Time management is quite possibly my favorite topic of discussion within the Entrepreneurship Mindset area. Becoming a true entrepreneur is really about leveraging time to create more money and freedom.
In the Internet Business world, I have found it especially important to organize time very carefully to avoid common traps and time wasters. The Internet can have an ADD-like effect on your attention and focus if you’re not careful. One click leads to another and before you know it you’re off on a tangent totally unrelated to what you set out to do.
Lately, I’ve been working off a new system for organizing my time that seems to work quite well. Feel free to try it out and let me know what you think. Like any other new hack, if it works, keep it – if not, dump it and move on.
Try this out:
Take every working day on your calendar and list each one on a sheet of paper or word processor. Then, on another sheet or in another file list all the major categories of work you need to complete. For example: Marketing, Planning, Brainstorming, etc.
Here’s my list:
- Monetizing
- Consulting
- Writing
- Promoting
- Organizing
You want to be as general as possible in this process. Each area should include five or more “subtasks” to make this really work.
Now, try to match up your task list with your work day list. In other words, block out each day for one specific category. For me, I do all of my Writing on Wednesdays. You may find it necessary to plug in a few tasks on different days due to scheduling issues, etc. But for the most part, this should work.
I love the great combination of flexibility and freedom in this approach. I wake up on Wednesday mornings knowing exactly what my focus is that day. As interruptions or side projects come up throughout the day, I can make smart decisions about how to manage my time. Plus, anytime I catch myself getting off track, I can make a note to return to that task on the appropriate day and then get back to work on the day’s focus area.
This is great for Internet Entrepreneurs because things really do develop very fast online. You never know when Google’s going to update its Page Rank or a customer is going to freak out! But in today’s business environment, this type of approach could work well for anyone looking to get more control of his or her time at work.
Implement this in your work today and let me know how it goes.
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An entrepreneur is a business owner. And a business owner should occupy a position outside of the everyday operations of the business itself.
As Michael Gerber reminds us again and again, you must work *on* your business and not *in* your business to be a true entrepreneur.
The key to making this work is getting other people to do the job for you. There’s nothing worse than creating what you thought was a business, only to find you created a job. Entrepreneurs aren’t cut out for jobs. We’re cut out for ownership, but it takes discipline to make this really happen…
The problem is that most entrepreneurs are talented. We’re good at a lot of different types of work and we often enjoy wearing many different hats in our work. Of course, we always think that we can do a job better than anyone else.
And we probably can. But that’s just not the point.
Let’s take a second look at a quote I posted on this very point recently:
An entrepreneur is “one who creates value by shifting economic resources from low yield activities to areas where they would be more productive.”
So here’s your assignment, entrepreneurs – Find one task in your business that you can easily pay someone else to do. Just focus on one for now. The task should be something small but fairly time-consuming. It should also be easy to define in terms of “completion” for another person.
Now, write that task down on a small slip of paper using 1-2 sentences only.
Ready? Good.
Finally, find someone to do it. Anyone. Your kids. Your neighbor’s kids. A virtual assistant. Anyone. (Well, ok – anyone *capable and competent.*)
Maybe you’ll have to pay out $10 for one hour of work, maybe more like $25. Whatever the amount, try to think of this more as an investment. As Tim Ferriss recommends, paying someone else to do easy work for you, you’re creating greater opportunities for you to focus on the very important tasks and to get your mind off the daily minutiae.
Here are some resources for finding help for a variety of your business tasks:
Elance.com
Rentacoder.com
Craigslist.org
GetFriday.com
Happy outsourcing!
We often hear about entrepreneurs “taking risks.” Some even define the very act of entrepreneurship as risky. I’m sure you’ve heard it all before.
In some ways, this is quite true: an entrepreneur who cashes out a life savings or retirement account to fund a new startup is definitely moving away from security and towards risk. Even the budding entrepreneur who quits his day job to pursue a new idea for a home business is taking a risk.
But what does one risk by not taking advantage of a unique opportunity and staying in the same job?
And what about relying on someone else for income? Isn’t it “risky” to count on your employer for raises and greater opportunities?
I’m not about to take the hard line here and argue that entrepreneurship is actually “safer” than the traditional employee route. Nor am I going to suggest that 100% of people would be happier as entrepreneurs.
I am going to argue, much in line with Robert Kiyosaki, that entrepreneurship should be part of everyone’s life in at least some way. Will this require a little risk? Yes. But a little risk is healthy and will likely even contribute to a greater sense of self-esteem and personal mastery.
Even a little risk-taking could be of real value:
- Take a little risk and start a website that requires only a few hours per week to maintain but slowly builds traffic and a nice supplementary income.
- Take a little risk and sell your homemade crafts on eBay for a few extra bucks here and there.
- Take a little risk and write that book you’ve always wanted to publish.
- Take a little risk and learn more about the stock market to become a savvy investor.
Maybe your project will turn into something big. Maybe it won’t. Perhaps your work will inspire you onto something else that really works. Perhaps not.
One thing you can count on is a big change in yourself and how you look at the world.
The objective is not to become the next Donald Trump here. You’re simply trying something new and getting out of your comfort zone. It’s just a little risk and only a small move for big results!
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Related Articles:
- Develop a Clear Vision for Your Business
- Read Your Way to Business Success
- How to Integrate Personal & Business Development
- The Entrepreneur's "Declaration of Independence"
- Keeping a Business Journal
Time is the entrepreneur’s most important resource, and learning to leverage time is key to becoming an entrepreneur.
Most people never learn to leverage time. Employees, for example, do not typically control time but are controlled by time. That is, the employee shows up at 9am and cannot leave until 5pm.
To become a successful entrepreneur, you must learn to take control of time and to prevent it from taking control over you.
Enter Mr. Pareto.
The Pareto principle – known more commonly as the 80-20 rule – states that 80% of your output comes from 20% of your input. (Or, 80% of the profit comes from 20% of your customers, etc.)
The 80/20 rule is indispensable in entrepreneurship primarily because it very quickly reveals the most productive parts of your business operations.
Here’s a quick way to apply the Pareto principle to your business activities right now: Simply ask yourself, “What are the top 10 things I need to do each day to build my business?”
Once you generate this list, quickly look it over and force yourself to identify the top two things that would generate the most results if you could only do two things. That’s right: JUST two!
This exercise will force you into the 20% that produces 80% for you. You’ll soon discover just how much time you actually waste each day.
Of course, you may do many things every day that are not necessarily a waste of time, but do not truly contribute to the advancement of your key projects. For example, I often am forced to postpone writing for this blog because it is not a 20% key producer in my overall business structure. This is not to say that I don’t value this part of my business or that it’s not important, only that it is not always a top priority. After all, how could I write about entrepreneurship if I do not make business-building a priority?
Here are some more ideas for implementing the 80/20 rule at your stage of the game:
- If you’re an employee looking to become an entrepreneur, use 80/20 to improve productivity on and off the job as you begin to free yourself from the chains of time-based employment.
- If you’re in the beginning stages of entrepreneurship, use 80/20 to focus your time on the projects and ideas that are actually working to generate profit.
- If you’re an established entrepreneur, use 80/20 to enhance and develop existing projects for greater results.
