Time Management Tips For Small Business Owners

It is quite a challenge managing time when you are a small business owner or manager. The fact is, you wear a lot of hats. You do not have a 9 to 5 day where you do a set amount of work and then go home.

Mastering time management skills is the most important thing you can do for yourself and your company. Setting priorities, and allocating the correct amount of time for each responsibility for you and your staff is difficult, but the payoff is worth the trouble.

Consistency is the key. No matter what your product or service, it requires marketing, billing, tracking, shipping, and other related duties. You must dedicate time (for someone) to take care of those duties. Some require daily attention. Others require weekly, monthly, or quarterly action. As long as your time spent is consistent, and adequately assigned, things will run smoothly. Be realistic in the scheduling demands set on each task and be willing to adjust as needed. This frees you up for more important things and allows you to fulfill their responsibilities.

There are many apps and websites available to assist you in managing and tracking your time. Do not stay with one if it does not work for you, as there are many to choose from. There are also sites that can track your time spent and the time spent of your employees, visit clockspot for more information. They specialize in time management software.

Learning to Master Your Time

Learn where your time goes. You cannot fix a leaking ship, if you don’t know where the holes are. Carry a notebook around with you for a week. We spend all of our time in one of three ways; thinking about it, talking about it, and acting on it, Your journal will give you a good picture of the issues. Are your managers “talking it to death”? Are they so busy doing it, that they don’t take time to think about it first? This exercise will be a huge step in the right direction.

Plan Your Day

Use the first half hour of your day, planning your day. Plan for interruptions. Do not pack your day so tight that there is not time for human error. 

Set limits on meetings

Meetings are a fact of life, but some take on a life of their own. Limit the time for the meeting, discourage small talk, rehashing issues, and arguing. Explain what the meeting is for and keep your managers to that purpose.

Minimizing wasted time when marketing on social media:

If you need to delegate this responsibility to someone with more social media experience, and more time to use it, do so. But this is direct contact, so do not be completely hands off.

• Identify where your target audience spends most of their social media time. Middle-aged people tend to use Facebook, while a younger crowd leans toward Instagram and Twitter. Do your homework and know your target. This means your time is not wasted targeting people who do not use your product or service.

• Don’t be afraid to reach out on social media, don’t worry about being perfect. Be humble on your social media and learn from others. Let the public see you as a person instead of a business. Interaction is the key to success.

• Manage your time there. Build a strategy. Figure out how much time you would like to dedicate to your social marketing and be consistent.

• Schedule when you will post new information. You may want to post everyday or every week. Pick a day and a time and stick to it. Customers also like to see consistency.

• Set a time limit, social media is very addicting and time-consuming. Go into it ready to work and then leave when finished or you will dedicate more time than you planned on.

• Don’t get distracted, there are many different sites you can end up on from social media. Stay focused.

Remember, you do not function on clock time. You function on real-time. Schedule your time and do not be a slave to a clock.

Wendy is a super connector who helps businesses find their audience online through outreach, partnerships and networking. She frequently writes about the latest advancements in digital marketing and focuses her efforts on developing customized marketing plans depending on the industry and competition.