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Million Dollar Tips On Managing Your Time
June 30th, 2009 by Kendall
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Have you ever noticed that entrepreneurs will scrimp and save every dollar they can but then fritter away hours of their time on unproductive (and often un-fun) activities that add nothing to their 1ncome?
Why IS that?!
The reasons are twofold. First, most business owners don’t truly know WHAT to do with their time, so they end up doing tasks that are either within their comfort zone or the ones they think they’re “supposed” to do.
Or, they focus their time on tasks that keep them busy, thus fulfilling their need to feel productive even though the results add little to their bottom line.
There’s also a hidden, secret reason women biz owners fritter away their time and it’s because of fear.
Getting a handle on your time means potentially challenging beliefs about being “nice,” being “helpful” and other typically feminine ideals.
What women entrepreneurs fear isn’t making necessary changes in our beliefs. We fear upsetting the apple cart, as in possibly hurting someone’s feelings, letting down someone we care about or appearing to be overly focused on success instead of relationships.
I had to face these same challenges as I grew my business first from low 6-figures into high 6-figures, and then when I made the leap into a million dollar business.
Here are three of my favorite strategies for focusing my time on the 6- and 7-figure tasks a million dollar business owner does, WITHOUT hurting anyone’s feelings or risking losing a valuable relationship. In fact, these strategies will help you be MORE available to the people you care about!
Strategy #1 Respect Your Time Like You Respect Other Peoples’ Feelings
Most women biz owners wouldn’t dream of interrupting, barging in on someone, asking for help when someone is clearly busy or take something owned by someone else without first asking permission.
Yet that’s what you’re allowing when you let yourself be interrupted, answer your cell phone every time it rings, frequently check voice mail or obsessively check email. Don’t even get me started on responding to text messages before the print even finishes displaying!
Once you start turning off your phone ringer, scheduling two or three email “batch” times per day and treating your time with the same respect you give to others, you’ll be amazed at how much more you get done and how much peace you add to your day.
Strategy #2 Get Clear On Your Million Dollar Work
Do you honestly think the owner of a million dollar business broadcasts her own newsletter, posts to her blog or surfs the web for clip art? As that business owner I can tell you the answer is “no way!”
Women must focus on the tasks we excel at doing. Things like creating JV relationships, public speaking to share your message to many people or planning your next service or product launch.
These aren’t tasks you add TO your day; they ARE the tasks you do with your day. Once you make the shift and start redirecting your time to activities that help you grow your list, improve your bottom line or leverage your time you’ll instantly see an 1ncrease in your business growth and your feeling of happiness and being on purpose.
Which leads me to strategy #3…
Strategy #3 Get Help From Your Gal Pals
Chances are good that even if you have a team you’re still doing too much yourself and not empowering your team to lead projects or take over tasks still languishing on your to-do list.
Ladies, please! Stop thinking you have something to prove by doing everything yourself. You don’t need to know how to do a task before you give it over to someone else. Banding together is a unique and valuable quality of your Divine Feminine spirit. Your ability to grow your business is in direct proportion to your ability to ask for — and receive — support. Which means hiring someone to help you before you’re in total overwhelm. Trust me, you can make back the cost of hiring someone in just a week or two!
How Do I Know When I Need To Delegate More?
Big clues are when a task sits on my to-do list for more than two weeks. Ditto that for any email gathering dust for more than two weeks in my inbox. If I’m feeling stressed or overwhelmed. If I find myself working on Friday, which is my day to spend master minding and easing into the weekend. Or if my husband — and business partner, Richard — gives me that “Gee, don’t you think you’re micro managing everything?” look.
Doubling your revenue is entirely possible once you start letting go of how you currently spend your time and instead invest your time only on the tasks a million dollar business owner would focus on.
Posted in Money and Mindset • • Subscribe to this feed
Tags: money mindset, successful entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs
Hi Kendall,
Love these tips, especially “Your ability to grow your business is in direct proportion to your ability to ask for — and receive — support.” This one speaks to me in a big way.
#1 on priority list!
thx
G.
Comment by Giulietta — June 30, 2009 @ 2:01 pm
Well said, Kendall! Always love hearing your wisdom.
Marcia Bench,
Marketing and Business Strategist for Purposeful Entrepreneurs
Comment by Marcia Bench — June 30, 2009 @ 6:10 pm
Lots of great tips and reminders here. They are things I intuitively know but can fall into the trap of thinking they will only take a couple of minutes so I can do it myself. (and they never only take a couple of minutes)
Stacey Mayo, The Dream Queen
Author of “I Can’t Believe I Get Paid To Do This”
Creator of The One Minute Meditation
Comment by Stacey Mayo — June 30, 2009 @ 6:19 pm
Time to focus on my next product launch and not blogging
I can’t resist yours Kendall -the info is always practical and right on!
Comment by ann — June 30, 2009 @ 6:20 pm
You’re talking to me aren’t you? You must be that fly on my wall !
Thanks for keeping it all in perspective.
Hugs,
~Schelli
Comment by Schelli Whitehouse — June 30, 2009 @ 6:52 pm
I agree completely! It can be a very hard lesson to learn when it comes to asking for the help. I think a lot of business owners feel like they should do everything themselves in order to make sure ‘it gets done right.’ However, this only takes your time away from doing bigger things! Thanks for the informative article!
Sherry Mirshahi, President
Interview Roadmap
You’ve got the drive..we’ve got the directions!
Comment by Sherry — July 1, 2009 @ 6:08 am
Kendall, if everyone took your advice then all VAs would be filled to capacity! woo hoo!
I have clients who still surf the web for clip art and update their newsletter. I keep reminding them that that’s what I’m for. Of course I feel they are wasting their time doing these tasks but worse, I feel like I’m not contributing to their bottom line but rather an expense. What can I say that will get them to realize they need to let go?
Comment by Lisa — July 1, 2009 @ 7:25 am
Great article, Kendall.
I can add another one - if I hate it and it’s going to take me longer to do (and with more frustration) then it definitely shouldn’t be on my to-do list.
That’s anything techno for me
Comment by Marcia Francois — July 1, 2009 @ 7:27 am
Kendall,
Your articles always speak to me. I know so well not to waste my time doing mundane tasks, yet I still catch myself doing those things. I was wasting time just minutes before reading your article.
I think for many people letting go of certain tasks is more of a control thing. A need to be in control. Delegating projects is a form of passing the control over to someone else. I think the key is finding people you can trust to delegate your tasks to, and clearly defining your system to that person in a way that ensures the tasks are done to your satisfaction.
Thanks for another great article.
Comment by Kim Reddington — July 1, 2009 @ 9:01 am
Sounds good but as one who does writing/newsletters etc getting business is a constant battle. Team…what team? Teams cost $$ and until there’s enough coming in there is one person team. Have followed much advice but it actually decreased my business. :-/
Comment by Jan — July 1, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
I would gladly delegate if I had the disposable income to pay someone. I wish my business was doing well enough to hand off tasks that allowed me to focus on things I’m good at.
Comment by Lori Radun — July 1, 2009 @ 12:03 pm
While I agree with Jan and Lori to some extent, I feel that as solopreneurs we do neglect to even think about hiring an assistant. Allotting a certain budget (percentage of profit) for hiring a VA for smaller repetitive tasks will help. That way we can program ourselves to spend a certain amount of money to hire VA for tasks ( not whole project). If the outcome is renumerative, we can continue, otherwise we can stop. Kendall is trying to help us let go of thinking that we have to do everything.
Comment by Lalitha — July 1, 2009 @ 8:28 pm
Great advice! I was so nervous about building my support system. Delegating has not only helped me stop being constantly anxious, its allowing me focus more on my work and I’m on the way to being a much better designer. Still having issues with emails and calls though:(.
Comment by Agnes Ikotun — July 6, 2009 @ 8:31 pm
Love this article Kendall! What a great reminder of the mindset it takes to grow your business to a bigger level - you have to do it different!
Letting go, releasing…keep it flowing….
thanks!
Comment by Laura West — July 9, 2009 @ 1:34 pm