One of the most important skills for small business managers is time management. You will improve your bottom line when you can get more done in less time. You will also be better able to achieve your goals, and you will endure less stress and avoid some of those 80-hour work weeks. Take a look at ways to save time as a small business owner.
Plan Your Work Ahead of Time
The most important strategy for saving time is to plan your work ahead of time. You should know your schedule the night before, and you will be able to hit the ground running. Otherwise, you will end up distracted by other issues or doing things that you could have delegated if you had a plan.
Make sure you prioritize important and urgent tasks and mark those you can’t delegate to others. You should carry a schedule and refer to it throughout the day. You need to write down anything that comes up so that you can plan it when you do your schedule. While you are making your plan, schedule time for dealing with unexpected phone calls, employee conferences, and more. Ensure you only deal with the phone and emails during a designated time.
Prioritize Your Tasks by Importance and Urgency
President Eisenhower said, “What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.” However, you still need to address both. You should divide your tasks into four categories: important, unimportant, urgent, and not urgent.
Do the important and urgent tasks first, then the not urgent and not important ones. You should always rank your tasks. You should also consider clustering similar tasks to save time in the day.
Delegate Well
Delegating is critical for small business owners and is always hard to do. However, you need to organize your tasks and delegate what you can. Make sure you make a list and mark tasks you must do. Then list out tasks you can do and others to help you complete them. You should also have jobs that others can do, and you can check over when they finish, and then there are tasks that others can do on their own without your help.