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Priorities & Time Management

Making the most of our time is a constant battle for entrepreneurs globally. We quickly become overwhelmed, spread too thin, and in need of constant organization. But fear not, there are several ways to improve your productivity while managing a team, a company, and most importantly, yourself. 

When the overall success of your business depends on your time, it’s radically important to be vigilant on how you manage it. This can be long term or a daily practice, either way good time management can create positive results for your business

Task Importance

Schedules fill up quickly. Meetings, calls, and tasks start eating up valuable time. This is where priority either thrives or dies. Organizing tasks into categories from high – low priority is a great way to give yourself perspective. 

Knocking out tasks in order of priority, while at the same time adjusting your list for new and time sensitive tasks. 

Breaking Up Your Work

In addition to prioritizing your tasks, giving yourself the appropriate amount of time to spend on a project is another piece of the puzzle. Breaking up your daily workflow and giving yourself enough time to work on a project. Some tasks can take hours while others are just a matter of checking boxes on your list.

The time spent on these is up to you but things like delegating sections of a project to a team member, or setting time limits for your work can help you shift focus on to other important parts of your business. 

Automate Tasks 

If we all took a step back and really analyzed our workflow, we’d be surprised by how many little tasks we have to remember. Even the reminders to set our reminders… The less you have to remind yourself of, the better.

Automating as much of your workflow as possible. Leaving less up to chance and a weight off your shoulders 

An example would be using a software like Calendly for booking appointments. Automatically adding appointments to your calendar and setting reminders beforehand. Another is mailchimp. Integrated with a CRM (like insightly) you can automatically add contacts to your subscriber list, send emails ,and follow ups using their automated customer journeys.

Although this requires some careful attention and planning, it’s a step towards efficiency and away from forgetfulness.

Prepare, Predict, And Plan 

Plans change and situations can fluctuate. Staying up to date with your team, and observing their strengths and weaknesses will help you make important decisions for your company 

Curate Your Calendar

This ties in with automating your tasks. Block out portions of your calendar for the work you need to complete. Be intentional with your time. Scheduling time with your team to communicate with projects, feedback, and updates.

Review Your Methodology Frequently 

Creating feedback loops with your team, timely reviews, and check-ins will help your business be much more effective. Observation and communication are key components in understanding your team. Using software like Trello, or Jira for tracking project progress and identifying areas for improvement. 

Forecast Your Quarters

Reaching and maintaining a successful business model can be a daunting task. Using a method of data forecasting can help you see exactly how your company can perform. Using your history as a company to predict just how to perform and scale in the future. 

Manage Your Customer Base

What is a business without a customer base? Managing your clients means much more than responding to emails. It means being as interactive as possible with the bandwidth you have available. 

Responsiveness

Your level of responsiveness plays a crucial role in client interaction. Spending time to understand your potential and current client needs. Since having face to face time with clients is another area where bandwidth can be tested, prioritization comes back into play.

Delegating tasks, and making time for you and your team to have impactful meetings.  As your business grows and your time becomes more valuable, use that face time wisely. 

Be Accessible 

Even if your business model doesn’t involve as much customer interaction, responsiveness can be shown in many different ways. Your customer support lines say a lot about your business. How can you help a client? Where can they go to seek more information on your product or services? Is there someone to talk to when inquiring about your products or services?

These are all questions you’re going to encounter, and need to answer. Good customer success relationships will be your key to fulfilling client needs and building a better reputation. 

A great method of well rounded customer services is outsourcing. Having local and offshore teams that can help a customer or client even outside of your regular business hours. 

Constantly Learn And Improve 

As you scale a business whether it’s selling online products, or building a client base on your services, learning is a part of the equation. Constantly improving your methods, creating feedback loops within your company, and listening to your clients are all steps in creating a well rounded and successful business. Growth is the key to success. Learning not only from your successes, but also your failures.