Entrepreneurship is one of the most fulfilling yet demanding professions a person can have. As a business owner, you are in charge of almost every aspect of your company or business.
From planning and executing strategy to hiring employees, acquiring new clients and so on
As an entrepreneur or small business owner, time management is essential to ensure productivity, efficiency and overall success. Are you wondering how you can improve your time management skills to improve your company’s bottom line? Read on!
Unique time management challenges for entrepreneurs
Let’s cover the basics first – what is time management? Time management as a skill helps individuals complete work on time, avoid distractions, and effectively prioritize critical tasks without sacrificing the quality of work delivered.
But why is time management important for entrepreneurs? Time management skills are critical to success in any role, whether as a team leader or an individual contributor. However, this skill set is probably the most important part of being an entrepreneur
A whopping 89% of entrepreneurs see their workload as too much. So what makes an entrepreneurial role so demanding that time management becomes a problem? Here’s what entrepreneurs juggle that sets them apart from the rest of the workforce.
High level Responsibilities
Running a company is much more complicated than it might seem. Entrepreneurs and business owners have their hands in all aspects of business. On any given day, they can go from interviewing job candidates to a business meeting, calling investors, recruiting new customers, and solving customer support issues.
In a small business, the owner is significantly involved in most departments
How Stress Affects the Lives of Small Business Owners (Source: Truist Survey)
Unforeseen plans
Entrepreneurs are often called “creators and managers” where they operate
Business operations may ebb and flow, requiring more involvement in some periods and less in others. This makes time management strategies for entrepreneurs and professionals critical to company success.
Time Management Tips for Entrepreneurs
Are you interested in how to improve time management for entrepreneurs? You are in the right place!
Here are some practical strategies you can implement immediately and see how they improve your productivity as a business owner. You’ll be able to get more done in less time because you won’t be trying to focus on multiple things at once.
Prioritization methods
Prioritization is an effective time management strategy. It helps entrepreneurs define what important tasks need to be completed first and leave the rest behind. Various time management worksheets make the whole process easier.
These methods include the priority matrix (Eisenhower matrix) method, where you draw a square and label the top two quadrants Urgent/Non-Urgent and the bottom two Important/Not Important.
Tasks in the Urgent and Important quadrants become priority items, while tasks in the Not Urgent and Not Important quadrants can be delegated or delayed/cancelled.
This method is also known as the four quadrants of time management. You can create this time management matrix with a notepad and pen or download a
Other prioritization methods include the ABCDE method, where you rank tasks according to yourself
This method helps entrepreneurs complete essential tasks and frees up their time to work on other pressing items. More, spend as little as
Time blocking
Time blocking is a highly effective strategy for providing structure to your day. It ensures that you can meet everything you need while setting boundaries and limits on certain items.
This method involves setting aside specific blocks of time for each task, rather than trying to juggle multiple items at once and never quite getting anything done.
You can easily block a time block using any calendar app you prefer
For example, you might spend the first hour of your day answering emails, the next three hours completing important tasks, and the last hour in meetings.
By assignment
Delegation
Delegation is probably one of the most effective skills of an entrepreneur. The ability to delegate important tasks to trusted employees is a huge strength of a business owner.
Delegating less perceives your workload, builds trust in your staff and allows you to have more time to focus on areas of the business that require your attention.
To effectively delegate tasks, look at the items that take up a lot of your time and energy on a daily basis. Can some parts of this task be outsourced to a qualified employee? This way, you can boost your team’s confidence and skills while optimizing your productivity. It is
By the way, if you use Ecwid by Lightspeed for your online store, you can easily delegate some online store tasks to your team members. You can add employee accounts and grant permissions to ensure that only authorized employees have access to sensitive information and important features.
Using technology for better time management
How can an entrepreneur compensate for the weakness of time management? Try one of the strategies mentioned above. Here is another suggestion to support your commitment.
As we live in a digital age, technology plays a significant role in time management and the overarching success of any business. Fortunately, a variety of tools and technology resources can offer time management support for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Let’s discuss them here.
Productivity apps
As a business owner, you probably have your phone in your hand every waking hour, ready to take calls, answer emails, schedule demos, and more. The good news is that many productivity apps can help make your day more productive. Popular apps and productivity resources include:
- Evernote for efficient
taking notes which you can share with employees - Slack for
on the go communication with staff and clients - Zoom for convenient video conferencing from anywhere in the world
- Canva for fast and easy professional graphic design options
- Lightspeed Payments for simple payment setup in the online store
- MileIQ to track travel for tax efficiency
- ClickUp for project management and task organization.
Using Evernote for
Automation
Automation tools can help save time and increase productivity for repetitive tasks in your workload. From scheduling appointments or meetings to processing invoices or data entry, automation can help streamline your workflows and allow you to focus on the tasks that really matter.
The e-commerce platform also plays a role here. For example, Ecwid by Lightspeed automates inventory management and order processing, making it easier for businesses to manage their online stores. By integrating with popular carriers and payment gateways, you can focus on other aspects of your business while offering customers a seamless shopping experience.
Ecwid sends you
Overcoming common time management challenges
Time management for entrepreneurs and business owners can be a challenge because they have to wear so many hats. However, recognizing your strengths and weaknesses can help you understand where you need to focus your efforts and where you need support through delegation.
Here’s how to effectively solve many time management problems.
Fighting distractions
Whether you work from home or in the office, distractions are around every corner. Anticipation can help them reduce their power and remove your focus. We recommend turning off phone and e-mail notifications while working.
According to the Economist Impact report, distraction recovery is one of the top five causes of loss of focus. For the average American knowledge worker, time spent bouncing back from distractions adds up to 127 hours per year. Imagine what you could achieve with an extra 127 hours of continuous work!
Annual hours of lost concentration and equivalent economic cost per person (Source: Economist Impact report)
Plan your day using the time blocks we mentioned above so you know exactly what time limits you have to complete specific tasks. Take breaks to refocus your mind, go outside
Prioritizing Work life Balance
Did you realize that 70% of entrepreneurs experience burnout due to lack?
Continue to prioritize health
You can also use
Pack
Running a business is no easy task, but time management skills for entrepreneurs allow you to be more productive and efficient for your team and your business while maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
It takes planning, strategy and effort, but the result will lead to a fulfilling career that requires less energy and time. What could be better?
