Struggling to find time to do everything you need to for your business? These productivity tips for entrepreneurs and bloggers can help! Get organized and get more done.
The biggest struggle I have in my business is time management. Over the years I’ve read countless books and articles, taken courses, and done everything I can to learn technics to help with this.
While it still takes effort for me my time management is much better these days. It’s a good thing because running four blogs and all my other income streams take a lot of time and work.
When I talk to other entrepreneurs and bloggers I often hear that this is the biggest roadblock for so many. People considering starting a business often can’t quit their day job so it’s only going to work if they can use their time in a very productive way.
Since this is something I have done a ton of research on and have put into practice I want to share what I’ve learned. Remember when learning productivity tips that not every tip will work for you. There will be some trial and error.
5 Productivity Tips for Entrepreneurs and Bloggers
1. Have a Good Planning System
You can’t expect yourself to just remember or things or just use post-it notes. You are going to need a good planner or possibly multiple. There are a few things to consider when trying to decide on what planner(s) will work for you.
- Do you prefer electronic or paper? Be honest! A lot of us want to think we can just use our phone as a planner but fail quickly. Others try using a fancy paper planner only to find themselves just using iCal. The best option is the one that you will actually use.
- Do you want to keep your personal planner and business planner in one or separate? I like to keep my planning separate. If I have my work planner with my personal one it gets messy and overwhelming. Currently, I’m using the Erin Condren folio system so that I can have different planners but they are all in one place.
- Do you like simple planning or are you visual and enjoy the more colorful options? I love using stickers and color-coded pens in my planner. I find this kind of planning relaxing and I want to stick with it more. Others find that time consuming and cluttered.
- Read planner reviews. Once you answer those questions start watching or reading planner reviews. This is a great way to get a look at the different planners out there without having to buy them.
Once you decide what planner you think will work you can get started. If you find yourself not sticking with that system it’s time to move to a different one. You need something you will use, not the planner you think is the coolest!
2. Use Automation
In every business, there are tasks that are time-consuming but don’t need you to be hands-on. For example, with many online businesses, Pinterest is a great traffic source. Once you have pins created you don’t really need to spend all of the time pinning those pins manually. Instead, you can use a tool like Tailwind to schedule those pins.
There are many ways to automate your business. You can schedule social media posts, schedule emails, automate invoicing, send payments, and of course setting up your business-related bills to auto-bill.
If you find yourself doing the same task over and over, see if you can automate it. You will be surprised by how many you can. It may cost a bit of money for some tools but weigh that cost with what your time is worth, it’s likely worth it.
3. Work in Batches
It takes time and mental energy to switch back and forth between tasks. Need to be answering emails but also are posting on social media? You are likely getting distracted and not working very efficiently.
Working in batches can also save you time if that task has some prep work. For example, I like to batch taking photos for my websites. I already have my camera equipment out and lighting set up so I should take as many photos as possible. That saves me all the prep time since I only have to do it once.
If you use video in your business this can help also because of equipment set up but also if you are on camera you will already be dressed and ready to go.
You can take batching even further and not only batch the same tasks but find things that overlap to batch together. If you are getting ready to be on camera that is a good time to do any video conference calls or maybe have an in-person meeting.
If meeting someone for coffee see if you can have other meetings in the same area or run some nearby errands for your business. The whole goal is to reduce steps and time.
Do a bit of brainstorming for ways to batch your work by listing all of your work tasks and seeing which would work well to be batched together.
4. Hiring Help
This can be tough, not just financially but even just trying to let go of a part of your business. The thing is you can’t likely do it all. There are tasks you are doing that are keeping you from doing others that make more money.
Hiring someone to do those little maintenance tasks so you can do the things that bring in more money and are more worth your time can help you level up your business.
You can start by just hiring a virtual assistant for some really small tasks. This won’t cost too much and will help you see how it feels to delegate some of your work.
You don’t have to only hire people to help with your business to help give you more time. If you aren’t ready to have someone working on your business consider hiring out some of your household tasks.
You can get a maid, dog walker, use something like InstaCart for groceries, use a meal service like Blue Apron, and all kinds of other tasks. A mix of the two can also be extremely helpful.
If your budget allows it to start delegating and gaining back time to put into the important tasks for your business.
Don't be afraid to hire help for your business. We can't do it all and handing off some tasks can free up our time for bigger things. Share on X
5. Avoid Distractions
When working at home the distractions are endless. There are always things we could be doing, Netflix to watch, social media to scroll, pets to play with, the list goes on and on.
Different things distract different people so you need to find your distractions, they may not be what you think. A good way to find your distractions is to write down everything you do for a couple of days and how long you do those things. Be honest!
Look at the time that was wasted. Did you end up on Facebook too long? Decide to start laundry when you should have been working? Figure it out and then start working to minimize those distractions.
You may need to put your phone in the other room or at least on do not disturb. Set a time for housework and stick to that. Set up a space that is only for work. Whatever you need to do.
Social media can be a distracter for me so I have notifications turned off and only open social media if I need to work on it and I try to stay on track.
Ironically taking breaks can also help avoid distractions. When we start to hit a wall with work it can be easy to get distracted by other things. If you feel that wall coming take the break but set a timer and stick to it!
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