10 Time Management Tips For Small Businesses

“Just as a well-run business follows a budget in spending money, an effective business person should also follow a budget (or schedule) in spending time.”

Being a business owner myself, I wish I had more hours in my day. But time is always getting away from me, you know how it goes. Come into the office around 9 o’ clock and you check your email, voicemail, start looking over your planner to see what needs to be accomplished today and BOOM before you know it, it’s time for lunch. I have found these 10 tips to put time back into my day and I hope these will work for you as well.

1. Recognize you can do it all
We are only given 24 hours in a day. Time doesn’t change. Realize we can only manage ourselves and what we do with that time.

2. Figure out your time- wasters
We all fall victim to time wasters- Do you spend too much time surfing the net, reading email, making calls? By tracking these you can get a picture of what you REALLY do during your day.

3. Set time limits for all tasks
Once you have figured out what your time wasters are then set a limit to complete them and stick to it.

4. Develop routines and stick to them
You will be much more productive if you can follow these routines as much as possible.

5. Learn to Delegate
Delegation is hard for most business owners, but this skill is critical for businesses to succeed. You have to make this a priority if you’re going to do what you want to do and stay sane and happy.

6. Take advantage of “down-time”
Allow yourself some “down-time” between busy periods to look over your planner and reevaluate your priorities.

7. Stay Organized
Take time at the end of each day to organize your desk, inbox and emails. By doing so when you coming in the morning your desk will be clean. You will know what tasks need to be completed first and what emails to respond to.

8. Use the 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 rule is “80% of your success comes from 20% of your efforts.” So as a small business owner you will want to figure out where YOUR most profitable 20% is and spend the majority of your time there.

9. Keep your “to-do” list short
Have no more that eight items on your list. Remember this is a “daily” to – do list, as you complete tasks check them off and you will have a feeling of accomplishment.

10. Have you hired a Virtual Assistant?
My number one tip for small business owners is to partner with a Virtual Assistant. There are a number of administrative tasks that a VA can take care of for you on an ongoing basis so you, the business owner can spend more time with clients.

Wise Virtual Solutions is a top notch virtual assistant firm that aims to help busy business owners worldwide reduce stress while saving you time and money. We offer online support and social media assistance.

http://www.wisevirtualsolutions.com