8 Time Management Tips for the Busy Entrepreneur

Maria Elena Duron • Oct 07, 2019

Sometimes, the 24 hours in a day are not enough. There isn’t enough time to exercise, pursue our dreams, or to get our lives in order. This “lack-of-time” is a hurdle we all need to cross. However, if you you’re able to do a combination of the following activities, you’ll be able to free up time in such a way that quality and follow-up are attained.

1. Determine what really needs your involvement.

The first thought that probably comes to your mind is…everything! That’s the genuine response from most small business owners. But the truth is, if you try to do everything, you’ll burn out and you’ll be ineffective.

Determine which tasks that only you can do. It could be that you’re a top-notch salesperson and only you can do sales, or perhaps you’re the only one who can paint or create designs–whatever it is, figure it out. Unless you’re an accounting professional, cutting checks, balancing the books, and running payroll are probably not in your expertise area. Yes, they are all necessary to run your business, but what if instead you focus on what you do best and write checks for the rest? How would your business grow then?

2. Set a limit on conversations and meetings.

Long phone conversations go on, and on, and on. And there’s nothing that drains an entrepreneur’s schedule more than “meetings about the meeting”–the amount of time it takes to coordinate a simple meeting.

There are several scheduling tools out there that do a great job freeing up your time. My personal favorite is Calendly , but there are a host of good ones out there to explore. What’s most important is that you choose a tool that works with your personal work style and that you use it.

3. Avoid your social networks except when you go in for a specific purpose.

Unless your business is social media marketing, then make sure you know why you have your specific social networks. Are they for information gathering or research? Do you use them as customer service tools? When you know why you use social media tools and what you expect to gain from them, you can decide the most effective use of time for them.

It could be as simple as using a posting platform–like Hootsuite (my personal favorite). Or, it could be more complex as bringing in a virtual assistant(s) to help with customer service via social, or a marketing team to assist you with content creation and curation.

4. Get to know your sweet spot.

Let’s not be foolish and simply say, “The early bird gets the worm;” we all have times when we are more productive than other times. It could be that we are early morning producers, or we are night owls who can outwork everyone in the late hours of the night. What’s important is knowing what your sweet productive spot is. What hours of the day/night are you at your personal best?

5. Turn off all those alerts.

Not for all day, just during the periods when you need optimum concentration (during your productive sweet spot).

6. Learn to say ‘no.’

I know a lot of us were taught to be incredibly nice and always give what we have–our time included. Requests from other people, however, can really consume our time. So unless a request is for something that’s very essential, it’s important to learn to say “no.” When you say “no” to the unexpected and to outside influences, you are actually saying “yes” to your priorities.

7. Use Stephen Covey’s Four-Quadrant System.

First, I do encourage a to-do list. However, I know that to-do lists usually contain five times more items than can be accomplished on a given day. Stephen Covey, the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has developed a four-quadrant system for time management. Basically, you take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle vertically and horizontally to divide the paper into four quadrants:

Quadrant #1 (top left-hand corner): It contains the items on your list that are urgent and important–urgent because they need to be done immediately or something drastic will occur, and important because they truly affect your priorities and goals.

Quadrant #2 (top right-hand corner): It contains the items on your list that are not urgent, but are still important. These items don’t need to be done immediately, but they still have a major impact on your goals.

Quadrant #3 (bottom left-hand corner): It contains items that are urgent, but not important. We’ve all had those fires occur in our business that beckon our immediate attention, but truly have no impact on the overall goals for our business.

Quadrant #4 (bottom right-hand corner): It contains items that are not urgent or important. We all have had items like these that somehow wander onto our to-do lists either from guilt, habit, or they’re something that served us once before, but no longer serve our goals.

8. When you delegate, let them know the goals.

Give up some of the tasks on your list and delegate them to others who are better suited at doing them. It’s not necessary for you to do every yourself.

When you delegate duties, it is important that sound communication is maintained so you can keep proper tabs on the process and be sure quality work is being performed. It’s also important to let the people who are doing the work know your goals and the reason for doing the task. People who are experts at tasks have inside knowledge that can be applied, creating even better results than the original intent. Engage their knowledge by letting them know the overall results you are seeking.