Time management to increase productivity as an Online Business Owner

Time management to increase productivity as an Online Business Owner

by | Online Business, Planning-Organization-Productivity

How do you think about your time? To better your time management to increase productivity, first, you need to consider it your most valuable, non-renewable resource.

Why time management is so important

Now, this is important do you know where you're spending your most valuable resource?

Why is it your most valuable resource?

We overlook our time as a valuable resource, in truth once it’s gone you’ll never get it back. Have you thought about it like this before? It can be surprising how many people don’t. If you get it, good for you!

How to improve in time management

Stay with me here as this may sound daunting, but you need to keep a time journal or track your time somehow. Not forever, unless you want to, but for at least a week or two.

Here’s how to do it yourself online with a few applications. Toggl is for time tracking and has a chrome plugin.

RescueTime is an app that runs in the background to track your time. 

Timeular is what I use for my time management/tracking because I like to have the physical tracker on my desk to flip. ← This is NOT an affiliate link, maybe someday but not yet. (:

You’re not able to improve what isn’t measured.

The only way to know where you're actually putting your time in is to keep track of it.

But here’s the thing once you’re aware of where your time is spent. This is when you’re able to improve your time management and productivity as an online small business owner.

Tracking time is a huge eye-opener into how long you’re actually spending your precious time on different tasks.

This allows you to make the decision if the tasks that are receiving your time are worth it.

Once you get really great a knowing exactly where your time is going and how long those different tasks are going to take. You guessed it time management becomes a ton easier.

Be sure to give yourself grace in the beginning, not everybody knows where they truly spend time wastefully.

It's a matter of keeping track of your time and shifting your mindset to viewing time as valuable.

Time management to increase productivity

How time management helps you to increase productivity?

How? Simple it keeps you out of doing the tasks that aren’t providing you a return on your investment.

With your time journal in hand figure out the return on investment (ROI) on each task.

Or another way to handle it if figuring the ROI feels difficult, ask yourself “Could I outsource this for under $20 per hour?”

put the dollar amount next to the task in the journal.

You need to make sure that the tasks you're doing are tasks you should be doing.

As a small business owner, you need to know that the tasks that you invest time into are actually connected to revenue in your business.

If you're not able to connect a task to an ROI, it may not, let’s be bold, it should not be an activity that you are doing in your small business and would be better served to hire a contractor for a few hours a month to do that.

Hey, we get it at Miss Task as we’ve been in your shoes when you're first starting out, you're like, no way am I going to outsource.

In order to increase your productivity, you must become a steward of your time.

Time management to increase productivity

How time management helps to reduce stress

And the best part is as an owner time management helps to reduce stress when you’re not getting caught in all the low returning, high energy tasks.

As a result, it feels really good when you can invest the time to focus on tasks that only YOU can do in your business, the tasks that bring a true return on investment in your small online business.

If you're stressed out about a $10 task that somebody else could do and handle for you, then you’re not going to have the ability to grow and scale your online business.

Time management strategy

One of the best time management strategies is repeatedly performing a mind sweep.

If you’re not familiar with the term mind sweep, it is the same as a brain dump.

In other words, making sure that you're going through and clearing your mind by doing a mind sweep of everything that you have going on and the things that need to happen?

Here’s how it works take that mind sweep and figure out the return on investment.
“Ask yourself is this the best investment for my time or could I hire somebody else to be doing that for you.”

Owner do not forget this applies to your personal life, as well as your business life.

Outsourcing

Next, pull out that time journal again of all the things that you’ve been doing, what are the things that you could easily outsource?

What are those things that you just cannot stand to do and you want somebody else to do?

Because it drains you completely of all your energy.

And it takes you a lot of time, a lot more time to do than it should.

You can either spend your time being busy, or you can spend your time being productive.

It necessary you're spending your time on productive revenue-generating tasks that are moving your online business forward.

A few other tricks to time management

Another great trick for your time management, making sure you're planning things well. Take the time up front on a project and break down everything that needs to be done.

Put all those tasks on your calendar in focused time blocks. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your next great idea.

It gets better putting those tasks on your calendar lets you know when those tasks are going to get done.

Then if you’re not able to get to it for some unplanned reason, because you know, things come up that we aren’t expecting they always do.

Well, you need to take those non-essential tasks that you may have on your day and move them over to another day.

So it's very important that you're actually taking and planning out time.

In case you have a whole bunch of tasks that will take five or 10 minutes for each or a couple of minutes here and there, put them all into one time block so that they're all getting done all at once during a single time block.

That's a great way to manage your time and your tasks as well.

Similarly, one point that Brooke Castillo made in her YouTube video on tips for time management make sure you schedule your free time.

Why is that? If you're taking longer to do something, it's gonna cut into your free time.

Guess what happens it puts a little bit more fire underneath you to actually get it done in the time in which you have scheduled it for.

And on top of that, track your time leaks. A time leak is some unforeseen event that causes your schedule to get completely out of control.

For example, a poodle or a golden doodle who do things that you don’t anticipate and requires giving them an unplanned bath.

Bottom line, keep track of your time, what are the things that take the time that you didn't plan for in your schedule, and took away from doing the things that would have been more productive.

So where do you spend your time?

Given these points, you need to figure out where you spend your valuable time so that you can make sure that you're completing the tasks that only you can do.

Thank you so much for reading, I appreciate you and I hope you have a wonderful day.

 

l

Little Side Note

We either pay for things in time or money. Which is more valuable is up to you. Here’s the big secret you can earn more money you’ll never be able to earn more time.

✁ Just a Snippet

Here is just a snippet of the important points for time management to increase productivity, you know for the skimmer in you. 🤪

What’s An Online Business Manager

What’s An Online Business Manager

by | Online Business

What is an online business manager or an OBM, and how do you know when it's the right time to bring one on to manage your business?

Some may call us
 

Are you familiar with the term Online Business Manager or OBM? Not everyone is, but the term OBM has been around for a long time in the digital or online space. It’s been over ten years since Tina Forsyth wrote the book Becoming An Online Business Manager. 

Similarly, you could also compare an OBM to a digital COO or an OBM to an integrator. That is, we do about the same things for a digital CEO. 

An Online Business Manager is the right hand of the Digital CEO.
 

Essentially, an OBM is a right hand to the business owner. 

To explain, an Online Business Manager is a thought leader stepping into the business and become the sounding board, someone to brainstorm with, share ideas, and be proactive in the business growth.

Focus on four key areas

Let’s look at the four key focus areas of an OBM. They are project management, operations management, metrics management, and team management. 

In short, think of an OBM as the manager of all the things in your online business. 

What Is An Online Business Manager

Dive into the areas of focus

Project management

Do you have a lot of half-built bridges? As a flourishing business owner pulled into all sorts of directions, it is no wonder that you have courses, products, and ideas started but not completed.

And it’s not because you lack ambition. It’s because you lack time.

And that’s where an OBM steps in to take over the project management.

Is that something you’d like for our business, someone to plan out the project, create the roadmap, and ensure that the team members do the tasks?

It all boils down to this, make sure tasks are it's getting done.

Operations management

What is operations management?

Have you ever heard the phrase running around like a headless chicken?

Okay, gross, I know but hear me out on this. Without having workflows and standard operating procedures in your business, your team runs around not knowing what to do next.

One piece of operations management is creating workflows to making sure that the business flows easily.

Metrics Management

I can almost hear you thinking, what the heck is metrics management. Know thy numbers that are happening in your business; this is metrics management.  When you know the business numbers, such as revenue, profit margin, expenses, conversation rates, all of these tell you a story of the health of your business.

You guessed it; if you're not keeping track of your actual numbers in your business, it is a perfect time now to start tracking those.

And the best part is, we already have a tracking spreadsheet that you can download today.

It's a Google Sheet, with everything in there that you need to track your numbers.

Team Management

And this is where people run into trouble; not everyone loves to manage a team.

Most business owners do not consider when they start an online business; a successful business comes with hiring, delegating, and managing a team.

An Online Business Manager will take over the team management, freeing you up to focus on business growth.

If you want to listen to me ramble, here is the video.

An OBM is different from a Virtual Assistant
 

Let me elaborate on the key differences between a virtual assistant and an OBM. 

An OBM is not the person that's actually doing the tasks; an online business manager will manage the tasks and make sure that the right things are getting done at the right time by the right people. 

Here’s the bottom line an online business manager manages all the tasks. They are not the doer of the tasks. 

Another difference between an OBM and a VA, an OBM is proactive, putting a plan in place to reach business goals. We conduct quarterly strategy planning with the business owner. 

An OBM is paid at a higher rate and focused on a few clients, verse juggling many clients. 

Online Business Managers are in the weeds with your business, making sure that everything is moving forward and on time. 

We’re focused on hitting goals and looking for ways to increase revenue. 

One of these ways is by protecting the business owner’s time so that they can focus on the things that only they can do. 

But here’s the thing an OBM needs to have a forward-thinking growth and marketing mindset. 

Are you ready for an OBM?
 

Now, this is important, you may be thinking this is exactly what I need in my business. 

It may be, but hold on a second. I’ve gone down the path before with businesses that thought they were ready and they were not. 

Well, you need to have a proven business model that generates monthly revenue and you have a team to manage. You’re clear on your vision and goals of your business. 

What does it mean to be a certified online business manager?
 

What most people don’t realize is that some online business managers are certified and others are not certified. 

In order to be certified, they must attend a six-month certification training and then pass a week-long test, from project creation, metric analysis, team member issues, troubleshooting, creating a workflow, and standard operating procedures. All of this is submitted to be peer-reviewed for either a pass or try again next time.

l

Little Side Note

What does it mean to hire a Certified OBM?

It means you are hiring someone who:

  • Has demonstrated their commitment to being an Online Business Manager by making a significant investment of time, money, and energy in our accredited Certified Online Business Manager Training Program.
  • Has successfully completed the week-long Certification process which involves them working on a series of real projects for real clients.
  • Has taken the Online Business Manager Pledge in dedication to their clients – present and future – and in acknowledgment of their own dedication to the profession.

Read more here

✁ Just a Snippet

Here is just a snippet of the important points, you know for the skimmer in you. 🤪

  • An OBM, I'm the right hand to the business owner.
  • They are a sounding board, someone to brainstorm with, share ideas with, and be proactive in the business.
  • Online Business Managers focus on four key areas of the online business: Project, Operations,
    Metrics, Team Management
  • Project Management – making sure that all the projects are set up and created in the business with doers attached to them.
  • Operations Management – creating all the workflows, SOP, keeping the business flowing easily and simply
  • Metrics Management – know thy numbers because they will tell the story
  • Team Management – managing and growing the team
  • What is the difference between a Virtual Assistant and an OBM. The focus of the OBM is managing and not doing.
  • Getting the right things done at the right time by the right people
  • OBM manages all the tasks. They are not the doer of the tasks.
  • An OBM is proactive, not reactive. We plan what is going to happen.
  • OBMs are paid at a higher rate, focused only on a few clients
  • All online businesses need doers, this should always come first.
  • OBM has a marketing mindset
  • OBM has a growth mindset
  • OBM is focused on looking forward
  • OBM brings on the right team members, to be able to actually look forward we can not be the doer.
  • When is an online business owner ready for an OBM?
  • You have a proven business model and you have a business to manage
  • You're clear on your vision and goals of your business
  • OBM comes in the middle of strategy and implementation
  • You're tired of being the only strategic thinking
  • They need someone to drive the bus they need planning, project management, team management.
  • They want things to be streamline and simple
 

Easy Tips To Declutter Your iPhone

Easy Tips To Declutter Your iPhone

by | Planning-Organization-Productivity

Is your iPhone in need of a digital declutter? With apps so quick and easy to download. Cameras that snap multiple pictures for our convenience. All the messages that come in daily. Leads to an iPhone full of distracting clutter.

Are you ready to clean out all of that distracting clutter that we have on our iPhones today? Not yet, no worries save the link I’ll be here when you’ve blocked time on your calendar.

Let’s declutter your most-used device

Decluttering anything can be an overwhelming task. You can take this as fast or slow as feels comfortable to you, keep in mind it’s probably going to be a bit of a longer process.

Give yourself grace as it may not be something that you get done today. Although all you need to do is schedule some time in your calendar, and make sure you're doing a little bit every day.

Five minutes here, five minutes there and your iPhone will eventually be cleaned. Think of it more as a marathon than a sprint. Unless you’re into sprints my friend then go for it and get it decluttered now.

Contacts

How many contacts do you have on your iPhone? With our iPhones with us all the time, it so simple to add a contact here or there. We gather them up but do not always clean them out.

Oh my goodness, do you wonder how you ended up with so many contacts? Do you quickly find yourself wondering if you have the correct information or when was the last time you needed to reach out to the person?

Do you have a few duplicate contacts?

Not sure if you’re in a similar boat as me, with a collection of contacts from parents of the various club teams and groups that my children have been in over the years.

Now it’s decision time, do you want to delete them or take the time to reach out to that old contact to figure out if you even have the correct contact information for them.

To help with the decision here is a simple decision tree.

Ask yourself have you used this contact in the past year?
Yes, I’d say it’s a keeper.

No, ask yourself if you feel like you will ever need it again.

No is a delete.
Yes, keep it.

Easy Tips To Declutter Your iPhone

Messages

This may or may not need to be clean up on your iPhone. I’ve heard that people actually do delete messages as they come into the iPhone?

Is this a real thing?

If you’re a keeper of messages, this is the time to do back and delete all those old messages that you’ve been saving. How many do you actually need?

Should you need information for future reference. You could take a screenshot and same the image along with notes in your electronic storage. Such as OneNote, Evernote, or Notion.

Selecting one central location keeps from the constant need to search or rack your brain asking where you saved that nugget of information.

Photos/Videos

If this is a difficult one for you, start with the random screenshots. C’mon, I know you’ve got a few of these in your camera roll. Why is it so easy to take these? 😳

Really, are you deleting them? If I were to guess you’ve got your photos backing up automatically in the cloud someplace. If that is the case do you need to keep them all on my iPhone?

Don’t forget about your recently deleted folder in your photos. Any photo you delete will end up in your Recently Deleted Folder, make sure to select and delete all for the ultimate decluttered feeling.

Safari

Delete all the safari tabs or chrome browser tabs.

Turn Off Those Notifications

Do you really need to get a notification for each and every app you have on your iPhone? Do you want to clutter up your mind and keep getting all those distracting notifications?

Turning off notifications can be done bit by bit when it’s on your lock screen or it pops up, if you find yourself thinking do I really need to be notified by this? Go in and turn off the notifications.

It will feel so good when you pick up your iPhone and you only have a shortlist of notifications that you actually care about receiving.

Do you want to know one of those notifications that I have deemed to be not important?

Social Media.

I'm not sure what your feelings are on it, but receiving zero notifications for any sort of social media is very freeing. It allows you to stay in the present moment.

Fall in ❤️ with Do Not Disturb

If you find yourself getting off schedule and not getting the tasks done that should be done. Put your iPhone in do not disturb. With your iPhone in do not disturb it allows you to control your day and your time.

If you’re easily distracted and taken off course use Do Not Disturb. One of my weaknesses is people-pleasing, therefore my iPhone is in Do Not Disturb pretty much all the time.

It keeps me focused and not worried about activities that will distract me from my task list.

All the Apps

Everything and everyone wants you to download an app. Do you even know how many apps you have on your iPhone?

Friend, this is a great time to go through and delete all those apps. Heck, maybe delete all your apps on your iPhone. If you need it, it’s sitting in the cloud waiting for you. Easy peasy, it’s like decluttering 101 if you can easily replace it, declutter it.

With just a handful of apps, organize them with the most used apps in one location.

If you’re not wanting to start with a clean slate, you can easily see all your apps and the last time they were used by going into

  • Settings
  • General
  • iPhone Storage

Scroll through and really look at all those apps. What can be deleted? You also have the option to Offload App. This will free up storage used by the app but keep its documents and data. Reinstalling the app will place back your data if the app is still available in the App Store. This is a safes option if decluttering makes you nervous. It is so easy to add it back at any time like the app wasn’t even decluttered.

One more thing

Delete your call logs, all the recent iPhone calls, missed iPhone calls, and voicemails. Can you think of one reason why you’ll need them?

Easy Tips To Declutter Your iPhone

iPhone Wallpaper

Here is a cute iPhone Wallpaper for your phone. 

Here is just a snippet of the important points, you know for the skimmer in you. 🤪

Here is the quick checklist:

  • Contacts
  • Messages
  • Photos
  • Screenshots
  • Notification
  • Delete Apps
  • Organize Apps
  • Do Not Disturb
  • iPhone Call Records