productivity – Page 8 – Michele Christensen

Managing your time and focus

Time management is a hugely popular subject for small and solopreneur business owners. Not only do we have to manage time well, but we have to manage our

Time management and focus are critical for solopreneurs — Time management is the beginning of being a great solopreneur

tasks as well. A concept I find helpful is what I call “bandwidth,” or how many different balls I can have in the air at a time. Good time/task/project management lets you take advantage of moments when one project stalls to get to work on another or when you just need a change of pace. But how many simultaneous projects is too many?

Like most business owners, I always have a lot of things happening and lots more in the wings waiting to happen. In my case, those additional project stay queued up until I’m ready to take one out of “waiting” mode and into “active” mode. I usually pick the next project to add to my active list when I’ve finished something or simply feel like I’ve got enough spare bandwidth for another project.

I’m pretty on top of my tasks and projects and have a robust system for tracking them. Even so, I find I can only stay on top of a few projects at a time. If I stack too many current projects up, I start to lose track of details, things start to slip and the switching time to go from project to project becomes to great. If I’ve got too many projects, each time I switch to a new one I need to re-immerse myself in it and that wastes a lot of time. Bandwidth isn’t just about time, it’s also effort, attention and focus, all of which are valuable, finite resources for a solopreneur.

Can you increase your bandwidth? Absolutely! Start with some organization and basic good habits for managing your time and tasks. Study what’s been written on the subject and try what appeals to you. Make sure to note what works and what doesn’t work so you can continue to improve. Be open to changing you system as your life changes or just when you need a change.

As a solopreneur, it’s important to use all of your resources wisely but how you allocate your bandwidth dictates what gets done and what doesn’t as well as how well things get done. It impacts how much time you waste vs. use wisely. It effects how much peace of mind vs. stress you feel. If you can strike the right balance between not enough and too much, you may find your creativity and drive increases.

Always ask “Why?” before doing anything

Solopreneurs must know why they are doing every activity in their business — Solopreneurs have to know why they are doing each activity

One of my favorite things to teach and coach on is strategic thinking for business owners. Entire books and degrees can be had on this, but one of the core ideas of strategic thinking is asking “Why?” before doing anything or expending any resources. There are so many moving parts to a successful business that it’s imperative to know what function each part serves and how it will contribute to the bottom line.

So often, I hear people tell me they are going to start doing something new to build their business and when I ask them how this will improve their bottom line they have no idea. When I ask what made them consider starting this new activity, it’s usually “fill-in-the-name told me to” or “everyone is doing it” or “I saw it on a forum for my industry.” There’s lots of right reasons to take on a new activity, but none of these are good reasons to add something. Your time, creativity, energy and mental bandwidth are some of your most important finite resources, and being a successful business owner has as much to do with managing these as it does anything else. So, no matter who said it, don’t ever just add more activity to your business without understanding why it will increase your profits.

This idea applies to general activities such as blogging, Twitter or email marketing but also to specific blog entries, Tweets and emails. In other words, you should have goals for the activity as a whole as well as goals for each individual entry in that activity. Take your blog for example. One entry might be to introduce a new product, while another might be to educate your market on a product or service you provide that they may need but not know is available. Still another might be to share some personal information to build a connection with your audience. You might have entries that are rants against practices you don’t like. Some entries might be geared toward enticing people to sign up for your list. These are just a few examples of purposes you might have in mind for specific blog posts.

As entrepreneurs, we are drawn to ideas like moths to a light. It’s a blessing and a curse – our fire for new ideas drives our business but can sidetrack us down unproductive but fun paths. Make sure you have a clear purpose for anything you take on.

Using an automated scheduling tool

One of the biggest time wasters in business is going back and forth to try to set a meeting time. It’s bad enough with just two people, but add a third person or

Easy meeting scheduling for solopreneurs

even more and it can take hours of time spread over days just to schedule a simple meeting.

What I found is that someone would want to schedule with me “in the middle of next week.” I would email my availability on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and wait to hear back. In the meantime, since I offered those times to someone already I was unable to offer them to anyone else in the meantime. I might even have to put the next person wanting to meet with me on hold. You can see how this one thing could bog down several people for days.

What I switched to was an automated, online scheduler where people who want to meet with me get a link to a page where they can see my availability and book an appointment on the spot. I cannot tell you the hours this has saved me over the last year and a half and I get lots of positive feedback on how easy it is to use.

I researched several tools for automated scheduling, and tried one other before settling on Timetrade. Here are a few things I like about Timetrade:

You can set up multiple types of “activities” that people can schedule and when you send them to the page for that activity they can only schedule that activity. In other words, if you are working with someone in half-hour phone sessions they can only schedule a half-hour session not more or less time and not an in-person meeting.
Your guest does not need to create an account to use your scheduler. He or she will be asked for an email address for the purpose of an email confirmation.
Your guest sees your availability in real time but does not see any details of your other appointments. Timetrade syncs to Outlook and Google calendar (my choice in calendars) so once you schedule an appointment on your own calendar your availability is automatically updated in Timetrade.
Once your guest books his or her appointment, it is confirmed for both of you so that there is no need for back-and-forth communication.
Time zone differences are handled automatically based on the settings on the computer used by each person. Each person gets the time in their own time zone.

Getting used to an online scheduler took some time and effort. People can book appointments with me any time, so I always have to be on top of that. If I want to go to the gym on Monday afternoon, I have to put that in my calendar so nobody can book an appointment in that time. If I’m done an appointment at 3:00, the scheduler sees that I’m free at 3:00 and may offer that time to someone. I have to remember to put in some extra time so that I don’t have another appointment until 3:30 or so. I don’t always like last-minute appointments or jam-packed days, so I have to remember to close my day if I don’t want any more appointments. Overall, the adjustment was not that hard and the payoff has been huge.

Timetrade is just one of several dozen resources I share in my Solopreneur Success Rolodex. You can get a copy of my rolodex as a bonus with my system “The ABC’s of a Successful Solopreneur Business.” Grab your copy here.

How do you handle your scheduling? Do you use an automated scheduler?

What would it take to…….

Get your project done? Get you unstuck? Get you to what’s next?

Working alone means you get stuck sometimes, here's how to get moving — One way to nudge you forward when you need it

Last week, I shared some ideas on the value of getting things done vs. getting them perfect. Of course, we always want to do our best, but sometimes done really is better than perfect.

Today I want to share one of my favorite tools for getting unstuck and getting a project done. Here’s the question I use:

What would be good enough to move forward?

Note that the question is not “how great can I make this” or “what else can I add.” Both of these are great questions to use in some settings. They may help you to really increase the value of a project or product, but they are not the right questions to ask when you are stuck. When you’re stuck and overwhelmed, the last thing you need is to be thinking on adding even more to the project. What may help is a narrowed focus with a realistic idea of what you need. This question will help you get that. You can use this question to just get you moving forward – you can always change your mind at a later point in the project but this will let you get to that later point.

I first heard this question from one of my teachers Lisa Sasevich. I was at a 3-day event where we were composing a talk to use in business promotion. The event was a working bootcamp, and by the end she promised we’d be ready to speak the next day. At one point, we were doing some heads down work, and she asked who was stuck. About a third of the hands went up, and she said those people were not focusing on “good enough to move ahead.”

The people who need your work aren’t looking for perfection and you can’t provide it anyway. What they want is your help, so offer it sooner rather than later and focus on getting it done. When we get stuck in the midst of something, we can get caught up in a trap of not knowing how much to do or what to do first. It all seems important to get exactly right. But by focusing on this one question: What would be good enough to move ahead? you just might pare down that huge list of things you still need to complete your project into a neat, do-able task list.

What techniques do you use to get unstuck?

Done vs. the elusive perfectly done

Solopreneurs love to do quality work, but perfection is not possible — Done vs. perfectly done

A few weeks ago I attended a workshop with Alicia Forest, one of my business teachers. I’ve been sharing some of what I learned in the workshop and here’s another bit for you to enjoy.

During one of the sessions, we talked about the idea that “Done is better than perfect.” I’ve also heard a variation on this which is “Perfect is the enemy of done.” Both are great sentiments that can help us move ahead in business. There’s something about using the internet for you business that just makes us want to add one more thing, to rewrite it again, to add more to the scope, etc. It makes it really easy to get stuck on a hamster wheel of work where you are going, going, going but not getting anywhere.

The key thing to remember is that your goal is to serve your clients and customers, not to show the world how flawless your work is. Every project you haven’t released into the world is help that people who need you are not getting. It may also be money those people would happily pay you that you are not getting.

I’ve heard all this before and I’m sure you have too, but don’t take it for granted. Take a few minutes to remind yourself of this important principle. Yes, it’s important to do your best and give people what they pay for, but balance this against an endless loop of feedback and improvement that keeps the project from ever being done. It’s a drain on your mental bandwidth and not a service to anyone.

One tip to avoid this is to clearly define the scope of the project before you start. You might not have the exact parameters, but if you are trying to write a $7 ebook, it shouldn’t be 500 pages. You can also change midstream if you find the original scope was too small or too big. You can use time limits that are proportional to the price and expected use of the project – for example, you may decide that $7 ebook has to be written in 5 hours.

Take a look at your unfinished projects and see if any could be moved closer to completion by changing you standards to “What would serve my clients” from “Do this as best as I possibly can.” You customers, clients and readers needs should be one of the biggest factors in defining any project.

Get great results by assuming the worst

One of the best things I’ve learned about business management is to always assume the worst – assume that everything will go wrong and many mistakes will be

Solopreneurs should be prepared for things to go wrong — Solopreneurs should figure out what to do before things go wrong

made. This rule has saved me and saved my projects when I was a project manager in corporate America, in my home renovation and of course in my business.

It may seem that this would lead to negative thinking, but I think it works just the opposite. By always assuming the worst and being prepared for it, things will almost always go better than you think and when they don’t you’ll be prepared. This helps me to keep a positive outlook. Given the complexity of modern living, it’s realistic for things to often get messed up so acknowledging and preparing for it isn’t negative, it’s just realistic. Even when things do go bad, I feel better about it because I know I’ve done everything I can to prepare.

What can you do to save yourself and your projects before things go wrong? Here are some ideas:

Confirm the details at least twice. Don’t give a second thought to offending anyone – communication is tough and your efforts will save everyone later. It may not even be the other party that gets things wrong, so confirm for yourself as well.
Get things in writing whenever you can. I’ve found that it’s much easier for two people to get different ideas from the same communication if it’s verbal as opposed to written. If you are talking to someone, send a follow up email outlining your understanding of the conversation. Having something in writing gives you something to refer to if things do go wrong.
Get clear on a next step. What is to be done, who will do it and by when? If the next step belongs to the other person let them know and get their approval to follow up with them if you don’t hear from them. I say something like “So I’ll call you Wednesday if I haven’t gotten the report okay?”
Always have a backup plan or more than one if you can. I cannot tell you how many times this has saved me when things have gone horribly wrong. Try to think of everything that can go wrong and have a solution before you need it. Before going to great lengths on this one, make sure to weigh the potential damage if things go wrong vs. how much effort it will take to make a backup plan because it’s not always worth it. Some things go wrong and there’s very little negative effect so it wouldn’t be worth it to create a backup plan.
Knowing that things do go wrong, leave slack in all of your projects. Build in extra time and money and any other resources that could sink your project such as technical expertise. If you are depending on someone else such as a contractor or copy shop, give them a deadline well before you actually need it in case something goes wrong.

Do you use this mindset in your work? Does it make you feel more positive? Leave a comment telling me how it works for you.

Get the help you need to be a great solopreneur business owner

Solopreneurs should get the help they need

When I first started my business, I didn’t work exactly in my current specialty. I started as a professional organizer who specialized in productivity, systems and time management for entrepreneurs. Like most solopreneurs, my focus has changed and will probably continue to evolve over time.

Like many solopreneurs, I assumed all I had to do was set up an online brochure (aka a website), print some cards and get to it. I knew my stuff and got great results so how could word not spread like wildfire right? Ha, ha. Wrong.

I thought I’d be spending a little time every week on “business,” things like paperwork and an occassional lunch or coffee meeting. Even with my extensive business background I was unprepared for just how important it is to be an excellent business owner and not just an excellent provider of whatever you offer.

Fast forward a few years, and investments of time, money and energy into my own learning and I’m so much wiser. What I finally get now is that as much as we spend time getting the skills we sell up to par, we have to invest in getting business skills up to par as well. You can be the best at what you do, but if you don’t run a solid business you won’t be successful. Like it or not, the day you opened shop you became a business owner.

That brings me to the point of this article – get help with the business part of your business. No matter how great you are at what you do, you still need to run a business that works great for you and there are people and products that can help you with this. Of couse, this is what I do so it would be dishonest to say I wouldn’t be thrilled if you choose me for help. However, I’m hugely committed to the success of solopreneurs everywhere, so if I’m not your pick that’s fine but please pick someone or something.

Getting help with your business should not only be a non-negotiable in your set-up, but it should also be an ongoing activity you are always doing. Now that I see how much this kind of help can shortcut my success, I’m always on the lookout for the next thing to boost me. Start paying attention to what your are having difficulty with so you can be on the lookout for your next solution. Whatever problem you are having, it’s likely someone else has faced it, solved it and now sells the solution to.

One final point – beware of any purchasing more help than you’ve implemented. Try to only buy as much as you can put into practice soon, otherwise you’ll end up with a backlog of “shelf help,” i.e. things you’ve paid for but haven’t implemented and are sitting on the shelf and not helping you. The only time I make an exception to this is when I see something at a really great price that I know I will need soon.

What kind of help do you use in your business? What has it helped you achieve? What do you wish you had gotten help on sooner?

New free resource for you!

I’m really excited to share a brand new tool I’ve created to help you build your solopreneur business faster and with more ease!
I often get into conversations where people ask me what tools I use in my business. It’s one of my favorite things to talk about, and often people are surprised that there are free or paid tools to do the very thing they need to do.

I’ve compiled a list of the tools I use to run my business into a handy document called the Soloprneur Success Rolodex. It has 32 of my tops picks for services and products that are integral to my success.

Grab you copy on this page:

Solopreneur Success Rolodex

To your success!

Solopreneurs need persistence

Solopreneur success isn’t determined solely by having a great product or service or even knowing the most about what you do. Those things are of course critical

to success but they aren’t the only things. One of the biggest traps we can fall into is to have too many ideas which are either not implemented or half done. Most of the time ideas don’t produce revenue until they are fully implemented, so even one small idea completely implemented will usually bring in more sales than several that are half done.

This is a huge challenge for many solopreneurs and in fact for most people with the entrepreneurial spirit. We thrive on ideas and our heads buzz constantly with them. We have more ideas than we know what to do with! A shortage of ideas is usually not the problem when I work with a client who wants to add to his or her business – usually the problem is picking which one to implement first. It’s easy to think this is just the normal state of affairs for everyone, but it’s not. This is one trait I find in almost all the solopreneurs I talk to. Ideas come to us constantly – there’s a reason there are products made for taking notes in the shower! Too many ideas is a great problem to have because it can be solved with some focus.

People who are drawn to being a solopreneur business owner love challenges and new ideas. Jumping from project to project without finishing any of them is what is called “bright, shiny object syndrome.” We are in the middle of something which has become more boring as we churn through the details and BAM a new idea pops into our heads and we’re all over the thrill of something new.

One of the key factors in solopreneur success is to be able to resist bright, shiny object syndrome and finish projects. If you decide to abandon something, do it conscientiously and not because you dropped the ball when something better came along. You won’t have more products and services to offer if you don’t see your ideas through to completion. An obvious result is suffering revenues, but an even bigger impact is that your great ideas are not helping anyone. If you need motivation to get you through the boring patches of completing a project, think of all the people who need what you are offering and aren’t getting it because you haven’t gotten it done.

A simple but effective tool for solopreneur time management

During one part of my career before I was a solopreneur, I worked for a holding company that was a parent company for engineering and architecture firms. My job was to help standardize systems across all the companies. Because of the job-by-job nature of the work, everyone filled out a timesheet – even the administrative staff. I found that knowing I was going to have to slot my time into categories when I did my timesheet helped me to think more proactively about my time and use it more wisely.

For most of us, more freedom is one of the main reasons for being self-employed. We love that we can work whenever it suits us and spend time however we want. If you’re like me, you’ll be thinking “Ugh, I could never go back to something like a timesheet now.” I thought this too, until I saw how it changed my business and my life.

I started using a timesheet 6 months ago when I felt like I wasn’t getting enough done in all the major areas of my life – personal, our fixer upper house and professional. My husband went to school for engineering and now works as a computer programmer and it was his idea to start tracking my time. In the engineering mindset, you can’t optimize a resource until you know how it’s being used now. So, in an effort to diagnose the problem I reluctantly began keeping a timesheet. Boy did I become a convert quickly!

So many great things came out of my using a timesheet it would be hard to list them all here. I became more aware of how long things really take which makes me better able to plan. I could preset how much time to spend on each area so that I invested my time according to my values. Strangely enough, I felt a sense of freedom from being on top of my time. I imagine it’s similar to when someone finally gets on top of their budget and spending. You can’t have unrealistic ideas about your time if how you spent it is right in front of you. My timesheet helped me remove unhelpful blurring of work and personal time, which is a big trap for work-at-home solopreneurs.

If you don’t keep track of how you spend your time, I invite you to do this even for a week or so. It’s a great practice to do every few months or so to make sure you’re spending your time how you think you are.

For my timesheet I used a spreadsheet where each line is a time window, and then I spread out how I spend the time into columns representing the areas I wanted to focus on. You could just write things down on a notepad or use a calendar if that works better for you. Don’t get caught up in finding the perfect tool – just do whatever works and will get you the information you need to make the best decisions about your time.