Entrepreneurship is one of the most fulfilling but demanding careers a person can have. As a business owner, you’re in charge of nearly every facet of your company or venture.
From planning and executing a strategy to hiring employees, winning new clients, and all the
As an entrepreneur or small business owner, time management is critical to ensure productivity, effectiveness, and overall success. Wondering how you can improve your time management skills to improve your company’s bottom line? Keep reading!
Unique Time Management Challenges for Entrepreneurs
Let’s first discuss the basics — what is time management? As a skill, time management helps individuals complete work on time, avoid distractions, and effectively prioritize critical tasks without ever sacrificing the quality of work provided.
But why is time management important for entrepreneurs? Time management skills are vital to be successful in any role, be it team leader or individual contributor. However, this skill set is arguably the most important part of an entrepreneur’s
A whopping 89% of entrepreneurs see their workload as too heavy. So, what makes the entrepreneurial role so challenging that time management becomes an issue? Here’s what entrepreneurs are juggling that sets them apart from the rest of the workforce.
High-Level Responsibilities
Running a company is much more complicated than one might realize. Entrepreneurs and business owners have their hands in every facet of the business. On any given day, they might go from interviewing job candidates to a sales meeting, calls with investors, onboarding new customers, and handling customer support issues.
In a small business, the owner is significantly involved in most departments’
Unpredictable Schedules
Entrepreneurs are often called makers and managers, where they hold
Business operations can ebb and flow, requiring more involvement during some seasons and less in others. This makes time management strategies for entrepreneurs and professionals critical for the company’s success.
Time Management Tips for Entrepreneurs
Wondering how to improve time management for entrepreneurs? You’re in the right place!
Here are some practical strategies you can implement immediately and see how they improve your productivity as a business owner. You’ll be able to get more done in less time because you won’t try to focus on multiple things at once.
Prioritization Methods
Prioritizing is an effective time management strategy. It helps entrepreneurs define what important tasks must be completed first and set aside the rest. Various time management worksheets simplify the process.
These methods include the Priority Matrix (Eisenhower Matrix) method, where you draw a square and label the top two quadrants Urgent/Not Urgent and the bottom two Important/Not Important.
The tasks in the Urgent and Important quadrants become the priority items, while those in the Not Urgent and Not Important quadrants can be delegated or delayed/cancelled.
This method is also known as the four quadrants of time management. You can create this time management matrix using a notebook and pen or download a
Other prioritization methods include the ABCDE method, where you rank the tasks on your
This method helps entrepreneurs accomplish essential tasks, freeing up their time to work on other pressing items. Plus, spending as little as
Time Blocking
Time blocking is a highly effective strategy for providing structure to your day. It ensures you can accomplish everything you need to while setting boundaries and limits on certain items.
This method involves setting aside specific blocks of time for each task rather than trying to juggle multiple items at once and never getting anything completely over the finish line.
For example, you can dedicate the first hour of your day to responding to emails, the next three hours to completing critical tasks, and the last hour to meetings.
By assigning
Delegation
Delegation is arguably one of an entrepreneur’s most effective skills. The ability to pass important tasks to trusted employees is a huge strength as a business owner.
Delegating lessens your workload, builds trust in your staff, and allows you to have more time to dedicate to areas of the business that need your attention.
To delegate tasks effectively, look at the items that take up a lot of your time and energy daily. Can any parts of that task be handed off to a qualified employee? In doing so, you can strengthen your team’s confidence and skills while optimizing your productivity. It’s a
By the way, if you use Ecwid by Lightspeed for your online store, you can easily delegate some online store tasks to your team members. You can add staff accounts and grant permissions to ensure that only authorized employees can access sensitive information and critical functions.
Leveraging Technology for Better Time Management
How can an entrepreneur compensate for a time management weakness? Try one of the strategies mentioned above. To support your commitment, here is an additional suggestion.
Because we live in a digital age, technology plays a significant role in time management and the overarching success of any business. Fortunately, various tools and technology resources can offer support in time management for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Let’s discuss those here.
Productivity Apps
As a business owner, your phone likely lives in your hand during all your waking hours, ready to take calls, answer emails, schedule demos, and more. The good news is that many productivity apps can help make your day more productive. Some of the popular productivity apps and resources include:
- Evernote for effective
note-taking that you can share with employees - Slack for
on-the-go communication with staff and clients - Zoom for convenient video conferencing from anywhere in the world
- Canva for quick and easy professional graphic design capabilities
- Lightspeed Payments for a simple payment setup in an online store
- MileIQ for travel tracking to streamline taxes
- ClickUp for project management and task organization.
Automation
Automation tools can help save time and increase productivity for repetitive tasks in your workload. From appointment or meeting scheduling to processing invoices or data entry, automation can help simplify your workflows and allow you to focus on the tasks that really matter.
This is where an ecommerce platform plays a role, too. For example, Ecwid by Lightspeed automates inventory management and order processing, making it easier for businesses to manage their online stores. With integrations with popular shipping carriers and payment gateways, you can focus on other aspects of your business while offering customers a seamless shopping experience.
Overcoming Common Time Management Challenges
Time management for entrepreneurs and business owners can be a challenge as they have to wear so many hats. However, acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses can help to understand where you need to focus your efforts and where you need support through delegation.
Here’s how you can effectively solve many challenges associated with time management.
Combatting Distractions
Whether you work from home or in an office setting, distractions are around every corner. Anticipating them can help reduce their power and remove your focus. We recommend turning off notifications on your phone and email as you work.
According to a report by Economist Impact, recovering from distractions is one of the top five causes of lost focus. For an average US knowledge worker, the time spent bouncing back from distractions adds up to 127 hours yearly. Imagine what you could accomplish with an extra 127 hours of uninterrupted work!
Plan your day using the time blocks we mentioned above so you know precisely what time allotments you have to complete specific tasks. Take breaks to refocus your mind, walk outside to
Prioritizing Work-Life Balance
Did you realize that 70% of entrepreneurs experience burnout due to a lack of
Continue to prioritize a healthy
You can also use the
Wrap Up
Running a business is no easy feat, but time management skills for entrepreneurs make it possible to be more productive and effective for your team and your business while maintaining a healthy
It takes planning, strategy, and effort, but the outcome will lead to a more fulfilling career that requires less energy and time. What could be better than that?
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