Manage your time, manage your business.

During the busy season (i.e. NOW), you’ve got to use your time wisely.  But time-management is not an easy skill to master.  Here are some guidelines.

PRIORITIZE BASED ON DIFFICULTY

At the beginning of each day, make a list of 3 important tasks that need to be done.  Do the hardest task first (you know you’ll put it off because it is the hardest), then the next hardest.

Example of a prioritized To Do List:

1. Process payroll (most difficult because it is time consuming at tedious)
2. Read through job applications (2^nd in difficulty because again, tedious)
3. Contact client Mr. Smith about upcoming job details (must be done, but easiest)

PRIORITIZE BASED ON URGENCY

When you’re running a business, everything needs to be done.  You have to have a way of prioritizing the tasks so you don’t get stuck.  Divide your tasks into URGENT and REQUIRED.  Urgent tasks need to be done first.  These are things that will keep your company operating like collecting money, processing payroll, and interviewing new hires.  If your crew needs it in order to work today, it’s urgent.  Required tasks also need to be done, but they can wait an hour or two.  Things like paying bills, contacting a client to discuss details of a job, and ordering supplies for next week are required.

Example of an Urgency To Do List:

1. Process payroll (you can’t operate if your employees don’t get paid)
2. Read through job applications (a new hire will keep your company moving)
3. Contact Mr. Smith (you need to know what colors to order, but this can wait until lunchtime)

Note:  a task that falls on the REQUIRED list one day may be on the URGENT list another day.  It all depends on the circumstances.

OTHER TRICKS

These aren’t really tricks, just things you can do to manage your time better.

• Prioritize (we already talked about this, but it’s really important)
• Don’t micro-manage. Let people do their jobs.
• Put systems in place to help with organization (like a vacation calendar so that you can plan ahead for someone to be out)
• Look ahead at the weather to make sure your jobs line up with the forecast

Coming up next week:  Organize clients quickly.