Mananging Your Time as a Business Owner 3
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
This all sounds like a lot of busywork. How is it going to help me get more done in less time?
Effective time management isn't a matter of completing more activities in less time. It is a matter of using your time efficiently (managing it) to achieve your goals.
For example, suppose Mary Jones offers word processing and mailing list maintenance services to small businesses near her home. She has a couple of steady customers and gets sporadic business from several shopkeepers in the area. Now that the twins have started junior high school, she has more time to work and realizes shell probably need extra money in a few years to help pay for their college tuitions. Which of the following should she do?
- look for new customers by sending a mailing to all local businesses telling them about her services
- create a newsletter or flier to demonstrate her skills and have it distributed with the local chamber of commerce mailing
- advertise resume preparation and word processing in the Yellow Pages and local weekly newspapers
- look for a job teaching word processing
- try to get typing jobs from bigger businesses or organizations
- start a temporary employment agency specializing in providing highly skilled word processors to industry
- get a "real" job during the day and type resumes at night
Almost any of these options might bring in some additional income. In fact, Mary might be tempted to try all of the above activities once to bring in more work. The new work she brings in might make her very busy, but if it all comes from onetime customers or requires her to spend a lot of nonbillable time talking to new clients or learning new skills, she might be very busy but still not meet her income objectives.
If Mary wants to make the best possible use of her income-producing time, she will need to focus on her goals and plan around them. First, she should decide how much money she wants to earn or needs to earn, how many hours she is willing or able to work to bring in that amount of income, and what kind of work she likes to do. Then she should look for the best ways to produce the amount of income she needs in the number of hours she can allot to income-producing activities.
Thus, if she needs an extra $200 a week, and local shopkeepers tend to have only small, one-time jobs—and quibble over the price of those, to boot—doing a mailing to small shopkeepers will be a waste of Mary's time and money. However, if she has some background working in a legal or medical office, she might do well to focus on soliciting business from attorneys in a 20-mile radius.
If Mary has the time, energy, and desire to expand her one-person business and can raise sufficient capital to start a temporary employment agency, the best way for her to spend her time at the moment might be researching whether the community could use another employment agency and what she would need to do to start one. The same kind of carefully thought-out approach can help you better manage your time to meet your goals.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
