8 Time Management Tips for Small Business Owners

Tips To Master Your Time As A Business Owner

As an employer or small business owner, time management is critical for making the most of your business and achieving your goals because of the financial costs at stake. With all the activities that are necessary to complete on a daily basis, there’s hardly any time left to actually stay on track. That’s why you want to manage your time wisely. For many businesses, outsourcing customer support via virtual phone receptionist services duties and live support chat personnel to a qualified professionals, is one way to free up time for more pressing duties. 

Here are my 8 time management tips for small business owners, 8 ways you can do a better job protecting your time today!

1. Set Goals

There’s no denying the importance of business goals. Goals provide direction, motivation, and way to measure your progress. Be sure your goals have a clear path on how to get there and can be obtainable. Have a large goal, such as annual business revenue and also have weekly and daily goals to help you obtain the larger goal. When you create a goal that focuses on the desired results of your decision, that’s when the magic happens!

2. Start Logging Your Time.

First thing is to find an activity log template or create your own that is aimed at improving efficiency. You should complete at least one day of time logging to get an understanding of how you want your log to look like. Your job is to track every single minute of your day, listing your tasks and the total amount of time spent. Be sure to measure what you consider a regular work day.

3. Identify and Eliminate Your Time Wasters

Everyone has something that leads them to waste more time placing a negative impact on their goals. Once you have a log together, look to improve areas that waste time or remove those from your day completely. Your job is to cut loose of activities that don’t help you meet your goals. If you waste too much time on social media, set up a URL blocker for the problem sites in you preferred browser. If you have a problem deciding on where to get lunch every day, start bringing it from home. If you spend too much time answering emails, set a cap on the time you spend on email each day.

4. You May Need To Delegate

Ask yourself if there are items that can be delegated to an employee. Do you need more help in getting everything done? It might be time to take on more staff members. Hire people you can trust, and give them the work you don’t have time for or work that is better suited for someone with that skill set. This will start to give you time to focus on the tasks you’re best at and the ones that mean the most to you. If you’re a new business or not big enough for full-time employees, look into outsourcing to freelance contractors on a job posting site like Upwork or Indeed.

5. Multitasking Will Slow You Down

Multitasking might seem like a smart way to save time by cramming as much work as possible into a short amount of time, but it’s likely doing more harm than good. If you have to juggle, combine a mundane activity with something that requires complex thinking. Otherwise Focus on one task at a time to increase your productivity and performance. Conversely, trying to take care of a single task while you email clients, respond to every text, and micromanage every issue as it arises means you’re not giving any one thing the attention it deserves. You’ll most likely have to go back and correct careless errors later, it also means you’re wasting time at the moment by shifting mental gears. One thing at a time is the best way to go.

6. Maximize Your Most Productive Hours

One of the biggest mistakes in time management is the disposition of spending the most productive hours of your day on things that don’t require high cognitive capacity. If you’re more of a morning person, then arrange your schedule so that you’re working on your most challenging tasks in the a.m. If you’re a night owl, then work on those tasks at night, when you are the most productive. The point is that when you work when you’re most productive you’re able to effectively manage your time.

7. Apply Some Techniques

Use some proven techniques to help you get things done quicker, freeing your time to focus on other tasks.

A. Use the Pomodoro Technique. This technique involves setting a timer for 25 minutes and focusing on a single task until the alarm goes off. Then, take a short break period before devoting another 25 minutes to the next task. This will help structure your time and help make sure you’re devoting a certain amount of time to a single task.

B. Use the 80/20 rule. 80% of results come from 20% of effort. Taken together, the point of this idea is that it’s crucial to determine what’s actually important and what just requires attention. Spend most of your time on that critical 20% and less on the rest, even if it does seem urgent. This is a process, so keep applying it every week until you have a very clear idea of where you can get the most out of your efforts.

8. Done is better than perfect

The ultimate time consumer is trying to perfect a product or service. Remember, Nothing will ever be perfect. Do your best and move-on because perfection can be the main obstacle between you and a first draft. Remember, if no one sees it, its not an issue.

Everything needs time and effort. I hope this has helped you understand how important it is to develop your time management habits. Continue to practice your time management and eventually you will get the results you desire.