Home Business: What’s The Catch? Time Management
Read More: What’s The Catch?
So often people want to know “What’s the catch?” when presented with a home business opportunity. I will tell you right up front. You need to fit it in around what you are currently doing! It is most inadvisable to quit your job. You also were doing other things when the ‘idea’ of being your own boss, of running your own home business really grabbed hold of you. Time management skills are essential . Time is the commodity these days; so time management is critically important. How do you spin yet another plate? How do you know what is realistic? How do you set time aside?
Spinning One More Plate
My goal here is to give you a framework so that you can continue spinning all your plates and add one more. Why would you want to do this when life is already crazy busy? Robert Kiyosaki advises us not to buy real estate or jump into the stock market. His advice is to own your OWN business. We are not talking a ‘S’ Quadrant or self-employed business here we are talking about developing a ‘B’ Quadrant business; a home based business. If you don’t learn to develop passive income your life will always be hectic. This is one plate you must spin if you ever want to achieve both time and money in your life at the same time.
How do you determine what is realistic?
When starting a home business, ask yourself: “How many hours a week can I devote to my business?” 8-10 is a bare minimum otherwise you are spinning your wheels. 12-15 is realistic and more will move you forward that much faster. It is essential you treat a home business as you would any business or job. Without a structure and time management skills it is very difficult to run a home business.
How do you set time aside?
First, become clear on what your most important activities are. Next, block out time. Take a calendar and literally map out your week. As Steven Covey teaches, mark in your big rocks 1st. Block off all the times you already have committed: job, family etc. Next look at what time is left and total it up. You really need 15 hours a week. You also need to allow time for your own personal development and continuing education. In the beginning you will have more time for this but as your home business grows your time investment will shift to more business buliding activities. To stay a step ahead you still need to schedule at least 5 hours a week for your own education.
With the remaining time write in your office hours. Perhaps you have 20 hours; that would be 5 blocks 4 hours in length or 10 blocks of 2 hours. This is not written in stone. Life does get in the way; particularly when your business is home based. Simply pay yourself back and reschedule the time you missed. At least you have identified this time as business time.
Master Plan
This should be your master plan that you can print off and post for everyone to see. It can be updated seasonally depending on your family activities. This is like setting an appointment with yourself. Just like a job you have regular work hours to which you adhere. If someone called you up on a work day and asked you to go to a movie; would you go? I think not. Remember, you teach people how to treat you. When you respect your time others will respect it to.
Contact Management System
In addition to your master plan, you need to have a contact management system on your computer. My recommendation is Oprius. You can see every current task, phone call, appointment and email you have had with someone at a glance. I’m extremely visual so the fact that it is also colour-coded has been a life saver.
You are all set! You have the time management monster under control. You have a clear goals and benchmarks. You know how many hours you have to work your home business. You have carved out time for all your important activities. You have realistic expectations. You have a master plan posted to remind you and your family of your work hours. You have a contact management system in place. These are the first steps to achieving time management in your home based business.
To your $uccess!
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About the Author: Irene Kirkman
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Primary Web Site: http://internetworkmarketercoach.com
re: Home Business: What’s The Catch? Time Management
Hi Irene,
I really like your article. I think that time management is a problem for many networkers.
My problem is that I don't always focus on getting the most important revenue producing items done first. Oh, I stay busy. But at the end of the day, I have not done what it takes to really move my business forward.
Thanks for the good information.
Scott Hubbard
Distractions
Hi Irene,
I agree with Scott that managing one's time is a huge challenge for most networkers.
A huge turning point for me was getting rid of distractions like my email ring each time I get a new email. Now I check them twice a day only. I now have boundaries around incoming calls, limitations around social activities during my work hours, etc.
Failing to plan is planning to fail!
Dianne
For the moms and dads out there
Well done Irene. And if you're a mom or dad working from home (especially with young children), you totally understand the need to not only manage your time, but be flexible. You might not have huge chunks of quiet time, so I've learned to treat these times like gold and dedicate them to such activities as client/prospect/partner communication. I also get a lot done before the kids wake up or after they go to bed. This is the time I do things like marketing, send emails, write and admin work. It's so important to be flexible though. Things won't always go as planned, and I've learned to take things in stride and not get frazzled when interruptions occur. I couldn't live without the mute button on my phone!
Self-Management
Hi Irene,
Well written article on a topic that is difficult for many people, especially those just starting their own business. You gave some great strategies to get going and get focused. I believe a lot of the challenge not only has to do with the fact that most people are adding business activities to an already crowded schedule, but the fact that those starting a new business also have to make the mental mindshift in becoming a business owner rather than an employee.
As an employee, you have someone else telling you what needs to be done and when it has to be done by. As an business owner you need to make those decisions. For me that was a very liberating feeling and one of the reasons I was determined to do everything in my power not to have to work for someone else again.
The reality is we all have 24/7. No one has any more or any less hours a day or week. How we use that time is up to us, so prioritizing is so important. As Scott said, you can be busy, but are you busy with the right activities? Remembering the 80/20 rule is important - 80 percent of your business come from 20 percent of your customers, 80 percent of your growth comes from 20 percent of your downline, and so on. Focusing on the most important activities and people is key to moving your business forward and getting the most out of life. It all comes down to self-management.
Stay Focussed
Buiding a business is not all peaches and cream. When first starting out you have to stay focussed on the task at hand, keep all of the noise and static on the outside. Keeping in focus is one of those things that becomes easier with practice. But sometimes you seem to get stuck in a rut and just can't seem to make any progress. Someone told me once, when that happens change you focus, write something. Write and publish a new article and it works for me.
When I read an excellent article like this one, I take notes, because an article like this inspires thoughts of things I want to write about.
Time management is so important, without it there cannot be a business
Thanks Irene I always enjoy reading your articles
Grant Logan
Great additions! Thanks!
Thanks for all the great comments and additional suggestions! Keep them coming. It is so challenging when you are in business on your own; you feel like you are the only one having difficulty staying on task.
Time Management
Learning how to make money from home, and taking action to do it, does require discipline. Both on how we use our time, and the effectiveness of our effort. Your topic on time management is not just for Newbies, but for everyone struggling to make money from home. I agree with Grant, that we need to stay focus to succeed, whether we are in Internet or Network Marketing.
Great article!
Great article Irene! I can't wait to put some of these things into practice. I definitely need to start blocking out my 15 hours a week. That's the only way it will happen. I can relate to Scott and Diane's comments about being busy but not accomplishing anything. Why is working from home so much harder than a job? Self discipline. I guess that's the difference between those who make it and those who don't. Great comments, too. Thanks for sharing!
Kari Baxter
The Key To Sucess?
Hello Irene,
Excellent article! Time management skills = success. Especially if one is an Attraction Marketer & Social Networker. I find myself going between my lap top, desktop, ipod touch and Blackberry. (Phew!). I have plugged Twitter, MySpace, FaceBook into my gadgets, that way I do not feel tied to my desk. However, to manage my time successfully, I have allocated time to each attraction marketing activity. Here's the thing- social networking is so much fun and really doesn't feel like work and I have made so many friends and I am building a business at the same time.
Rose Clark
Time Respect
While I've been aware of it all along, the area of respecting my time and others will respect it too has not been taken seriously enough. As a former professional procrastinator I was always of the mindset that I would make up for the lost time later. This article came along at the right time for me as I had just committed to stop the procrastination fixation so time management is at the forefront of my strategy. I know, it seems so simple and basic a principle, how could one not know this ? Looking forward, however, I'm not looking back and I'm putting these basic tips into practice.
Enough said. I feel better already. Thanks.
Fredrick Reiner
Nicely Written
Irene,
Thanks for writing a great article about a frequently overlooked discipline.
Time management is all about self discipline. I sometimes have a slightly different problem than those I see commented on. Being a middle-aged person, I tend to wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to go back to work. The danger of not being disciplined about time management under those circumstances, is it is incredibly easy to log onto the computer and work away while I should be sleeping!
On the one hand, that could be considered efficient use of time. The problem is that I am then a complete waste the whole next day when I am tired and dragging. So it's important to recognize that while it might seem like a good use of 60-90 minutes when not sleeping, it's not so efficient when you realize that you may lose 2-3 hours the next day due to simple fatigue.
Thanks for writing such an important article.
Timely Information
Irene - this article came just in the nick of time for me. I was getting really frustrated earlier today with all that I saw before me to do. I am going to take your advise and do a better job of planning my day and I know that the frustration will ease. Thanks so much for this great reminder.
Sue White
Bravo Irene!
Wonderful ideas here! I'm a list maker. When it comes to activities that tend to take up more than their time allotment, I find it helpful to plan ahead. For example, I love visiting the social sites and reading what everyone else is up to. But it's easy to get so lost in all the great content, that I use up the time I was supposed to be creating my own! When it's on my list with a big "20 minutes" in red ink, it's easier for me to spend the time efficiently and not just wander aimlessly.
Your content, Irene, is always worth the time taken to read. And thank you to all the great comments your readers have left!
Barbara
Thanks Irene!
Time managment is probably the BIGGEST stumbling block for me in my business. Like Barbara, I tend to get caught up in the "party" at social sites and then fail to get around to building MY stuff!
I'm going to try out some of your suggestions next week. I'm liking the idea of mapping out your week in advance. And not just making a list of stuff to do this week. Actually sitting down and saying "On Monday I'll handle this and on Tuesday I'll tackle that" I think it'll have to be the first thing I do each day and then I'll allow myself to come to the social sites AFTER as a reward for getting my work done...LOL.
I'll let you know how it goes!
Thanks again for a great post.
ShellyB