How to Be Productive After a Long Weekend

Did you take advantage of the three-day weekend that Memorial Day Weekend offered? Did you use this time off to visit a new place or did you stay home?

It sure was nice having that extra day off. The problem is, you return to your office on Tuesday to an inundation of emails and only four days left in the week to get your work done. It can overwhelm you.

We’ve all been there. That’s why we collected some great tips for getting back to work after a long weekend.

Before you leave

Before you head out for your long weekend, look at your calendar for the week you come back. You might want to keep the day you return to the office free of meetings so you can concentrate on your overflowing in-box of emails.

Out-of-office message

If you won’t be able to or choose not to, respond to emails and phone calls while you’re off on your long weekend, then let people know you won’t be able to respond by setting an automatic out-of-office reply on your email. Also, change your phone’s message to let callers know when you’ll be back in your office.

To-do list

Before you leave, try to put together a to-do list of projects and other work that needs your attention when you return. This way, nothing will fall through the cracks.

When you return to the office, take another look at your list. It’s probably a lot longer than your usual Monday list. Sort through your list and prioritize what needs to be done first and what can wait until later in the day or maybe even the following day. Determine what you can accomplish over the course of a day.

Cull through your email inbox

Sort through your emails and label them according to which needs to be responded to immediately and which can wait until later in the week.

Enjoy your time off

It’s important to unplug and take time off. You can reconnect with family and friends and feed your spirit. We all need down time, so enjoy it. You will enjoy it more if you’re prepared for your return to work so use these tips to enjoy your next long weekend!

Happy Memorial Day!

The Art of Working for Yourself

Ah! Isn’t autonomy grand? You own your own business so you don’t have to be in the office at 8 a.m. or feel guilty for leaving early for your son’s baseball game. And if you’re not feeling well, it’s so easy to ‘take the day off.’

But it’s really not that easy. Because nothing will get done in your business if you’re not there doing it. Granted, some people (maybe even family members!) think you spend all day in your PJs, watching TV.

The main problem with autonomy is it’s completely up to you to get your work done. As a business owner, you have to set your own deadlines. There is no boss looking over your shoulder to make sure you’re getting the project done on time. You’re the boss now.

So how do you manage to get your client work done, take care of your family and take care of yourself?

Here are a few tips to getting all done.

Have a routine

It’s important to have consistent daily habits. Go to the gym after you get the kids on the bus. That way you get your workout in before your workday starts. Start work at a time that you set for ‘being on time.’

Treat it like the real workday it is

If you’re like many small business owners, you work from home. It’s so easy (and tempting!) to turn on your favorite episode of NCIS at 9 a.m. But if you were in a corporate office, you wouldn’t do that, would you?

Treat your workday like it’s a ‘real’ job. Set a schedule and stick to it. Get dressed and go to work. Being dressed for work will help your mindset so you’ll actually get work done.

Stop working

It’s very tempting to walk back into your home office after dinner just to check your email. That will just get you sucked into more work and all your relaxing family time will disappear.

You need to know when to stop working. Just like having the flexibility to start working when you want, set a schedule to stop working and stick to it. There may be some times when you have to work late because a project is due the next day or a client can only meet in the evening. Those should be the exceptions.

You probably started your business to have some work-life balance. I know I did. Remember that and stop working at a reasonable time and spend time with your family and take care of yourself.

Use your calendar as a to-do list

Keeping track of all the things you have to do as a small business owner can get overwhelming. I recommend using your calendar as your to-do list to keep track of the tasks you need to accomplish each day. Set your tasks as reminders on your calendar and set the time you need for each task on your calendar too. You can even schedule lunch and breaks so you have time away from your computer.

Working for yourself from home requires discipline. Keep to a routine and stay on task and you have a better chance of your business becoming successful.

Arise, awake, stop not until your goal is achieved. – Swami Vivekananda

Neither success nor failure are ever final. – Roger Babson

Are Your Customers Goldfish?

Are your customers goldfish? In other words, do they have short attention spans?

Probably!

Mobile devices have made multitasking the norm. When aren’t we looking at a screen….checking email, streaming live videos, checking social media updates? You get the picture. Your customers are doing this….just like you are. And we’re doing this while we’re doing something else, like watching a TV show, cooking, or even holding a conversation.

It should come as no surprise that the average human attention span has fallen to just eight seconds….shorter than that of a goldfish.

Because of customer’s short attention span, your content must be short, clear and to the point. And not just the content of your website. Everything must be written to catch attention quickly. This includes your social media posts and even your printed brochures.

How do you create content that gets read?

Write quality content

Make sure that the content you are putting out is of high quality. Use your keywords so your pages and posts are found in online searches.

Know what your customers will read. If you’re having trouble coming up with blog topics, look at the questions your customers have asked. That’s a great place to get ideas for future blogs. You could conduct a survey of your current customers to ask them what they want to read about.

Use visual content

Studies have shown that readers spend more time looking at images than words on a webpage. Images also promote greater memory recall than text alone.

There are different types of visual content you can use to draw attention to your content and keep your readers engages.

For blogs, use images that relate to the topic you are blogging about. On your website, use images to break up all your text.

Videos are also a great way to use visual content to capture customer’s attention. Videos can be used on your website and on your social media posts.

Make it easy to read

Whether it’s your blog or a webpage, if you make it easy for your readers to skim, they’ll happily consume your content.

Include white space for the reader’s eyes to rest. Use bullet points. A list is a great way to get information out in short sentences.

Use headers and bolded text. Headers can direct a reader to a section they are particularly interested in. Bolded text will draw attention to the information you feel is important.