5 Ways to Save Time & Live More
Being a small business owner is not an easy task. It takes a lot of work, spirit, and tenacity. There are so many ups and downs of being a small business owner and trying to do it all by yourself. It’s easy to fall into the trap of spending all of your time in your business and forgetting to take time for yourself.
Today, I’m going to give you some tips on how to save time and live more so that you are in control of your business and your life and not the other way around. We all want to have a solid work/life balance and with these tips, you can be on your way to achieving that for yourself.
Use a project management tool.
There are so many options for a project management tool, which we will talk about in just a second. What is a project management tool? A project management tool is software that helps you keep track of tasks that need to be done. Project management tools allow you to organize your tasks, assign dates, and even assign tasks to certain people. They can make your business more organized and streamline your processes. Many project management tools even have tags you can add that show the priority levels of certain tasks so you can organize which tasks need to be done first.
There are many project management tools to choose from, and many are even free to start. My favorite project management tools are Trello, Asana, and Monday.com.
Create content in batches.
Do you create content? Most small business owners do this whether it be for social media or for their actual business (think lead magnets, booklets, marketing materials). Creating content can take lots of time and wear you out. If you aren’t careful, it’s easy to spend all your time creating content and obsessing over it. Then you spend even more time scheduling your content to go out. Every. Single. Day. It can be exhausting.
So here’s what you do: create content in batches. What does that mean? That means, schedule time in your calendar to create content. Instead of spending that time creating content for just one or two days, create content for a week to a month at a time. I like to create my content for an entire month. I choose a theme to create my content about for that month and then all of my content for that month revolves around that theme. This helps me keep my momentum going as I’m creating and get it all done at once. When that content is created, I take a break. Sometimes for an hour, sometimes for a day or two. Then, I schedule that content all at once so I can use the same hashtags, ideas, and themes in my content for that month without forgetting what my message was for the month.
Not only is this what I do, but this is what all of the gurus will suggest you do to save time, energy, and have better overall content.
Time-block your calendar.
This is another thing that all the gurus suggest, but what does it mean? Time-blocking means that you find time on your calendar and block it off to work on a particular task. Not only do you put it on your calendar, but you actually do it!
Time-blocking helps you to plan for tasks you need completed and focus on that task during that time. I like to turn off all of my notifications while I’m in a time-block so that I cannot be distracted by anything else while I am working on that task. This helps you plan and stay focused on what you need to get done. It sounds simple and silly, but it can really help save you time. The more focused you are on a particular task, the less distractions you allow into your space, the more efficient you will be, and the more time you will have.
Set actionable goals.
This one is a biggie. Set actionable (realistic) goals. Personally, I keep a goal planner and every day I do 1-3 things that help me meet those goals. My goals are mostly business related, but they are also related to mindset and the lifestyle I want to have. Then, I elaborate on those goals as to how I will take action to meet them. What will I do to achieve my goals? How often will I do it?
Setting actionable goals keeps us on track. Each day, I take a look at my goals and plan what I need to do today to help me meet that goal. This keeps you focused and centered on your goals. You know what to do and when to do it. This keeps you from spending too much time on things that don’t matter in your business and things you don’t need to be doing. Every day, you will know exactly what needs to be done and by when you need to do it. Just like many of these other tasks, it helps to keep you focused and on task, which in the end, saves you time.
Hire a VA.
There’s a reason I saved this one for last. Hiring a virtual assistant is a big deal for most business owners. You have to be extremely busy and make enough money to afford one. You can get a VA to help you with many different tasks from email management to running your social media. There are many different types of VAs out there and there are many reasons you might use one. Some people hire virtual assistants for a one-time gig and others for ongoing tasks. It really depends on the kind of help you need.
If you are thinking about hiring a virtual assistant, I suggest that you write down every task you do for a week. Every. Single. Task. At the end of the week, highlight the things you love. Put a faint line through the things you hate. The things you hate, that is what you are going to outsource to a VA. You spend more time on the things you hate because you are trying to avoid them, plus, why do it if you don’t enjoy it?
Hiring a VA helps give you more time in your business to focus on the things that are important to you because you know and trust that your VA can handle all those other things. It makes you more productive and gives you a better overall work-life balance.
There are a number of things you can do to save time in your business and be more productive. Each one has its own set of pros and cons, but overall, they are all very helpful in saving you time in your business. So, let us know in the comments which tip is most helpful to you!
