I hope you had time to test those strategies out. We are going to dive into another three steps in this post.
Stay Single - There is so much to do to manage our businesses, especially if you are just starting out. Do not try to do all these productivity steps at once or you will go into brain overwhelm. Try them one at a time. It is the same with business tasks. If you are starting social media, pick the platform that best reaches your target market and do just that one until you have a good follower base and system and then add a second. You might have three great ideas for new products. Unless it is three variations of the same product, develop them at different times.
Dropdead - I confess; I procrastinate. Having a drop-dead date really works for me. Recently I created some workshops. I scheduled the workshops before I had the exact content created. I finished my materials the day before each workshop, but I did get it done. Now when I offer those workshops again, the heavy lifting has already been done. Set a date you can not wiggle out of to focus your time and energy.
You Are Dispensable - If you already created a task list when you implemented the Be Brutal step in part one, pull it out now. If you do not have one, make a list of tasks you do during your work hours. (List all of the hours you work your business, even the time “after hours”.)
Ask yourself these questions for each task you currently do:
- Does this task create immediate revenue?
- Could someone else do it?
If the answer is no to the first question and yes to the second you have two options.
- If you are having cash-flow issues, put these tasks on hold until you are consistently cash-flow positive.
- Outsource these tasks. If you are spending 10 hours a week on non-revenue generating tasks that someone else can do consider the math. If you can make $30 per hour by doing revenue-generating tasks for those hours, you can pay an assistant $20 per hour and still come out ahead.
Focus on the tasks that will create the most revenue that only you can do.
In the next post we will check out a few more ways to get unstuck.
Until next time...
Have a great day,
Susanne
Click here to get help developing or implementing your strategic plan.