I am one of the worst people in the world to tell you how to manage time.  I’m a procrastinator.  I like doing what I like to do and tend to neglect the other stuff.  But, you can’t manage a business that way.  So I’ve created a system that works for me.

Hey, try it!  It might work for you.

1.  The Spirit of Work

Call it spirit.  Call it mindset.  Call it an established routine.  Call it whatever you like but basically it’s just making up your mind that if you won’t to succeed, you have to work.

Here is how I do it.

Since many of my orders come in overnight, I’ve created the habit of turning on the laptop while making coffee the first thing each morning.  Before even getting dressed (and this is just the opposite of those who say you have to get dressed for business in order to do business), I check and print out the orders, take care of any that have to be emailed to dropshippers before 9am, and put the others in the orders folder to be filled later that day.  Then I quickly scan through the emails, answering any important ones.  It’s hard but I avoid opening any that aren’t important until later in the day.

By now, I’m in the mood to work.  But first, I take time for breakfast and get dressed for the day.  You may think this breaks the mood.  But, for me, it just gets me moving faster. 

2.  Running To Do List

I’ve read in time management books that you should sit down each evening and create a To Do list for the next day.  Heck, by evening, that’s the last thing I want to do.  I have to have lists to remember things but I’m not a heavy-duty list maker. 

What works best for me is a “running to do list.”  As I think of something that needs to be done (including personal chores and networking meetings), I add it to the list and cross it off when completed.  I look over what’s left on the list each morning, and do the more important things first.  By the time, they are done, I move on to the more boring ones, knowing that the faster I get those things out of the way, the sooner my work day is over.  Crossing each task off when finished makes me breathe easier when the list is long.

3.  Handling Distractions and Personal Chores

This is probably easier for those of you who have an away-from-home office or retail location.  For those of us who are homebased, it is much harder. 

I try to take advantage of the benefits of working from home such as less travel time and the ability to multi-task personal with business chores (but I’ll talk about the downfall of that later). 

I can let the washing machine work its magic while I accomplish business chores and can vacuum when I need to take a break from a long work session that requires a lot of sitting.  My retired husband is probably the biggest distraction as I have to consider his schedule (or lack of one) as well.  But since he’s been retired since he was 50, we have worked out that pretty well.  But it was h#%& the first year he was home all the time.

Email is a big distraction.  I check it regularly throughout the day.  It only takes a few minutes and I don’t read the ads and other stuff that can wait.  The important bits are orders and emails from customers and my GiftBasketNetwork members.  Those are top priority.

The big advantage of working from home is that I can take time out of the middle of the day to do other things knowing that I can finish up needed chores in the evening if necessary.

As most of you know, I operate a number of website businesses.  I’ve been asked how do you fit the computer work into your day.  The answer is “I don’t”.  Ever since I was growing up in the 50’s when we had the TV on in the living room while doing homework, I’ve learned to listen to TV while working–and I do it quite well.  I have a desk with my laptop and needed files in the family room where my husband watches TV in the evening and I work on my website stuff.  If there is a program that I want to devote my full attention to (like Mystery and Masterpiece Theatre on PBS), I simply take a break and watch it.

4. Take notes and put them aside

What?  If you don’t do it now, it doesn’t get done?

Of course, you have to act on your ideas and notes but the timing is crucial.  If you act on every idea or every note you make that very minute, you’ll find yourself going off into a thousand different directions.  The end result is nothing gets done.  This is when multi-tasking is not good and just creates more problems.

So think while you work, make notes, and then act on them when you finish what you are currently working on or add them to the running to do list.

6.  Learn to Say NO!

If you agree to do everything that is asked of you, you’ll never get any work done.  People who work in offices tend to think that because you work at home, you don’t have a “real” job and can take on those chores that they don’t have time to do.

I’ve learned that if the request is not something I want to do, does not benefit me, or I don’t have time for, I politely decline.  When I explain that I have “blank number of orders that I have to get ready to ship out before the UPS man arrives”,  it helps put my “homebased business” in perspective for them.
7.  Learn to delegate and automate as much as possible.
I’m one of those folks who believe that no one can do something as well as I can.  Well, that’s a belief that I’ve had to get over.  As a result, I’ve discovered that there are people who can actually do certain things better than I could ever do.

I’m still working on this and don’t know if I will ever completely handle delegation as well as I should. . . but I’m working on it.  If you have the same problem, begin with those little tasks, like hiring a teenager to handle addressing and mailing those marketing letters or postcards.

There are times when it takes a lot of valuable time to learn how to do something that could be better spent doing those things you are good at.  Computer programs and marketing are good examples.  I learned Frontpage and Search Engine Optimization back when my business was slower and I’m glad I did as I save a lot of money by doing these things myself.  But if you don’t have the time to learn, it is a much wiser use of time and money to pay someone else to do them for you.

When I started the new website GiftRetailersNetwork.com, I knew that I wanted it to be an “authorized access only” website since it was being provided free to those in the gift and gift basket industry and I didn’t want the search engines to access the forum or other parts of it.  I could have spent days learning how to do this myself.  Instead I hired Laura at Firelight Web Studio to build it as a joomla site instead of an html site.  She was reasonable, taught me how to handle all the data entry myself, and saved me a lot of valuable time and frustration.

8.  Take Periodic Breaks

I try to break my work schedules into two-hour segments.  That’s about as long as you can concentrate effectively on one chore.  I work for roughly two hours, then get up and walk around, have something to drink, play with Delilah (my mini dachshund), or make personal phone calls.  Sometimes, I’ll take Delilah up to Buffalo Park for a walk or go do something with Ron (the wind beneath my wings).  Then, when I’m ready to get back to work, I’m refreshed and can do a better job.

9.  Create Balance

I admit it.  I’m a workaholic.  I enjoy what I do and it has a major priority in my life.  The older I get, the more I want to share all that I’ve learned about business in general, computers, and the gift basket business specifically with those who are looking for knowledge.  Most weeks, I work all seven days and you may find me on the computer at 6:00 some mornings and at 10:00 some evenings.

BUT, I do have a life and try to keep a good balance between business, family, and my own personal needs.  I’m not the typical “cookie baking” grandma but I do take time for my daughters and grandchildren.  Last Saturday, I took the whole day off and went to my grandson’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor.  Yesterday, I took the afternoon off and babysat one of my daughter’s children and foster children while one child had foot surgery.  When Ron comes home, I take the time to stop and visit with him and I usually have lunch with him each day. 

Balance is the one thing that can make the most difference in your busy life and will make the difference in how you are remembered long after you’re gone.  I really don’t care if I’m remembered by how many gift baskets I made and delivered or how many websites I created (although these things are important to me right now).  But what is more important is how my husband, daughters, and those grandkids remember the celebrations we shared, the fun we had, and the fact that I was there when they needed me.

10:  Create Your Own Time Management Techniques

When I was a young mother, I read just about every time management book and article I could find.  Some of the ideas worked for me while others used more time to manage the technique than just getting the job done.

The above are some of the ways that I organize my day, and as you can see, it’s far from organized.  It’s more about managing my time than organizing it.  This works for me.  It may not work for you.  It all depends on where you are in your life (and that changes), what your needs and responsbilities are, and what time you have left to manage.  If you’re working a full-time job outside the home, those hours are already managed for you.  All you have left to control is the time you have outside the job situation. 

If you’ve created some time management techniques/skills that work for you, I and my readers would love to hear about them.  If you’re reading this via email, you will need to go to the blog itself and post your ideas.

Marketing can be all this and more.  But what is important is what is working for you

If you’ve been trying every thing you hear about and calling that a marketing strategy, you’ve got some work to do. You need to create a winning marketing strategy that will tip the scales in your favor.  What works for one person or company may not work for another.

This is true not only in business but in politics as well.  Touring the countryside, talking direct to people works great for President Obama and played a big part in his election.  This strategy hasn’t worked so well for others.  Each of us is unique and each needs a unique strategy that works for us.

 If you’ve been trying lots of different things to reach your customers, you need to sit down and determine what works and what doesn’t.  If you’ve been in business for awhile, that is relatively easy to do.  Go back through your orders for the past six months and record where each of them came from.  Are you getting 60% of your orders from that networking group or is it one order every two or three months?  Are the cold calls producing appointments and resulting orders?  How about that website?

Once you know which techniques work for you and your company, this should be the center of your marketing strategy.  I’m not suggesting that you give up those things that work okay but not great.  But as long as you concentrate most of your energy, time, and money on the techniques that bring in the most orders, you can add a little salt to the pot with some of the less sucessful techniques as time and money allows.

Create a winning marketing strategy and you’ll have a winning business

Do we always make the right choices?  No.  We tend to follow the path of least resistence.  That’s human nature.   But here are some tips to help push us more towards making the choices that can truly make a difference in our lives and business.

• Develop Routines.  By creating a daily routine, we develop habits.  They can be good or bad depending on the routine that we choose to put into place.  But a routine makes us do things consistently and, as a result, we become faster and faster at whatever we are doing.
• Look at the Big Picture.  We can avoid a lot of frustration by asking ourselves, “In the long run, does this really matter?  Will it make any difference a week from now?  Thirty days from now? Ten years from now?”  If you can’t answer yes to at least the first two questions, don’t waste your time doing it.  The answer to these questions can frequently make the difference between choosing time for family and taking care of yourself and business chores.
• Make a Schedule.  Instead of making choices and scheduling what is truly important in our day, we tend to follow the “whatever is thrown at us” mode.  It’s true that emergencies happen, orders come in that have to get out, and “today may be the only time to get out and smell the flowers.”  But instead of living in a daily reaction mode, schedule the things that are truly important and then work around that schedule.
•  Trade the word “On” for “In” Some of the Time.  Most of us work “in” our business every day doing things needed to maintain and grow our business. We read emails, answer the phone, network, fill orders, etc. But plan to take time out of your week to work “on” your business.  Review your business and marketing plan. Look at your profit and loss statements.  How is your cash flow? Check out your inventory.  Determine what you need to do to grow your business.  Decide what is working and what is not.  By taking a big long step back and reviewing your business from a different level than the day to day operation,  you will see it in a different perspective.  Take the time to decide where you want to go from here, what you want the coming year to be like, and what you have to do to get there.  The result will be a more successful and satisfying business.

A twisted little Catch-22.

The only way to break it, is to do it. It takes a shift in mentality. And maybe some pleas for help.

But it is the difference between grim survival, and thriving. It is the difference between hand to mouth existence, and prosperity. A difference worth making some sacrifices for.

As little as an hour or two a week, spend on work that takes you forward, instead of just keeping you where you are just barely keeping up, can move you into a more manageable environment within weeks.

I’m not just philosophising here. I’m speaking from experience. I’ve been against the wall and ready to sit down and just cry because I could not cope with the load anymore. I’ve had to make choices when it seemed there was no choice.

It can get better. It takes a shift. In thinking, and in priorities. It takes the realization that the only way to stop today being so overwhelming is to do a bit that makes tomorrow a little lighter. If you choose the right tasks to do today, then they will go on making many tomorrows lighter.

There’s a kind of miracle in that… and it works.

The above post is from our Guest Blogger, Laura Wheeler, owner of  Firelight Business Enterprises.  She is an incredible wealth of knowledge about the internet and building website businesses and has been a valuable resource to me.