7 Time Management Tips and Tools for Entrepreneurs
The life of an entrepreneur is tough. Each day you’re faced with a million and one things that need your attention all at once. With so much on your plate it can be difficult to prioritise your time and focus on marketing your business.
Here are 7 tips and tools to help you manage your time:
1. Always have a plan
No matter what the task is, you need to have a plan, brief, or goal in mind. Don’t just sit down and decide to write a blog, for example. You need to think about the topic, the target audience, the kind of tone you want to use, how long you want it to be. Once you have this in mind, it will be easier to write. The same applies to other tasks, like creating a social calendar or building an emailer.
2. One thing at a time
Multitasking just doesn’t work. It may make you feel productive, but science proves otherwise. Multitasking not only distracts you from both tasks, it saps your energy and motivation as well. No matter how full your to-do list is, don’t be tempted! Tackle those tasks one at a time.
3. Set time limits
You’ll find you become more productive when you allocate a specific amount of time to a task. It’s easy to become distracted and let a single task take up all your time when you think that you have all day. You can fight this by using a countdown timer to help you focus on completing your task. Almost all cellphones these days have a countdown timer. The timer creates a sense of urgency and pressure, which will help you to focus on your task.
4. Reuse your content
Entrepreneurs have to wear many hats, and Content Creator is one of those hats when it comes to marketing. Great content can be tricky to create, so why not get the most out of one piece of content? Look for ways to repurpose your content for different channels. For example, a how-to blog can be turned into an infographic, and a blog can be used in an emailer.
5. Automate tasks
Hate spending time on those daily, repetitive tasks? There’s probably an app for that. For example, Hootsuite, Buffer, and Sendible are all platforms that allow you to schedule your social media posts, and will automatically post them. Another great automation tool is IFTTT, which stands for If This, Then That. It lets you create “applets” that automate tasks you specify, like sending emails.
6. Use productivity tools
There are tons of productivity tools and apps that will help you stay focused and work more efficiently. Trendspottr can help you stay on top of breaking news in your field, which eliminates the time-consuming task of finding the latest news. Apps like StayFocusd and RescueTime help you track your work hours and avoid distractions.
7. Delegate when you can
Know which jobs you need to do yourself and which ones you could outsource to somebody else. When you have a task that falls into the latter category, don’t feel guilty about passing it along, especially if you’ve got a lot of other things on your plate.
Let us know if you apply any of these tips and tools! Until next time 😊