Get your time under your control – Part 1

Why do some small business owners make it? What secret do they know that the rest of us don’t? If you study their lives closely, you’ll discover the many have certain habits that attribute to their success.

And one of the most important things these people do is that they are very careful about how they spend their time.

No matter how you slice it, we all have 24 hours in a day, so the key lies in learning to use our time wisely.

Below are some ways you can dramatically increase your productivity through more effective use of your time.

1. Find out how you spend your time. If it seems like your day slips by all too quickly, try creating a log of your daily activities. Once you see where you are spending your time, you can identify and focus on the activities that provide the greatest returns for you personally and financially.
2. What’s your time worth? Time is money. Knowing how much your time is actually worth can help you make better decisions as to whether you should perform a task or outsource it. For instance, if your time is worth $200 an hour, you are far better off paying someone $30 an hour to do your bookkeeping.  Then take the extra time you have and invest it: in profit-making activities.
3. Create a schedule – and stick to it. Don’t start your day without a to do list. Make a list of tasks and categorize them into business building activities, client activities, and personal items. Then break bigger unmanageable projects into smaller “doable” chunks so they less intimidating and are easier to accomplish.

More on time management tomorrow…