Time Management Tips for the Fledgling Entrepreneur

By Ken Cobb

While working from home is a dream-come-true, the very act of working from home may turn it into a nightmare before long. Interestingly, it is not the lack of clients, income, or other external pressures that may sour the experience for you, but more likely than not it is your own setup, or more truly your time management or lack thereof. Much has been written about time management in general, but time management tips for the fledgling entrepreneur are not as often considered.

Consider for example the need to schedule your daily tasks. This includes the house work, the commitments made to others, and also the work you must get done for the business. If you fail to schedule your entire day, you may find yourself cleaning the house until the banisters gleams in the afternoon sunshine, while in the meantime your business has sat idle and you are now required to burn the midnight oil just to get partially caught up. Allocating two hours of housework to take care of the most pressing tasks prior to delving into your business chores may be a good way of assuaging your conscience in this area; similarly, leaving some of the work for the evening or the next day, or simply to hand over to another family member is a good idea as well.

Have an objective for your day. Know the things you must accomplish, understand the things you would like to accomplish, and also note the tasks that you need to get around to at some point. A deadline must be met, but the load of laundry that is beckoning from the bedroom might be ok to sit for another day, while the weeding in the yard will not cause any problems if you leave it for the weekend. Similarly, if you have personal obligations you must meet, be sure to incorporate them into your daily schedule rather than trying to squeeze them in. Allowing enough time for each and every task is the key element of the successful entrepreneur who is not suffering from road rage or seems to live with a cell phone pressed to the ear.

Do not over commit yourself. When it comes to time management tips for the fledgling entrepreneur, this is one item that is most often disregarded. With the freedom of working from home comes a bit of guilt which the individual most often will seek to assuage by taking in more tasks than can be realistically completed in the time allotted. Similarly, a bit of guilt will most likely to say yes to friends and family in need of favors, when your business actually demand that you say no. Keeping a realistic calendar is vital and if you have the ability to shuffle tasks around, go for it, but if it will upset you entire plan for the week, do not fall into the trap of penciling it in and then trying to somehow make it happen. This leads to missed deadlines, forgotten appointments, speeding tickets, stress, business meetings which are way too short to accomplish all that needs to be covered, and also the frustration that goes along will being on the run all day and then having nothing in the evening to show for the effort.

Ken Cobb is the founder and CEO of Next Level Enterprises, LLC an industry leader in home business Internet Marketing, Consulting and CRM Solutions

For more information: info@NextLevelEnterprises.com