Experienced business owners know their time is limited (and precious). They understand they’re not going to be good at everything, so they use the time they do have to focus on the tasks of greatest advantage for their business.
The reason we talk about ‘experienced’ entrepreneurs in this blog is because many entrepreneurs have learned the productivity lesson the hard way. They’ve spent years tackling the most urgent tasks alone, finding their time so stretched they can’t focus on the really important things. The tasks that will improve and grow the business.
You have the benefit of learning from their experience, getting the support you need in the early days rather than waiting for burnout or stagnation to understand the importance of letting some things go.
Every Business Owner's Biggest Resource is Time
There’s a popular time management analogy about rocks, pebbles and sand, and it goes something like this:
Imagine you have an empty jar, a bunch of rocks, some smaller pebbles and some sand.
Metaphorically, the rocks are the most important things you have on your business owner to-do list. The pebbles are your metaphorical mediums, and the sand represents all the little tasks of least importance that need doing.
If you start to fill your jar by adding the sand first, then the pebbles, you’ll leave no space for the rocks.
The moral of the tale? If you don’t put the rocks in your jar first, you won’t be able to fit them in later. If you’re filling all your time with the small tasks of least importance, you leave no time for the most important strategic ones for growth.
When you’re deciding how to prioritize your time, ask yourself:
What do I need to do to grow my business and make it more profitable?
There are lots of areas you could be spending your time in the pursuit of growth and improvement, like:
- Hiring people
- Marketing campaigns
- Sales process improvement
- Delivery of products and services
At the same time, there are lots of tasks that pop up in the day-to-day running of the business that don’t impact the growth of the business.
You’re in a constant battle between the stuff that just needs getting done and the strategic thinking and planning. With more strategic thinking, you may figure out a good process that ensures those ‘just-get-it-done’ tasks can be done repeatedly and consistently by someone else or via automation.
A one time solution can save you doing something a thousand times over. I’d say coming up with the systemized solution is more important than just getting the thing done. Wouldn’t you?
Establish a System
We are followers of David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology. It is the system that is baked into most task management applications today and for good reason: it’s an amazing system. Essentially, you find ways to capture absolutely everything that you need to do and then you:
- Clarify the tasks by adding the detail you need to complete them,
- Organize them into your prioritized to-do list,
- Review them to make sure your next steps are clear, and
- Attack them one by one during periods of execution
Any system you choose should allow you to:
- Create tasks from anywhere with one (or maybe two) clicks.
- Add additional detail to your tasks for clarity
- Drag and drop those tasks into priority order.
- Create sections on tasks to hide anything you are not currently working on.
- Allow you to check-off your task without deleting it (for reflection purposes)
But alas, we still have to get our work done and we often have more in our to-do list than we can realistically accomplish in one day. That’s where the urgent/important framework comes in handy.
We have a bunch of helpful productivity tips like this in our FREE productivity guide. We talk about how to:
- Master the productivity trifecta of energy, attention and time.
- Work smarter, rather than harder
- Hack your monkey brain (which is always ready to derail your big productivity)
- Cozy up to the lingering tasks that sit in our to-do list taunting us day-in and day-out
- Work a System by capturing, organizing and scheduling all the things we need to do
We also give you a behind-the-curtain look at Joe’s compass. Your compass is a one-page document that can steer all of your decision making, keep you on track and motivate you to be better. This is a great practical example for you to steal like an artist!
Protect Your To-Do List by Delegating (Not Abdicating) Areas
When first starting out in business, we tend to try and tackle everything. When we do start to outsource some areas, like sales and marketing - we appreciate in those early stages that we can’t be completely hands off.
We encourage you to continue with this mentality - get help with the things you’re less interested in or less of an expert in, but stay as hands on as you need to be to give input and get the benefit of the service.
Let’s look at the marketing function as an example. Your marketing comes from your vision. Whether you employ an in-house marketing team or outsource your marketing, you will need to provide input on behalf of your brand and vision as you grow. The best marketing will come from your vision, but you have the support to bring your vision to life and see tasks across the finish line.
The same can be said of your finances. Our clients delegate the financial tasks to us but they don’t fully abdicate them. We provide practical support, advice and education to allow them to use their numbers to make decisions for the good of their business.
With Avalon, you have a team, and a system that works every time to get you the information and peace of mind you need to grow. Because it’s a partnership, input is needed from you, but your business will be all the better for it.
So, you don’t have to be hands on with everything. But you don’t have to be fully hands-off either. You can release the pressure valve, and get some support while still being involved in the process. Plus, the wins will be all the more satisfying and fulfilling when you’re involved!
You can be the experienced entrepreneur.
Let’s just make sure that experience is a positive one.
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