productivity – Page 10 – Michele Christensen

Solopreneurs must create work/personal separation

Solopreneurs must create work and personal separation

When I worked at a job outside the house, it was easy to separate my work and personal life. I got up, got dressed in work clothes (which weren’t the clothes I wore outside of work), went to my job, and came home. As soon as I left, there was no connection to work. I never had a remote login or 24-hour on-call status, so it was easy to say “I’m done.”

Now that I work from home, it’s much harder. It’s tempting to just check in when I’m enjoying a quiet Saturday morning or to go down the rabbit hole of checking email. One way I manage this is by having separate work and personal email addresses. I was surprised to learn at a recent Hubspot webinar on email marketing that 88% of survey respondents did not have separate work and personal email addresses!

This is something I’ve had as long as I’ve been self-employed. When I’m out having fun, the last thing I want is work intruding on my time. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my business and tend to work too much already but I don’t want to think about work when I’m doing something else. If I’m out hiking or visiting family on a weekend, I don’t even want to know about loose ends that need to be taken care of. If I read an email and need to do something about it, I don’t want that hovering in my thoughts while I’m having fun.

As solopreneurs, we ARE the business and it becomes much harder to separate and take a break than for people who have a job with someone else. But you absolutely have to carve out some time to disconnect or you’ll lose a lot of the biggest benefit of being self-employed – freedom. I strongly recommend separate work and personal email addresses for solopreneurs. Try this tiny step and see if you feel more at ease when you’re “off.”

Do you have separate business and personal email addresses? Why or why not?

What to do about spam email

On the heels of my recent post How not to build a mailing list and my recent newsletter article on clearing your email inbox, I thought I’d give you some information on what to do about those pesky spammers.

First, use the “Mark as Spam” button on your email service provider (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, or through your hosting account). Every provider I’ve ever seen offers a way to mark messages as spam so you never have to see a message from that sender. It’s also an important public service because your provider will use that information to improve spam filters. I wanted to include this tip because so many people struggle with getting too much email and with this one step you can help reduce your email volume permanently.

Second, if you feel it’s warranted, report the spammer to the FTC. This is done by forwarding the entire email to spam@uce.gov (link to FTC information HERE). I have done this on occasion, when I’ve felt the the sender was particularly egregious in their violation of the spam laws or they continued to send to me after I requested to be removed. The FTC accumulates this information to build possible cases against spammers, so your forwarded email contributes to their efforts to reduce the spam in the world.

What do you do when you get spam? Have you ever reported it? Leave a comment and let me know.

How relevant are GTD contexts to the Solopreneur?

Sometimes the context for an activity is critical

(If you’re not familiar with GTD, it’s the productivity and time management system outlined in the book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen.)

When I first read “Getting Things Done,” (“GTD“) I loved it. There were a handful of points that changed my life and the way I manage my time and one of them was contexts. The idea that our tasks occur in a physical setting or context, and that by segregating your to-do list into GTD contexts, you’ll have a ready-made list of tasks that are relevant to the context you are in. This idea helped me tremendously – when I was planning to go out and do errands, I had an errand list. If I was doing messy home repair, I had a home improvement list. If I was at my desk, I had an admin list.

It worked great for a while, but as is almost inevitable my life changed over time. My system no longer worked and I felt more scattered and stressed than I needed to be. When I looked at the problem, I realized that as someone who is self-employed and works from home, contexts aren’t all that important. Most of what I do both personally and professionally occurs at home in casual clothes. I do tag a few to-do items that I need to go out for or have some other noteworthy characteristic in their context, but for the most part, context is not very relevant to me. What is more relevant is blocking my time out for work and personal time, so that’s what I now do.

So the question is, how much do solopreneurs who work from home need GTD contexts? Do you use them or something similar? Is it a useful concept for you life right now? Why or why not?

Product review: Google tasks

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Google products. I use gmail even though my email appears to come from my domain. I use Picasa for photos, Google Calendar, Google keyword tool, Google analytics, Google docs and Google contacts. I love that almost everything they do, aside from being free, works great.

When I switched to an Android phone, I was stymied by what to do with my tasks and projects. I had been using a Blackberry before that, and while the task function wasn’t overly impressive I was able to make it work. If I wanted to stay with Google and make full use of the seamless sync between my desktop and phone it seemed that Google tasks was my only option. The problem was that Google tasks is such a low-feature system that I had to really do some serious work-arounds to get it to even come close to my needs. A lot of people were complaining about it, and it seemed really out of sync with the high level of quality of their other services. I decided to gamble and set myself up on Google tasks with the hope that soon they would upgrade the functionality and it would be as good as all the other products I use and love.

Almost a year later, I decided to switch again because it was just too hard to stay on top of everything I had to do with the system I was using at the time. There hadn’t been any pending upgrades to the task manager announced, and a year was the longest I was willing to wait. Things that are weak on Google tasks include:

There’s no way to put a recurring task in, so you can create a task that occurs every Monday, every 3 days, or 5 days after the last time you did it.
You can create several different lists of tasks, but only one can be viewed at a time, and if you want to view them on your calendar along with your appointments, only the list currently open in the tasks pane shows up. If you don’t think to check all of your task lists, you could be missing things you need to do today.
There is no way to add a tag or a priority to a task. This are pretty basic functions of most task managers, so it seemed like a big sacrifice to not have these functions.
There was no home-screen icon on the Android for tasks from Google like there was out-of-the-box for contacts, Gmail and calendar. It seems to me that a task function is an equally important sibling of these 3 and for some reason Google treats tasks differently.

After nearly a year of making due with a task manager that just wasn’t up to the job of managing my life, both personal and business, I finally gave in and decided to look for another option. This process will be the topic of a series of posts for which this post is first. I just love peeking into other people’s time management systems, so if you want a peek into mine, look out for the next post.

What task management system do you use and why? Do you sync it with your smartphone?

Minimize non-productive work

What does “non-productive work” even mean? If I’m working, isn’t that by definition productive? After all, I have to be on Facebook for my business don’t I? I have to go to that cocktail party networking mixer right? How can I stay informed if I don’t read blogs? That’s work, not goofing around right?

Well, yes, those things are work. To a degree. That’s why I suggest minimizing that time, not eliminating it.

The trap with these types of activities is that they are fun. Who wouldn’t rather got to a mixer in a trendy bar than stay home and write articles, work on strategy, balance your checkbook or file that pile. The problem is that these activities, in many cases, don’t pay off well enough to invest massive time in them. But they are fun, so it’s tempting to spend too much time on them and justify it because after all it is work you know.

What’s the answer?

Decide what you want from those efforts (leads, sales, contacts, traffic, etc) and see if you can find a way to get that. If not, give consideration to letting the activity go.
Challenge any preconceived notions you have about things you “have to” do. If you really can’t let something go, figure out the minimum you need to do to sustain your business and come up with the fastest, lowest effort way to do that (I favor checklists).
If you decide to hang onto an activity that doesn’t produce results, acknowledge that you are doing the activity primarily for fun. Enjoy it and celebrate the opportunity your business provides.
While you are evaluating the effectiveness of your activities, try to set some numeric goals. For example, if you say you want leads from your networking activities, now many would make it worthwhile? How will you keep track? How many hours of networking effort are you willing to put in for each lead? Which events are the generating the most leads?
If you choose to continue a low-results activity, make sure to pick the best of the available options. If you love social networking but don’t get much in the way of results from it, at least spend your time on the network where you get the most results.

What fun-but-not-productive activities are you considering modifying? Tell me about it in the comments. I’ll be sharing my big shift in this area soon!

Find an hour or more per week easily

Ok, here’s a quick tip that’s not strictly business.

I’ve known about home grocery delivery for years, but never tried it until today. I saved at least an hour and a half and a lot of energy. What could you do with an extra hour and a half and some extra energy every week?

Here’s the highlights:

It was only $6.95 for the delivery, and the driver wouldn’t even take a tip.
I was able to find a lot of the foods we eat, which is surprising because we keep a vegan household and don’t use many packaged foods. A partial list of what we got: almond milk, tofu, grapes, fresh tomatoes, cashews and canned beans.
The driver puts the bagged groceries on your kitchen table. No lugging bag after bag from the car!
The process was smooth and included options where you could specify your rules for substitutions. You could also make a request to the person picking your order.
They did miss two items, but one quick call and my credit card was credited.

So, back to business. What could you do with an hour and a half per week that would make this pay for itself? Considering taxes and overhead, you’d need to gross something like $14 for example to make this worthwhile. Leave a note in the comments and tell me if you’ve ever used this service or plan to, and more importantly what you did with the time and energy you gained. If you’re a business owner who doesn’t have a way to make at least $14 in a newly-found hour and a half, let’s talk! Click the link below to schedule your free strategy session today!

Yes, I want a free strategy session!

Make use of holiday slow time, part 3

This is part 3 of a 3 part series. Click here for part 2.

The final idea I have to share about making use of a slow time in your business is to use the time to create processes and systems for things you do regularly. I’ve seen many business owners get caught up in reinventing the wheel for tasks they do all the time. My rule is this: the first time you do a repeating task, write down the steps you think you need to do in order to complete the task. As you do the work, adjust your list and add notes to help you next time. The second time you do it, work from your list and again improve it based on what you learned. By the third time, you should have a pretty solid process that continues to change over time as needed. The more you can systematize and document repeating tasks, the more efficient you’ll be at doing them. You’ll be less overwhelmed and it will be easier to start. Finally, if the time comes for you to hire some help, you’ll have a process in which to train the person not just an ill-defined result you want.

Don’t get stuck on making your processes perfect. Paper is fine to start with (and maybe for a long time after). Don’t worry too much about formatting or formality. This isn’t for your customers, it’s just to make you more efficient.

Here are some ideas on processes you might want to start with:

sorting and filing paperwork
bank, credit card and cash reconciliations
data entry
compiling your newsletter
cleaning and maintenance
opening and closing if applicable

Give it a try! Leave a comment if you have any other processes you can write up.

Make use of holiday slow time, part 2

This is the second of a 3-part series on how you can use your time if business is slow right now. Click here for part 1.

If your business is slow right now, it’s a great time to set up your files for 2011. For the next few months, most of us will be in transition with files – not quite ready to store 2010 but in need of places for 2011 paperwork. Start by finishing any filing you have right now. Any files you keep by year (bank records, vendor payments, utility bills, etc) should be pulled out and boxed for storage but not removed from your workspace yet. You’ll need those 2010 files as the last of 2010 paperwork dribbles in during early January and you’ll probably need them to file your 2010 taxes. Set up new files for 2011 using the same categories if they worked well for you in 2010. It’s a great feeling to be ready when those first few transactions of the new year happen and you are ready for them. Keep your 2010 files nearby in their boxes until you stop getting 2010 paperwork and your taxes are filed. At that time, it’s a good bet you won’t need them much so you are safe moving them to less convenient storage.

Click here for the last part in the series where I’ll give you one more really useful thing you can do right now if you aren’t serving as many customers as usual.

Is your business slow right now?

If so, you can use this time to help make 2011 a great year. By getting ready now, you can hit the ground running on that first day back to work after the new year and not waste any time figuring out what to do. You’ll want to work on both your big picture plan and some detail items as well.

Here are some ideas to help you do some planning for 2011 right now:

If you haven’t done any planning for 2011, aim for a simple plan since it’s already December 16. Next year, you can start earlier and be more detailed and complex. Start by looking at a calendar (electronic or paper) and write in all the big events you already know about, including both personal and professional. Some ideas to get you started: holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, yearly family events, school events, community events, business events, medical issues and big personal projects like home improvement.

Knowing these events and date ranges ahead of time will help you know when you may be less available to work or simply less productive. Schedule your major business projects around these events. Look at what you want to accomplish in the year and set some time frames. Consider what projects need to be done before others. Look at how you can use yearly events in your marketing – think “back to school sale” or “summer seminar.” Make sure to schedule prep and marketing time before any events or products you launch.

Planning can be done on a much greater scale, but doing just this much should give you a good overview of the year. Knowing the order in which things are happening will help you prioritize what needs to be done first, and will help you know where you are in your yearly journey.

Along with planning, you’ll want to set some numerical targets for the projects you are planning. If you are doing a list-building project, how many new subscribers do you hope to gain? If you are doing some SEO or traffic building, what numbers would tell you you’ve been successful? You don’t always need specific numbers – sometimes just an idea or a direction will do. If you have 500 subscribers now and more than that after your list building project then you know it worked to some degree. If you’re trying to save time on something, the hours spent should be going down.

In my next post, I’ll tell you about how you can prepare your space and files for the new year.