Time

The most important source of energy is TIME. It may not be a fossil fuel, but it is the one thing we can all agree we want more of.

Want more time?

Time would sell on the streets for millions of dollars.

Here is how you can create more time:

Time-block your week, using a 4-day work schedule. The 5th day is for you to work ON your business, not IN your business. You can have your staff work that 5th day, but allow them to be leaders in their roles and build them up to a place where they do not need you. This is your day.

Create a color-coded time blocking schedule to build a framework of your week. For the first 3 weeks, if you need to use an alarm to stick to this structure, do it until you get used to the patterns and no longer need the strict constraints.

 

Time-blocking for entrepreneurship:

  1. Sales:
    Place sales as the first and last thing you do in your week. Schedule in client meetings, follow-ups, proposals, etc. You will always start and end your week with sales, because that is what drives your business and will need to drive your focus. Having your sales meetings scheduled in the beginning of your week gives you time to close a sale by the end of the week. Mondays should be for initiating a sale.
  2. Team: If you have a team, schedule a consistent weekly meeting and time for daily check-ins. This should never be rescheduled or fall off your schedule.
  3. Admin: Yes, the stuff we do not want to do, but we need to do. Schedule each admin piece required for your business, including reviewing credit card statements, bookkeeping, CPA meetings, etc. You can give yourself a smaller block every day, or if you prefer to tackle it all at the same time, keep it on the same day each week to create a consistent regularity.
  4. Marketing: This is time focused on reaching out to existing clientele to maintain your relationship with them in addition to reaching out to potential and future clientele. This is where you create your pipeline- future business must be thought of and adressed every week. Include social media posting, newsletters, blogs, website work, mailers, networking, etc.
  5. Overflow tasks: Schedule at least a 2-hour window during one of your 4 days for overflow work. This is your contigency plan for when you feel as if “you need more time,” but you do not want to get off track with your schedule. You will never regret incorporating this into your plan!