How do I find time to do everything in my business?
How do I find time to do everything?
You need to manage your time
As you start to grow your business being able to manage your time is an important skill that you need to learn. You need to make sure that nothing gets left behind. Take your eye off one part of the business for a few days or weeks and something will go wrong. You need to find time to manage all the parts of your business.
You need time to grow your business. You need time to spend with your team to give them guidance and help. You need time to do all of the boring admin work that goes with running a business. Miss one of these out and it will start to suffer.
What is the problem?
You will have so many things trying to get your attention. Emails, clients, staff, your own business and admin. You need to make sure that they are all given time to make sure that they do not suffer. Setting aside time for each will make sure that they are not forgotten.
You need a structure
You need a structure to manage your time. You need to plan out your day and week so you have time to do everything that you need to. Plan time to spend growing your business, time to spend with staff and deal with the emails and admin stuff.
You need to continue to make refinements to the plan as you go on, finding the best times to do your work and time to do the admin work
How do I do this?
Schedule time to spend dealing with emails, helping your team and also doing client work. I like to break these down to days or blocks of time.
Once you have this set up, you need to stick to it. If you write this down on a piece of paper and stick it on your wall or you use the calendar in Outlook or Google. When you get the reminder to start work, you need to stop what you are doing and do the work on your plan. This schedule is your boss.
I like to deal with emails in the morning. It gets them out of the way so I can spend the rest of the day working. I then split my days down in to two-hour blocks and then do something else. It means that I keep motivated and my day as variety. This is important if you are spending your day doing admin. You don’t want to spend all day doing admin tasks, split it over a couple of days so it doesn’t become boring.
Set aside time to do your work!
I like to set aside Wednesday to do work on my business. I spend time looking at marketing and also the internal processes and systems that we use. Setting these up and refining them for our team to use. The idea is to make the business more efficient and to able to give a better service to our clients.
This is one of the most important days for me and one I plan all week for. I have given my team the guidance and support that they need so they can get on with the client work. I am here if they have any urgent problems that crop up.
I now have a day to work on my business. Time to think, learn and plan for the future of my business.
Find time to speak to your team
We have staff meetings on this day to gain feedback from the team. I like asking my team for suggestions on how we can improve things further and to discuss if we can use their ideas. It is the day that we set aside to grow and make our business even better.
It means that each week we have about five hours to spend on growing our business and making it better. If you spend that on your business each week you will see dramatic results over the course of a year.
You are your biggest client!
You are your biggest client. Spend time each week to recognise and treat yourself to some time to grow your business. You can spend that time getting your books in order, demoing new software or planning out the work for the next week.
Can software help?
We use software to help ease the workload on us as much as possible. Software can help automate your work. We certainly recommend using software for your books to help remove all the boring admin work.
But have you considered using software like Calendly or Acuity to book your calls with your clients? It helps you set aside time to speak to them, making sure that they can get hold of you and that you are free to speak. It will help you plan your day, time when you can speak to clients and time when you can work.
Don’t try to mutli-task!
I don’t like multi-tasking. Multi-tasking means that your work does not get your full attention. If you don’t give something your full attention errors will creep in or the work will not be as good as what it can be. Focus on one thing at a time.
There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of doing some work, to be disturbed by a call that lasts thirty minutes. You lose your place and have to start again. You need time to shut off your phone when you are doing important work and time when you can speak to clients.
Plan your team!
Your team is the biggest and best resource that you have for your business use them as much as you can. Don’t try to do everything yourself!
Having systems in place to plan and track the work that you are doing is vital. These can be as in depth as you need them to be, breaking any work down in to milestones that you can accurately track will be invaluable. Once you have milestones you can give your team responsibility for making sure that they are met.
Discuss the work in your team meetings and if the progress is on schedule or falling behind. If you are falling behind on one project you may need to act now so that you can get back on schedule.
Have weekly team meetings!
We have team meetings three times a week. One is set aside to resolve any issues that the staff have with the work. It is designed to help and support them. Giving them guidance on how to deal with problems that they may be having. Making sure that the work does not fall behind and we are meeting client deadlines.
We also have a meeting to discuss the work that we are doing in our business on Wednesday. This is to constantly refine and improve our processes. This can be discussing the systems we have place and how we can make changes to them to make them more efficient.
Then we have a meeting Friday to discuss that the work that we are doing for the next week. Making sure that the team know what they are doing and that they have everything they need to get on with the work.
We find setting our team clear goals with guidance and support helps them be more productive.
You need to change your mindset!
All of this will really need a change of mindset from you. You need to be prepared to step back a little from the work and manage your business. Taking time to spend with your team, on your business and with clients.
You need to learn new skills. Skills to deal with your team and to manage and guide them. I don’t see myself as anyone’s boss. I am there to guide, support and help my team. I make decisions with the best interests of the business in mind. I try to lead by example.
Get a plan to introduce these changes!
Get a plan to introduce these changes in to your business. It will take time to make changes. Set realistic goals for your staff and keep following up in the weekly meetings. Don’t be afraid to ask for suggestions from your team, they will have a different point of view to you and will be a source of good ideas.
If these changes affect your clients tell them about them, explain your reasons for making the changes and how you see it benefitting them in the short and long term.
Reach out if you need help!
Being able to manage your time better will require discipline. Your time is the most valuable resource that you have, when you act like it is you will take care to spend it wisely. Don’t waste the time that you have. Plan and schedule your week.
Get your team to help you with dealing with emails and work and spend time with them to help and guide them in their work. Get the systems in your business set up to make planning easier and to make the most of your time.
If you need help with any of these changes please arrange a call to discuss how we can help you.