Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day, and even small business owners have to sleep at some point. There’s so much to do as a small business owner, and only so much time to do it in. Here are ten time management tips for small business owners.
My Ten Time Management Tips for Small Business Owners
- Batch tasks per day
- Batch task per task
- Do the task you love first
- Work in power hours
- Do tasks with the Pomodoro Technique
- Make and follow To-Do Lists
- Tell your tasks to a work bestie
- Organize your Area that works for you
- Hire someone when you reach that point
- Look into what tasks can be automated
- Bonus Tip: Rest before your body makes you
Batching Tasks per Day
Batching tasks per day is taking a look at everything you do on a daily/weekly basis, and dedicating one day to those tasks, getting them all done that day. So if you’re working on your social media, you take one day and plan your content, make any content that you need to make to go with that plan, and then schedule that content (or know when that content is going to go up if you can’t schedule posts).
This helps you so if you get on a roll, you do not have to stop and change business tasks, you can keep working until it is done – or a life task calls you away.
You could do Social Media Monday, Follow up Tuesday, Picture Wednesday, Packing Thursday, and Video Friday, as an example. These are tasks that have to be done for your business to have a presence on social media. They do not have to be these tasks, nor in this order. They don’t even have to go Monday through Friday. This is your time, mangage it in a way that makes sense to you, and your business.
Batching Task per Task
This is similar to batching tasks by day, but batching by task is several different tasks in a single day. So you’ll spend time working on just scheduling your social media content – a week, a month, anywhere in between – you decide. Then you work on that timeframe of content until you reach that date, then stop.
You can then focus on one task at a time, working your way through the tasks until they’re done, switching gears and focusing on another task.
This is good for if you have things that need to get done at a certain time everyday. Do you take pictures for you business, but you need the lighting outside and the lighting inside to work together? Taking pictures while the lighting is perfect, until you can’t anymore, is a great use of your time. Your picture space is set up, and you can take multiple pictures in a row, until you lose your good lighting. Assign the general categories a day, and work on those related tasks on that day.
This also offers you the flexibility to move tasks around if a day doesn’t work for them at that moment in time – in our picture analogy above, what happens on a rainy day, and try as you might, your pictures aren’t the best. You have the flexibility to set it down, and pick it back up when the lighting is better.
Doing the Tasks you Love to do First
You’ve heard the saying “Save the Best for Last” ? Throw it out the window (or maybe just set it aside). Especially if you’re neurodivergent, doing your favorite tasks first at the beginning of your day can give you the motivation to move on down your to-do list, and down to the tasks you hate.
Building momentum and keeping it steady will help make those tasks you do not want to do, easier. You’re already up, you’re already moving, you can just easily move onto to that dreaded task.
Chances are it’ll be done faster than you thought it would be, and you’ll be done with your day before you know it. The reason this works is once you’re doing something you love in your business, your brain is full of those happy chemicals, and you’re body is motion. A body that is in motion, stays in motion. A happy brain is much easier to work with then a brain that is dreading these task from the gate.
Working in Power Hours
This one was one of my favorite ways to work. A power hour is to set a timer for an hour, and focus on one task for that hour. Once that timer goes off, you stop that task – done or not – and move on to another task for an hour.
This gave me (and will give you) a chance to never get bored with what you’re doing. If your brain can only focus for a certain amount of time on one task, before it wonders, then work with that.
If you get done with a task, use the rest of the time to take a short break. Go to the bathroom, get a drink, stand up and shake it off. Don’t leave your workspace for too long, because if you’re anything like me, you’ll never come back to it if you do.
Working in the Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique is similar to power hours but its in smaller chunks of time. Pomodoro is 25 mins on/5 mins off for 4 rounds, and then take a 20 min break. So in 2 hours, you’ll work for 25 mins, and then off 5, then at the end of that 2 hours, take a 20 minute break.
This one is fairly popular with a lot of people and there are plenty of timers and apps to help you get started in this technique.
The shorter working sessions and taking a small break is useful if you find your mind wandering and you’re unable to focus for a longer (like an hour) period of time. Use this to do one task at a time, and plan what you’re doing to do next.
To-Do Lists
A classic to-do list, there isn’t anything like crossing off your task once you’ve gotten it done. Write down the tasks you want to get done during the day, and anything else that is floating around your brain. Once everything is written out, start out by ranking the tasks in order from “have to get done today or someone will be mad at me” to “it’d be super cool if this got done today but it can be moved if needed”.
Not every task is going to be “someone’s going to be mad at me”. Its just not possible. Even if that “person” is you. You have to take a good look at the tasks on your list, and really determine what needs to get done today. Shipping your orders out on time is important – someone is going to be mad. Your follow up emails, while important, can wait until tomorrow if you run out of time.
Accountability Partner Check In
Accountability partners, as a small business owner can be hard to find. It shouldn’t be your spouse, or partner. They’re (in my experience) the worst, because they’ll agree with you, and may never fully hold you accountable to what you said you wanted to do that day.
Your AP can be another business owner, your best friend, another close friend. These people are more likely to hold you to what you said at the end of the day. Make it a point to message them – everyday or every week – and tell them, in text or out loud, what you’re going to get done in that time. Tell them to check in on you at the end of the day.
Take those tasks that you told your friend and do them first. Anything you do after those tasks are done are bonus tasks that you can then tell them you got done extra. It’ll give your the warm fuzzies to report you got extra work done in the day.
Stay Organized
To stay organized is an area I struggle with. You can find everything you need a lot faster if you know where everything was to begin with. If you’re working on your taxes, having your loose receipts in one special spot makes that task go a lot faster.
Keeping your desk or your shipping area clean with everything put away makes it easier to come back to the next day. It eats time out of your day if you have start your day by cleaning your space before you can begin your work day. It can also start your day on a sour note, you may end up filling frustrated with your area, or yourself, and that is zero way to start and carry on with your day.
Give yourself closing tasks at the end of the day, so your future self is able to start their day without being frustrated that they can’t find anything that they need for the work day the next day. I’m not saying having everything sparkling in its own little container or folder. I’m talking about keeping your space organized with items in spaces that give you a good lay of the land of your work area.
Don’t be Afraid to Delegate
If there is a task that does not need your face, or your actual presence, it is a task that you can give to someone else. Hiring a virtual assistant, or a college kid to come in person for a few hours to work a month to work on one task, is money well spent.
You don’t have to be the one to do those follow up emails, you don’t have to be the one to pack the orders, you don’t have to be one to write your blog posts, you may WANT to be the one to do those tasks. If your time is better spent doing the things that your face needs to present for, and those tasks make you money, those are the tasks that you yourself should be focusing on.
Automate the Tasks that you can
Much like delegation, finding tools that you can program to do work for you is a great time saver, leaving you with more time to do the things that require your face. This process may take some extra time at first, since you have to research the tools, and learn how to use them. But they will save you time in the long run.
Can you find an email program that will send follow up messages for you? Can you find a program that will do bookkeeping for you? Can you write down your Standard Operating Procedures, so when you bring in another person to help with a task, it is easy for them to pick up?
There are a lot of different programs out there that can you set up and help save you time by doing the tasks for you. You only have to verify they’re working.
Bonus Tip: Build in a Rest Schedule
“But Melodie!!” you say, “there’s no TIME to rest!” And that’s where you’re wrong. You hear the saying that you can’t pour from an empty cup, and its really true. There are times in life where you have to work through burnout. Your business isn’t one of them.
Think about your why, why are you working for yourself. You want to work for yourself, and do what you love. And because you love what you do, your work may not always feel like work. But your body doesn’t know the difference. Work – whether you love it or not – is still work, and it still stresses you out, and causes your body to react to that stress.
Make sure you’re “closed” at a decent time, make sure you’re taking at least one day off once a week. I’ve moved to take Sunday’s fully off, and use Saturday’s as catch up days and planning days.
Voluntarily taking days off is much better than working until your body makes you take those days off. When your body takes your rest into its own “hands” it usually ends up not being a good time for the person in that body – ie sickness, bad mental health days to name a few. You’ll be off longer then if you chose the days off yourself and stuck to them.
Taking the time to organize your time, and your business can really take your business to the next level. You can’t grow your business or balance your time better if you can’t handle the tasks that you have to do now. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, and sleep is important. Take those 24 hours and really make them count.