They say there are two kinds of people in the world – the dreamers and the doers. Entrepreneurs, however, mostly fall in both categories—passionate dreamers who have the courage see their vision through. Being an entrepreneur entails a lot of hard work, dedication, focus and strength to deal with a high level of pressure to ensure that all aspects of the business run smoothly. Time is highly essential in conducting business. Each minute lost can mean wasted opportunities for growth and profit.
In lifestyles as busy and active as entrepreneurs, one can easily get pulled and drag into urgent, time consuming but unimportant matters. Hence, it is essential for entrepreneurs to have a good grasp of priorities and follow a time management process to promote efficiency in operations and optimum returns.
Plan and schedule. Running a business is an everyday battle that you need to come prepared to. There are only so many tasks, meetings, calls, e-mails you can fit in a day so plan your activities ahead and allow some leeway for downtime. When you nail down what you need to do for the day, set strict deadlines for each task and stick to it. For best results, it is important for entrepreneurs to understand the time of the day when they are most productive–whether it is in the morning, afternoon or evening. Working on important matters during these “peak” or “prime” hours can help you come up with more quality output.
Set your priorities. An entrepreneur’s to-do list is a never-ending black hole. There will always be calls to take, e-mails to reply to and tasks to be accomplished. Having a clear sense of priorities will allow you to isolate gainful activities from the urgent but unimportant tasks. Setting goals and priorities may be difficult as it has a tendency to shift and vary depending on the business’ daily demands. However, once you shed clarity and light on what is important, you find prioritizing a lot easier.
Take advantage of technology. There are a lot of ways technology can help entrepreneurs manage their time more wisely. Make use of time saving applications to cut your man-hours in half. For example, instead of writing down your ideas in a notebook, input it in a note application so your information is organized and searchable once the need arises.
Focus. Eliminate all forms of distraction when you are working. Log-out from your social media accounts, remove clutter in your desk that could catch your attention and refrain from reading your e-mails from time to time. Set specific times of the day for you to read and respond to e-mails. These measures will allow you to focus on the task at hand and improve the output quality.
Efficiency and effectiveness. There is a world of a difference between being efficient and being effective. Efficiency is accomplishing tasks in a manner that is easier, faster and more streamlined. Effectiveness, on the other hand, is doing the right things in a way that lets you inch closer to your business goals. There are arguments that it is more important to become effective rather than efficient. Here’s the trick: strive for both. Effectiveness will help you get your business on the right track to success and efficiency will allow you to get there easier and faster.
Outsource. Many businesses turn to outsourcing for time and cost savings. This is mostly undertaken by start-up firms and small to medium-sized businesses that are not able to manage all the aspects of the business internally. On the other hand, more established businesses turn to outsourcing simply to reduce costs. The key driving factors that lead many businesses to outsourcing include cost efficiency, higher level of productivity, quicker turnaround time, and risk mitigation. Outsourcing, when done with the right provider, assures that other aspects of your business do not suffer when you focus on your core business activities. Richmond offers efficient and cost effective professional services from Singapore Company Incorporation to Corporate Secretarial and Accounting and Tax Services. Interested in our services? We can provide you with a free consultation with an expert so we can discuss how best we can address your outsourcing needs.
