Politically Incorrect Time Management
On Saturday, me and my ol’ pup, Bally the Dog spent the afternoon outside. It was a gorgeous afternoon with the temperature around 62 Farenheit (15 Celcius).
We did a few loops around the river. He chased varmints and I listened to a marketing seminar on my CD player. (Yes, I seriously have a portable CD player.)
As I listened to the Dan Kennedy seminar, I was reminded of how important it is to be ruthless with your time, even when you are your own boss in a website business.
Heck, it’s even MORE important to manage your time when you are the boss. Time is money. And you can never get time back.
I’ve always tried to make the best use of my time.
When I was a full-time personal trainer working on my web business “on the side”, I would get up at 4:30am to work for 20 minute before heading to my first 6am client.
And in those focused 20 minutes, I was able to get 2 hours of work done.
With an internet business, you can have amazing ideas, but if you don’t implement, take action, and get the work done, you`ll struggle.
So today, let`s review a few Politically-Incorrect Time Management Strategies.
I apologize in advance for offending you.
Tip 1 – Do not answer the phone or immediately respond to emails
When building your website business, you need to be strict about creating blocks of creative time when you can work on projects. Answering every phone call or email disturbs your work and flow, and doubles the length of time to get stuff done.
Be ruthless. Set rules. Have a block of time for communication and make it known to those who contact you on a regular basis.
Tip 2 – Do not allow people to “drop by”
Again, you must stop the interruptions. After all, what important person drops everything to receive unexpected visitors?
Is Donald Trump going to see you when you pop by the Trump Tower to check out his boardroom? Of course not. And while neither of us are Trump, we have projects that are just as important (to us) as he does to him.
Set your rules. Block your time. Bar the door.
Tip 3 – Do not set expectations you can’t meet
Quick and easy access to you is an expectation that cannot be permanently met as your website business grows. While you might want to return every email immediately and personally, understand that as your website begins to get exponentially more sales and traffic, you simply won’t be able to answer every email. So be careful about the precedents you set, to avoid future disappointment.
Tip 4 – Respond to emails at a particular time and make that known to everyone who emails you
It’s very simple. Answer all of your emails at the end of the day. This prevents unnecessary email conversations from growing. Most emails – even the ones that seem to be emergencies – are not emergencies. Don’t train people to expect immediate responses from you…in fact, train them to expect a response at a given time every day. Show them
that you are in charge of your time.
NOTE: But please don’t be that person that uses the automatic reply about when you check your email. That’s just rude and wastes the other person’s time. Those auto-replies are so 2006.
Tip 5 – Script Your Day
At the end of every working day, script out your next day. It’s very simple. You should have a template that you can insert specific projects into. For example, here’s the template I use. I replace the word “FOCUS” with specific items.
5-Read & Internet Independence Email Creation
6-Dog walk
7-FOCUS Writing
8-Workout
9-FB; #’s, emails, blog; dog walk
10-FOCUS
12-lunch
1-FOCUS
3-FOCUS
5-Respond to email and script next day
Simple yet powerful.
Take charge of your life and your time,
Craig Ballantyne
“The importance of a person is directly proportional to how difficult it is to get them on the phone.” – Dan Kennedy