Using Time to Greatest Effect

Business Owner’s Biggest Challenge

Ask a Business Owner what is their biggest challenge, one of the likely responses is “I don’t have enough time to do all the things I need to do”.

And why is that? Most likely, it’s because they have ‘bought themselves a job” and are not only doing the work they are also the Book-keeper, Salesperson, Marketeer, Administrator etc.

And that’s because money is tight at the start and thus they don’t see how they can afford to hire in help. And what does that mean? They end up working longer and longer hours.

So how to break the spiral? Here are some tips to use your time to best effect:

• We’ll still start with DELEGATE despite the point already made. When Business Owners are asked what would they differently if they were to start all over again, the majority say “I wish I had delegated out tasks sooner”. So do a cashflow forecast (an essential discipline for all Business Owners) and work out how soon you can afford to hire someone.
• HAVE SET HOURS OF WORK – it’s amazing how much you can get done if you restrict your hours. It focuses the mind!
• WORK SMART – when are you at your most productive? Are you a morning person for instance? Plan your activities to reflect when you are at your most energised.
• FOCUS ON YOUR STRENGTHS – do what you’re best at and enjoy the most. You’ll complete those tasks quickly and with few mistakes – a timesaver in itself!
• DO ONE THING AT A TIME – multi-tasking is held to be a virtue but research shows that it is far more inefficient that doing one action in full at a time before you start the next.
• GROUP SIMILAR ACTIVITIES TOGETHER – it takes a while to get up to speed with any activity – that’s why sports players do a warm-up. So when you are planning your daily and/or weekly diary, put activities that use the same skills next to each other (i.e communication activities such as marketing, sales and customer service) to achieve more in the same time.

“I don’t have enough time to do all the things I need to do.”

So don’t complain about how you need more time – get smart in how you use it.

Chris Churchman works with Business Owners to achieve the life of their dreams through their business. If you are not sure how to grow your business or are frustrated by working too many hours, not earning enough money or underperforming teams, then why not take the opportunity to have two gifted 30 minute coaching sessions with him to identify strategies to help move your business forward?