Seattle Small Business Blog

You’ve decided to jump in head first and hire a subcontractor. So, you ask a couple of colleagues for recommendations and they suggest Susie Sub. They say Susie is a hard worker and she’ll do a wonderful job for you. She’s very talented.

So you contact Susie Sub and agree upon a rate for your client’s project, sign a contract and you hand over the specifications, expecting Susie to have her work finished by the next week.

The next day, you email Susie for an update, thinking she might have some questions and knowing that you need to be a supportive project manager. By that night though, you have heard nothing back from Susie.

You figure she’s probably working so hard on your project, she’s forgotten all about email. She’ll answer your email the next morning.

Except that’s not what happens. Three days later, you’re frantically trying to contact Susie. You’ve called her, emailed her, done everything short of hop a plane and fly out to her house to make sure she hasn’t been kidnapped.

Another day passes and the client is asking questions, wanting to know how the project is going and asking for a few changes to the original project. You still can’t reach Susie, so you start working on the project yourself. If you work straight through the next day and night, you might be able to meet the deadline.

And then Susie emails. She’s been off at her sister’s house, which has no Internet. She did work on your project though and it’s all complete, right on time. You go through it, and the work is excellent. But you’re so worn out at this point, you almost don’t care.

The moral of this story:
Make sure you give your subcontractor a trial period before you give her any really important client work.

Had you put Susie through her paces first, you’d discovered that she has a habit of not communicating during a project, even though she does the work, does it well, and does it cheerfully.

This situation may or may not be a deal breaker for you – either you can handle Susie’s silence because of her excellent work, or you’re going to be so stressed out by the lack of communication during the project that you can’t possibly work with her.

A trial period can also bring out other issues:

1. Inability to do the requested work.
2. Busting deadlines.
3. Negative attitudes.

Some problems may not arise during the trial, but you can take quick action to address those that do, and possibly save yourself some headaches.

When you do run a trial period, make sure you are paying your subcontractor for her work. You may go ahead and sign a contract, including a provision for the trial period.

You’ll also want to be sure and give your subcontractor constructive feedback after the trial period is over. After all, Susie may have worked for your colleague for years, and the colleague never worries because Susie always comes through. If you ask Susie to be available for communication throughout the project, she may be more than happy to do so.

Your time is your life and your business. Master them by being forceful and deliberate! Lose no time in choosing how to use your time. Control your time and you control your life. Let others control your time and your time is not your own. Own it NOW!

If there is something you want done and want to do, then schedule it and nothing else for that allotted slot of time. The most important work you can do is work at a schedule that you have planned yourself. You’ve marked a time for your endeavors and if anyone asks what you’ll be doing at that time just say you will be busy.

The best way to be productive is to set aside time to focus on a project. Do the project. Ignore distractions. Say no to interruptions. Dedicate yourself by dedicating your time to what you are doing. Do that one thing either for the whole time or until it is done. Only then do you move on to something else.

Lock the doors and put up a “will be gone until such and such o’clock” sign. Shut off the phones and leave a message in your outgoing voice mail saying you will be unavailable until such and such a time. Set an alarm to go off, signaling when you have put in the time wanted on that activity for the day. Then work straight through until the alarm rings before going on to the next item in your schedule. That way you don’t always have to be looking at the clock, which is one more distraction you have gotten rid of.

That is how you make the time to do one thing at a time. If you want to accomplish more, schedule more. With a schedule there is no need to hesitate and procrastinate wondering what to do with your time. It does not take long to plan a schedule. Figure it once and write it down. It is simple, it is structured, and it brings success, which brings satisfaction. Time management equates to increased output. You can apply it to business as well as to your personal life.

Try to track down the things that waste your time. Find and eliminate them. Cut out excessive television, computer games, sitting doing nothing. Those things get you nowhere. Write goals so that you can be doing something worthwhile. That way you can have a streamlined upwardly mobile direction and a dynamic proactive life.

See what you could be doing more efficiently than you are doing now. Sometimes we are doing something simple that can just as well be done while we are also doing something else (listening to motivational or informational DVD’s while driving is one example) thus we get more done. Other times we try to multitask and the complexity and the details make us have to do them again, when if we concentrated on just the one thing then we would have done it right the first time and thus saved a lot of time. There is also the sometimes-smart option of not doing the work at all. Hire someone else to do it instead. And by all means, if there is a way to automate the task using technology, see what you can do to set it up.

To make time truly your own, find out when you have the most energy for doing things. Maybe it is in the morning, afternoon, or night. That way you know how to best make your schedule, which just might include a siesta nap in the middle of the day. Working tired equates to dragging your feet and is inefficient.

A schedule is a tool you use to control your time. With your own schedule, you rule your time and your life. Do you want more than 24 hours in a day? Then schedule a 36-hour day! A study was even done of people living in caves where they couldn’t see the daylight and the study found that a 36 hour cycle was natural in that situation. The people would sleep for 12 hours and be awake for 24.

So what is it that you would like to do with your life or your business? If for instance your main objective in business is making money, then you should focus on marketing. Make it the priority in your schedule. The value of time is in how we use it. We can spend it mindlessly, or invest it wisely. It is your life; it is your choice.

There is a famous story in business articles and productivity books. It’s often attributed to different people and the exact dollar figure that the consultant was paid is always different.

But the story goes something like this: A man was concerned that he wasn’t being very productive. So he asked a consultant for a suggestion. That consultant made a profound suggestion that worked! He told the man to do the following: before leaving work at the end of the day, list the top three things he wanted to accomplish the following day. Then, when he got into work the next day, he should tackle them in order, not starting one until the one before it was complete. He was to keep working until he finished all three. Then he could be done for the day.

This story has taken on a life of its own and it is retold in every productivity book, but it never grows old. That’s because the truth of this tale, no matter how fictional the story itself is, is universal.

If you want to be successful in business – whether your business is online or offline – you need to know what you want to accomplish and prioritize it.

Now, the story itself was clearly written in an era when the owner of a business had a plush office and a company car and could come and go as he or she pleased. Nowadays, most online business owners work out of their homes (and sometimes have another job until their small business grows) so the story needs to be tweaked and updated for the modern entrepreneur.

The new moral of the story might be this: Prioritize everything! Rather than listing the top three items to be done, list everything and assign a number (from 1 to infinity… and for most entrepreneurs, the list seems that long!).

Then, get to work. Start at one and begin working down. Periodically you’ll have to re-prioritize as changes occur in your business. Task management programs such as Microsoft Outlook can help with prioritization. Even just a Microsoft Word document with an auto-numbering feature is better than nothing.

If you start working on the first one and keep going until you cannot work any more on it, then move to the next point on your list, you’ll see two things happen:

First, your productivity will increase dramatically because you’ll have started to hone in on doing what needs to be done.

And, second, you will work far more efficiently because you know the most important thing to do and you’re doing it first, before everything else.

In today’s fast-paced world, time management is more important than ever. Here are ten tips to improve your management of your time.

1) Plan goals a week in advance. The key tasks you need to accomplish each week should be worked out in advance so that you know where you need to focus your energies in the coming week.

2) Make sure you have a clean and tidy desk. It has been proven that one of the biggest business time wasters is a desk that has less than 80% of its surface area free from clutter. If you maintain a clear and clutter free desk, you will maintain your productivity at its maximum.

3) Learn to use your email program’s filter system. Set up a priority email folder and have all of the emails from your most important clients and contacts routed to it automatically so you don’t have to wade through a mountain of email manually to get to them.

4) Program in some ‘me’ time into every day. No matter how busy you are you should always make time for yourself to do something entirely non-business related. Recharging your batteries in this way will help you to deal with your work commitments at maximum efficiency.

5) Tackle the task you dislike the most first. Putting this task to the bottom of your to-do list will lead to a lot of wasted time fretting about it. If you get this task out of the way as quickly as possible you will feel such relief that the other tasks on your list will be a breeze.

6) Don’t think you have to be totally accessible all of the time. When you have important tasks to complete try to make sure you switch off your cell phone and stop checking your emails for the duration. This will allow you to make optimal use of your time by focussing entirely on the single task at hand without time-wasting distractions.

7) Allow time in your day for the unexpected. If you give yourself a task list that takes up every second of your day, an unexpected event will throw a complete spanner in the works. But if you allow time for the unexpected, when it occurs you’ll be able to cope.

Have an agenda for each meeting. Make sure that you have a clear list of everything to be discussed at every meeting and that every attendee gets that agenda ahead of time. During the meeting make sure that you keep from becoming sidetracked so that you waste the minimum amount of time.

9) Get used to saying ‘no’. If you get asked to do something that doesn’t fit into your schedule then learn how to refuse to do it. This can be hard to do at first but will get easier when the benefits become apparent.

10) Try to reduce the number of meetings you attend to the absolute minimum. Excessive meetings can be the biggest business time wasters. Try to only attend essential meetings to avoid this drain on your time and energy.

Of course, there are many more time management techniques you can use but the above will be a good starting point to help you manage your time more effectively.

Teaching online is becoming increasingly common. There are many benefits to learning online. However, it needs to be remembered that online education is not a ‘silver bullet’ or panacea. It is just as easy to develop inflexible and inappropriate instruction online as it is with other methods. Nevertheless, there are good reasons that both students and teachers are making greater use of the Web for educational purposes.

Perhaps the greatest benefit is that of convenience. The online classroom is always open. It can be reached from anywhere with an internet connection. Greater access is useful for students living in rural areas, students with disabilities and those who cannot attend campus because of other commitments such as work or child-rearing. It can also reduce costs if there is less need to travel. Of course, providing material online can also result in reduced access where students have limited access to the internet.

Online learning is typically self-paced. This can suit students who are shy; those who are not native speakers or slower learners who need to take extra time to develop answers. The student can review material as many times as they want and references such as dictionaries can be consulted.

Online teaching tends to be more student-centered where the role of the teacher becomes that of a facilitator. It is often said that the teacher changes from being a ‘sage on the stage’ to a ‘guide on the side’. Students are able to access a huge range of resources on the internet. These resources are not necessarily just text-based. The types of resources available include text, audio, video, graphics and animations. However, as there are no gatekeepers on the web and anyone can publish just about anything, students need to be taught how to evaluate and discriminate among these resources.

Being able to critically evaluate the wealth of material available on the web is just one skill that online learners develop. Students also get experience with technologies and methods that are used in many careers. For example, online courses often make use of computer-conferencing which is widely used in many industries. Hopefully, the skills that students attain can also help them become life-long learners.

Technology has the ability to enhance learning and teaching. However, if used inappropriately it can also interfere with learning. It is important to choose online methods in education for pedagogical reasons rather than let it be dictated by the availability of the latest technologies.

Around midnight students across the country become record setting authors by finishing essays, and study groups for tests in unheard of time. This unnerving process often leads to below average results. Many people wonder why this is happening. The answer is poor time management. A few pointers on how to avoid such a scenario follow. Before you read more, be sure to give yourself a few minutes of time in case you’re cramming for something right now, you don’t want to miss something important.

Make lists early and often to become experts at time management. Lists that will be available to you for reference can be recorded anywhere. Studies prove the more one makes lists the more apt they are at logically completing tasks. Further, lists can provide people with a realistic look at their workloads. Often people will put more on their plate then they can chew. Sometimes it takes a list of all the foods on the plate for the stomach to get the picture.

The mind works the same way, often we need to see things all together on one comprehensive list to understand the magnitude of it all. If you create detailed lists you will be able to budget out the assignments thus avoiding the common scenario outlined above. When making lists be sure to include everything categorically so nothing gets missed. If you are making a list of things to do, make sure even the laundry and dishes make it onto the list so you don’t forget to budget time to do those tasks. Once the list is created, make a potential schedule to execute the duties on the list. If you have a small list it might just take a few minutes to complete, larger lists can take days, months or even years. So plan in advance.

Keep to appointments to avoid a scheduling traffic jam. The more you put off appointments the harder they can be to reschedule. If you are a busy person, like most of us, you have a lot of daily commitments. By missing appointments you create more pressure on your other appointments. Further if you miss multiple appointments you may just start doubling your schedule, this was explained to me one time as when you schedule two things for the same time frame. In terms of results, this is not a good plan. Imagine if you had coupled your dentist appointment with studying for a big exam. Not good time management at all. Most likely bad results are to follow, so be sure to keep appointments at all costs.

If you can make lists, and keep appointments your time management skills will increase greatly. When in doubt think of your time as something that can be on your side if you choose to master it, rather than just ignore it.

Modern technology makes it simple to set up an office almost anywhere. Cell phones, email, laptops and updated office situations offer unlimited opportunities to start your own business. Whether you want a full-time enterprise or a part-time income, you need the right setup to be successful. Take advantage of advanced technology to have a convenient, functional office on your own terms.

Home Offices

Renovate your garage, family room or even a large closet into your own office space. Create a corner in the house just for your work. Have a designated area for files, your computer and other business essentials. Stay organized so you know where everything is and don’t have to waste time looking for it. Scattering your work around the house makes it difficult to run a successful enterprise no matter how large or small.

Go Mobile

Sometimes occurrences at home make it impossible to focus on the business at hand. Have a laptop and cell phone ready so you can work at your favorite park, coffee shop or library. If peace and quiet are impossible to attain in one spot, take your work elsewhere for awhile. Often the change of scenery helps you regain focus so you can get back to business more effectively.

Virtual Offices

Virtual offices provide a designated business address, telephone number and fax number along with an answering service and receptionist. For a monthly fee, you can set up a virtual office in almost any major city in the world. Virtual offices also create a presence in a metropolitan area and give your business image a boost. If you need a professional space to meet with clients, most virtual offices have conference rooms available on short notice. Having a virtual office also makes it easier to work at home. You have someone else receiving packages, telephone calls, faxes and mail so you can work without interruption. A virtual office also maintains the privacy of your home address and phone number.

Managed Offices

Managed offices are run by a management company that rents out rooms and suites to various businesses. Everyone has a shared receptionist, answering service, security and common areas such as lobbies, restrooms and conference rooms. You can rent an impressive single office or suite in a local business area without a long term lease or buying office space. This gives businesses more freedom to expand, downsize and relocate.

Outsourcing

As businesses expand, they often seek virtual offices and managed offices for the access to receptionists and clerical staff. Another option for small enterprises is outsourcing. Use a freelancer to handle writing, research and public relations as you work on other aspects of your business. Hire a virtual assistant to manage appointments, telephone calls and client data. Get help to make your business more profitable and productive.

Start your own business, gain credibility and build profits by customizing your offices to suit your unique needs. Whether you want to quit your day job or supplement your current income, you can create your own perfect office anywhere and anytime.

Having a home business is a tremendous accomplishment and will provide you with income as well as pride in yourself. Being able to stay at home and to forgo the daily commute to an office through congested traffic, is worth a lot in terms of stress relief.

Once you have settled into a niche that makes money online, there are many ways that a person can make their environment a little more efficient and more productive.

One such method is to take a look at where and how you work. Does your office produce a real working environment and a goal oriented space? That means, you should keep a desk that has the necessary papers and tools available within easy reach so that you do not have to waste time looking for things. Recommendations are: a blotter with dates, a stapler, a filing system with trays or with folders, pens, CD discs, a phone, a scanner and printer. You can have a mailing station set up on another table if you do a lot of mailing packages, tapes, or cds. Have all the accessories you need such as mailing envelopes, tape, address labels, zip code directory, etc. available and within easy reach.

Keep your main desk clean and use space so that there is a feeling of “productivity” when you sit at your computer. Do not have schedules of the kids and other things in your life imposing on your work environment. When you are at your desk, spend the time contemplating your work and what you want to accomplish for that time because it is so very easy to wake up and find you have spent two hours reading email and checking out links.

Making a check list the night before to keep on track of your next day’s activities, is a very good method to accomplishing more than you think possible. Crossing items off your list makes you feel like you have worked hard and gives you a good sense of pride. This helps propel you into your next activity and refresh you for the coming situations. Keeping the list in priority status also keeps you on track and gets the most accomplished for the day.

Having some diversions like soft music is also a good relief for the mind. Creating a background that keeps you in a good frame of mind makes for more productive work as well.

It is also a good idea to get up and stretch once in a while.
Go to the refrigerator for a water or get an apple to eat while you contemplate the computer screen and your work. Remember, you are your own boss, so there is no one to tell you that you cannot eat at your desk! However, there is also no one to tell you that you should not spend working time playing games online, either, so you have to make yourself do what is on your schedule and your priority list to grow your business. It is just a matter of learning the appropriate methods to enable you to work in the manner that seems best and most efficient for you.

Once you are serious about your work and your workday, you will find a tremendous sense of confidence and pride and will know that your abilities are more than enough to fulfill your life’s dream and ambition.

Are you frustrated with your office space? Do you hunt for a pen every time you put one down? Is the search for documents a half-day event? Is your paper filed chronologically – working your way down the pile to “one week ago” and unable to pull out “four months ago” for fear of a paper flood catastrophe?

Every office deals with an excess of paper and whether large or small, your business is suffering when you aren’t operating in an organized space.

So, how do you clear the clutter and gain control?

SPACE IS ESSENTIAL

The biggest problem with staying organized in an office is that people set up a system and don’t give themselves enough room to grow.

If you have spent the better part of a day cleaning out a drawer and replacing the items in organized, labeled files, but you can’t squeeze a single extra sheet of paper you’ve wasted your time and the unfiled papers will grow again.

Be certain to have at least a quarter to a third (more if possible) of growing room when implementing a system. You may need to change over at some point, but having some extra space will encourage you to keep up with the organizing.

This also goes for items such as architectural drawings or other products or documents you may accumulate.

Set aside time to purge unnecessary documents. Not only will this provide more space but will save you time that would otherwise be wasted looking through worthless paperwork.

SIMPLE FILING SYSTEM

Do not make your system too complicated or it will be hard to follow through. Color coding can be the easiest if you do not have too many categories. This is effective for systems which only require “Income,” “Expense,” “Projects,” “Correspondence” or something similar.

For filing of large groups of clients, projects or invoices, use a single drawer for each group of related files. A tall filing cabinet can even be divided into alphabetical or chronological systems.

For items you refer to daily or even hourly you might consider a posting board near your desk. This is a great idea for phone number lists, to do lists and appointment calendars.

MAINTENANCE

A filing system is only as good as the upkeep. You may find it easier to have a small system of files located on or near your desk and daily or weekly transfer the items into their permanent home.

This also works for items which you need close at hand such as current project information or price lists etc.

STYLE OF FILING

Consider if you can realistically maintain a filing system. Perhaps labeled boxes would suit you better (especially if you tend to pile papers). The key is to find something you will feel comfortable maintaining. If papers are sorted and occasionally purged, your system will work.

EVERYTHING NEEDS A HOME

Everything MUST be assigned a home. By giving each item a place you will not lose pens, cell phones, glasses and so on. Don’t crowd the items or you will get frustrated. Recognize that all of your efforts will help you run your business more efficiently, and thus productively. Reward yourself for keeping the system working!

The worst thing about to-do lists is they seem to breed every time you look away. Just as you think you’re getting somewhere, another task needs to be added. It’s downright depressing. You might be forgiven for wondering if there is anyone on earth who actually manages to tick off all the items on a to-do list before the end of the day.

Take heart. It is possible to tame your to-do list – and not by taking a pair of scissors to it to cut it in half. What you need to do is look beyond the list, at the way you handle your time.

Don’t worry. This is not just another ‘time management’ lecture that you’ve heard a thousand times before. It’s a simple, workable approach to taking back a measure of control. By following 4 easy steps, you can introduce more flexibility into your working week – and finally tame that list!

Step 1. Think in Terms of Tasks, Not Hours

In an effort to control the way we use time, most of us allocate a certain number of hours to our ‘working week’. If you work outside the home, this may be imposed upon you. If you work from home, you decide your own hours.

Then what happens? In comes the out-of-control ‘to do’ list. You make a list of all the things you have to do. Then you add more. You try ranking them in order of importance, and the lesser things never get done. Worse, some of the semi-important things keep getting bumped down the list. You work all the hours you have set yourself, and more – but the list just keeps growing.

What to do?

Start thinking in terms of tasks to be done, rather than total hours to be worked. You’ll find that some tasks can be grouped under a general ‘project’ heading. You might end up with two or three projects to be completed. (Leave yourself some time for repetitive everyday tasks – email, customer service etc.)

Step 2. Establish A Pool Of Hours

Now allocate a “pool of hours” to each project. Don’t use up all the hours in your working week when you create this pool of hours (or several pools). The whole idea is to build in some flexibility, so you don’t feel overwhelmed.

How many hours should you allocate to each project? Naturally this will vary according to the complexity of the tasks. Some projects might take only 3-4 hours. Others might need 15 hours, or 30. Estimate the likely time to completion, based on your previous experience. Then look at your deadlines. If Project #1 is due in two weeks and you estimate it will take 12 hours to complete, allocate 8 hours per week to that project. This gives you a couple of spare hours per week. Always allow yourself a small buffer, so you won’t panic if it takes longer than you expected.

Step 3. Start With A Sprint

When you begin each project, start by ‘sprinting’ through a rough outline. This will get you off to a fast start, and the psychological benefits of having an outline completed quickly can last throughout the entire project. Set a time limit to brainstorm the outline – thirty minutes, an hour, whatever works for you.

Then divide your project outline into chunks and start working on one ‘chunk’ at a time. Be flexible about how you divide your hours. If you’re in the mood and everything’s going well, you can use more of your pool of hours for this project in one day. If you’re hitting a roadblock and you need to let it ‘simmer’ for a while, put it away and turn to a different project and start dipping into a different ‘pool’.

Step 4. Wrap It Up and Reward Yourself

If you’ve estimated your time correctly, then you’ll usually finish your project on time or with hours left over. This may well be a whole new experience for you! Instead of feeling panicked that you are ticking off an endless list of tasks without ever getting to the bottom of it, you have the satisfaction of completing a project when you planned to. If you have a few leftover hours in your pool, you have a choice – transfer them to another project, or use them as ‘bonus time’.

It’s a nice feeling to actually have a few hours that you can use to reward yourself instead of diving headfirst into yet another job. You’ll find that this is a great motivator to avoid distractions – we all work better with the prospect of a couple of hours free to do something we enjoy.

Bottom line: Become task-oriented rather than time-oriented; work from a pool of hours; start with a sprint, then reward yourself by taking some time out using any leftover hours. You’ll enjoy work more – and tame that to-do list in no time!