things done. Pay attention It's easy to become addicted to your list. Sometimes you need to step away from the list and work according to your energy and mindset. Personally, I find that I have more creativity and am able to think better in the morning. So I plan to do other tasks that don't require as much thought in the afternoon. Make sure you take into account the time of day or week you best accomplish things. Not a morning person? Then write that report or proposal after lunch. Don't do it all yourself Set up systems or find people who can help you with things that take time away from you if you currently do them yourself. There's no shame in bringing in help, that's why there are consultants and employees. Finally, don't get hung up in the procrastination game. It can really cause problems, but that's a topic I'll put off for another time.... Remember, managing your time allows you to help your customers AND and market your business. Back to the Newsletter page Sign up to get your copy of the Pylon Page |
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