If you’re a small business owner with big ambitions, you probably know that good time management is very important. But, it can be challenging to manage time when you have a lot of tasks. These include catching up with all the latest trends, marketing your web presence, managing employees, and communicating with clients. In other words – everything that a business needs to do in the 21st century. We know how hard it is! Here are 4 Time Management tips that will guide you through your busy schedule.
1. Prioritize Urgent and Important Tasks
Have you heard of the famous story about using traffic lights in the office? Alan Mulally, the former CEO of the Ford Motor Company, implemented this during his tenure at the automaker. It is a perfect example of how simple time management tips can boost productivity.
Classify your team’s tasks into green, yellow, and red corresponding to their importance.
Start with the red ones, move to yellow, and finalize with green.
Prioritizing tasks by urgency will allow you to meet deadlines consistently. So, remember the traffic light system for time management. It can work wonders when used correctly.
2. Stick to the 80/20 Time Management Rule
It has been proven that 20% of what we do throughout the day produces 80% of the results. Because of this, it is important to identify these tasks and prioritize them.
Prioritizing tasks that can provide you with 80% of your day’s results can help you get more done in a day. This time management tip will then have lots of benefits for your team, leading to increased productivity.
3. Don’t Be Afraid to Delegate
Delegation is one of the main challenges of time management in a small business. You may have lots of questions about it, such as:
What should I delegate? Who should I delegate to? Should I spend time checking the task?
To simplify the process, classify tasks according to their difficulty and group them by:
- Tasks that only you can do
- Those that another person can do with your help
- Tasks that another person can do independently
This will help you identify tasks that you can cross off from your planner and relieve the burden.
Keep in mind that you will need to spend some time training employees. But if you’ve got the right person – it will be worth it in the long run. Hire people you can trust and delegate with confidence.
4. Find the Right Team Collaboration Tool
Even if your team is small, you still need to maintain collaboration efficiency. So, be careful when choosing relevant tools.
What is the primary collaboration tool for your small business? Is it an E-mail marketing tool? A social media platform like Facebook? Or maybe a messaging app like Slack? Are you consistent with time tracking? Do you need separate software to increase productivity?
Think about these questions and make those answers distinct for yourself. This will help you get the most from any time management tips you decide to implement in the future.
To Conclude
Once you follow these time management tips for a period, analyze the results at the end. You will identify major time wasters, distractions, and things getting in the way of growing your business. Never give up and optimize your business schedule to the fullest.
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