How Effectively Manage Your Time

As a small business owner, managing your time can be one of the hardest parts of your job. You need to balance your business needs with your personal needs and perhaps even add in the need of your employees.

Finding this balance has a lot to do with prioritization and staying on top of your short- and long-term goals.

That’s often easier said than done, so here are some great tips that small business owners can use to achieve that balance.

Manage your email

We all know our inboxes can get to overflowing on some days. As a small business owner, you need to keep up on your email but you also have to get client work done too.

Set aside specific times during your day to check email. Try not to look at your email in between.

Some business owners have organized their email inbox into three folders – Action Needed, Read Later and Reference. Putting your emails into these folders can filter them so you can read them when you have time.

Block time to work

You have to set aside time to get stuff done. Sometimes you can get pulled into a lot of different directions and it can seem impossible for you to find time to work on projects.

A solution to this problem is to block time on your calendar to work on specific client work. That way you won’t schedule a meeting or coffee during that time if your calendar shows you are busy.

Book meetings in chunks

Having to leave your office for a meeting, come back and then leave again later in the day for another meeting can really break up your day and your rhythm of work.

Book all your meetings for one or two days a week, back to back. Know which days each week you want to be available to go out for one-on-one meetings or client meetings and those are the days you are out of your office. The other days are for working on client projects in your office.

Be flexible and reprioritize

Sometimes things happen and you have to change up your schedule. When you’re a small business owner, every day is different and that’s part of why we love owning our own businesses. But needing to prioritize as things come up is part of the job. The most effective business owners are able to recognize which tasks need to be done first and which can wait…and for how long.

To prioritize your list of tasks and stay on track every day, know what your goals are. Plan out your day based on what you must get done that day.

What tips do you have for managing your time effectively?