Most people that are starting a business are usually doing it alongside other time-heavy commitments such as a full-time job, being a stay at home parent, going to college / university or have other responsibilities that leave them with very little time. This can make it challenging to dedicate time to a business in which you're the only one working.
There are so many tasks that are required to be completed in a business to make it successful: create products / content, market service / products / content, conduct market research, find and reach out to prospective clients. All of these tasks require time and depending on the business there can be many more tasks that need to get done.
When you have less time to spend on your business that means you can only do a limited amount of tasks and this can lead to your business taking longer to deliver success and results. This can become discouraging and many people even quit (too early) because they just do not see results and they fail to recognise that it's probably due to a lack of time they have been able to dedicate. I have gone through this exact same thing so I can relate to how difficult and demotivating it can be when you have to face all these obstacles.
So, today I want to share some strategies that worked for me, after a couple of years of trial and error, to allow me to dedicate time and energy to my business whilst staying positive, driven and taking care of all my other responsibilities.
Disclaimer: Information in this post is intended only for general and entertainment purposes only. The reader is responsible for any harm, injury, loss caused from display and use of this information. Reader discretion is advised. Thank you.
1. Enjoy What You are Doing
If you do not enjoy the tasks that you are doing then you will not stick to it for long or you will not want to dedicate the scarce amount of time you do have in your day to your business. No matter how much you want the business to succeed, if you do not have an interest and are not excited by what you are doing in your business then you will not be able to successfully give the little time you have in your day to your business. So, make sure that whatever the theme of your business is and the products / service / content you are delivering - it interests and excites you.
Not every task that you have to do in your business will be exciting (I need to make updates to a digital product and I have been procrastinating on it - HARD!), but you need to be excited by the market / industry your business is in and what you are offering to your customers. This will make even those difficult tasks easier to do compared to if the main theme of your business was something that you had zero interest in. Those tasks will not be difficult or challenging because you also get to work on tasks that you enjoy so it's more motivating.
If you are finding it difficult to work on your business even when you may have a couple of hours to spare in a day but find yourself not dedicating that time towards it then ask yourself if you are interested in what your business is all about. If the business is not what you want but it's a step in the direction of where you want it to go, so you might have started your business offering a service you do not really enjoy doing but it is to build the experience, knowledge and skills to what you really want to do then keep reminding yourself of that ultimate goal. Keep it in the forefront of your mind every time you want to escape the task of your business what your ultimate goal is and where you want to get to. This will help you enjoy the tasks you are doing more because your aim excites and powers you.
2. Plan Your Week Ahead
It is as simple as that! Planning is going to be essential to see success in your business and grow it when you do not have a considerable amount of time every day to dedicate to your business. Planning helps you to understand where your business currently stands and give you an opportunity to define the steps you need to take in the coming week to continue building and growing your business. This exercise does not have to take very long nor be complex, though it might be tempting to put this off because you are thinking to yourself I already know the tasks I need to do and this is not necessary: it is necessary to give you clarity on your business and clear directions.
Take an hour on a Sunday evening and review your past week, ask yourself what work have you pursued in the week gone to achieve your goals (if you have not set business goals then you need to - to make your business goals successful check this blog post out!), reflect on the activities and the tasks you have been engaging in and how impactful have they been towards your business. Once you have assessed the current state of your business move onto identifying what tasks are the most appropriate and necessary for you to dedicate your time to this week - sometimes it might be that admin tasks such as organising / planning / strategising and researching might have to be done but these are important so do not neglect them.
Create a list of tasks: set one task to each day, give yourself tasks only for five days so that if you do end up missing one day then you have a spare day to catch-up and one day to just completely disconnect and recharge from the business. Assigning one task to a day helps to combat feelings of overwhelm, dread and failure if you do not achieve all the goals. Likewise, if you are setting one goal then try your utmost best to get that task completed in a time frame, do not give yourself all the time you have spare to do it. Any time that is left-over in a day you can dedicate that to doing any of the 'back-up' tasks in your list of tasks to do.
Create two task list for the week ahead: important & back-up, important are all the ones that need to be completed and back-up are all the tasks that if on a particular day you complete the task for that day then you can pick these extra tasks up. Alternatively, you can focus on completing your important tasks first and if you complete more than one in a day then at the end of the week you can focus on getting through the back-up actions.
3. Commit, Even if it is Only 30 Minutes
Being preoccupied with other commitments that require a majority of our time can mean that the time we do have spare we are often tempted to spend it relaxing and wasting it on useless activities - this has happened to me countless of times and is a regular occurrence. But, the problem here is that when that does happen I let my feelings of disappointment and frustration at myself lead me to just say: I will do the work tomorrow, but in reality the previous day just repeats.
Therefore, I have learnt that I need to just commit to a small amount of time to my business each day, even if it is just 30 minutes. Making this commitment means that even if I waste hours of my spare time on something that is useless I do not let disappointment and frustration prevent me from taking action because I know that all I have to achieve is 30 minutes.
I would love to be able to dedicate all of my spare time to building and growing my business, and that would also give me results and success more quicker but I have learnt that for me the best way to ensure that I take action every single day is to commit to just a small amount of time. Some action every day is better than no action for many days. Doing something related to your business every day and committing to this will make it much easier for you to keep working on your business. Start small with your commitments, those that you are fairly certain you will be able to achieve and maintain. As you become more successful and disciplined with those small commitments you can challenge yourself and increase those commitments.
Do not set yourself up for failure by overpromising to yourself, be realistic and work towards what you ideally would like.
Thank you!
It was genuinely interesting writing this blog post because it turned into more of a reflective session so there are lessons from here that I am taking away which I will be implementing myself such as the 'take time to plan' because I definitely need to do more of that.
I would be delighted to hear your thoughts on what I have shared today and learn more from your experience so please share in the comments below. I will see you in my next post!
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