Getting things done continues to be an overwhelming challenge for most small business owners. Sometimes, the list of tasks seems to be beyond attainable and appears to have no end! It’s not that these things don’t have merit or that someone important is asking you for them, it’s just that there’s not enough time in the day- right?

Tradition Time Management Can be Detrimental to aSmall Business Owner
Time management approaches have been sout after by small business owners for decades. The whole industry reached a ground swell about 20 years ago with the advent of the Franklin planner, the Day Timer and a while host of other systems to capture the focus (and investment) of busines people everywhere. Unfortuneately, none of these systems really changed the small business owner’s ability to make better use of the time they have or get better results from the businesses they own. Why… becasue time management as a concept is an illusion! You only have so much time and it cannot be managed like others things because you can’t stop it, reserve it or allocate it to someone else. It’s the most valuable resource you have and you can’t replace what you lose or make more if you waste it.

What does work is the concept of knowing what you need to spend time on that produces the greatest return in your business. Get really clear about what you should be doing to drive revenue, attract more of your best clients and let others do the things that are not your best fit. Let me explain-

Joseph M. Juran was on to something
There’s a universal concept called the Pareto Principle. You may know it as the 80/20 rule. It was first introduced into business by business management expert- Joseph M. Juran and named after Vilfredo Pareto. Simply put, 80% of all activity, results, accomplishments, etc come from 20% of the source. If you belong to a networking group, chances are that 80% of the work is being done by 20% of the members. In the retail grocery business, 80% of a store’s volume comes from 20% of the item selection. And, in most businesses, 80% of your revenues come from 20% of your clients. Likewise, 80% of your profits come from 20% of your product or service offerings.

Juran observed that Vilfredo Perato’s principle had application in the business world as well. In just about all business situations, you can apply this principle. It’s as dependable as gravity! But what does it mean for using your time better?

It’s About Focusing on Results
In most traditional time management systems, much of the focus goes to managing your schedule. Although priority is given to tasks, the main priciple involves getting more done in a given day or week. Unless the business owner has objectively assessed where their revenue, clients and profits come from, there’s no asurance that the things you schedule are the right things for you to be engaged in. As an example, if book keeping is a low prioity task and something you are not good at, why even spend time on it. The best thing you could do is outsource it.

Look at your business and using the Pareto Principle, write down the activities that will produce 80% of the results that grow your bsuiness. If you missed ‘sales and marketing’, you should rethink your business approach. Sales and marketing are the only activities that generate revenue. Everything else (although important to some degree) is an expense. And when it comes to generating the needed sales and revenue, who will be more committed to acheiving this than you- the owner of the business.

Separate the Important from the Minutia
To get a quick handle on this issue, go back and look at your schedule for the last 2 weeks. If you have no schedule, the problem is obvious. If your schedule has only appointments with other people and there’s lots of open space, it also reveals a lack of focus on the important areas. Now, you might say, “I don’t use my calendar for everything I do”. Herein lies the problem. Read on.

Look at all the things you spent time on and the time you spent and create a list with 2 columns; one for important activities like sales, marketing, management, client visits, etc and the other column for evrything else. You’ll quickly see where most of your time goes and why you may not be getting what you want from your business. If your calendar is not detailed enough for this exercise, spend the next 2 weeks writing down everything you do in 15 minute increments. It sounds tedious, but the learning you’ll get will be a major game changer!

Take Control of The Growth Aspects of Your Buisness
Once you figure out where you spend your time, think about the things you should be focused on to acheive growth in your business. Things like evaluating who your ideal clients are and where they can found; who your best referral partners might be; what networking groups or events you need to attend; developing a compelling referral program for your current clients or creating an ad campaign that drives more traffic to your website. All of these activities lead to reveneue generation and deserve time on your calendar.

If you have employees, think about how to give them direction and let them perform with scheduled check in meetings to monitor performance. Look at things in your bsuiness that others could do (inside or outside your business) and get them off your desk. Ask yourself this question everytime you are faced with doing a task. “Who else could do this?” (and if no one knows how) follow up with “who can I train to do this?”

Whatever type of business you are involved in (solo-preneur, partnership, management, multi-divisonal organization, etc. this approach to using your time to get the most important things done is a ‘life changer’ in terms of how you look at your business the goals you want to reach.

In the end, you’ll be much happier and feel the power of getting vitaul, growth related initiatives accomplished that produce more revenue, good clients and profits for your business.

Most business owners today aren’t happy with the amount of revenue their business is generating. They’re working longer hours, applying greater effort, spending more for marketing and receiving lower revenue. So what’s going on?

If this is happening to you, it’s important to remember that those results are in direct proportion to the actions you’ve been taking? If you want different results, then you MUST take different actions.

So if that’s all that’s required, why don’t business owners just do that? The answer may shock you. They can’t stop repeating their past patterns of behavior. Their past patterns have become ingrained into their subconscious mind and have established themselves as habits.

How This Works:

Have you ever listened to art experts accurately identify a recently discovered painting as belonging to a specific artist such as Rembrandt? How can they tell who painted that picture? Patterns… that’s how. Even though the painting may look completely different than all the others that artist painted, his or her patterns, sometimes referred to as their “style,” continuously comes through with each and every painting.

The exact same thing happens to business owners as well. All of us have been mentally conditioned to perform our daily activities in a certain way. These activities have become habits through constant and daily repetition. The problem is that the majority of these habits… more than 80% of them… are non-productive. They simply don’t contribute to the generation of revenue for your business.

Imagine Your True Potential!

Imagine what would happen to your revenue if you could reduce that 80% down to 60%. If you replaced that 20% with revenue producing activities, you would DOUBLE your income? Do you know how easy it is to reduce that 80% down to 60%… or even down to 40%… which doubles revenue again? Exciting, isn’t it?

So, what is the cost to you and your business if you fail to change this behavior?  What if you could devote more time and take action on more revenue producing tasks?

What if you could remove the mental barriers that may be sabotaging your success?

What if you could get laser-focused on your highest revenue -producing activities?

How can you learn to do all of this?  Join me on my upcoming webinar ‘Change Your Game in 2012’ and have your best year ever!  I’m going to show you what to look for that’s holding you back and preventing you from having the kind of business success you truly deserve.  I’m also going to show you how to establish a systematic way of running and growing your business so 2012 doesn’t end up being a repeat of 2011!

Why am I doing all this and not charging for it?

My past 25 years of management, marketing and sales in some of America’s most successful companies has given me a wealth of experience (and hard knocks) on how to effectively and profitably build a business and sharing it with committed business owners is the least I can do to support the small business community.

If you want to participate, simply follow this link http://bit.ly/ChangeYourGamein2012  and register.  I can only accommodate a certain number of people, so sign up today.  Additionally, you will receive my e-book on the 17 tops ways to grow your business just for registering for the webinar.

Changing the way you think starts with taking action on different things.  Committing yourself to learning a new approach to business building is a great way to begin the new year!

As business owners, we tend to do allot!  During the start-up phase it’s called ‘boot strapping’ and it is essential if resources are tight.  Once established, the need to do it all stems from the feeling that no one else can do it as well.  Likewise, a general lack of planning and discipline can have you holding the ‘task bag’ more often than you’d like.  Suffice it to say, most business owners would think twice about having their owner companies if they realized how difficult it can be to get the important things done. 

Business is a continuum.  Time waits for no one and you are either moving forward or you are losing ground.  In either case, a lack of focus can inhibit one and accelerate the other.  It’s not a matter of having more time to get everything done; it’s a matter of doing the right things at the right time.  If focus has been a battle for you, here are six of the most common reasons why business owners can’t stay focused and what to do so you can get the kind of results you want.  

1.                   Lack of a Clear Vision: 

Neurologically, focus is a contest between your conscious and your subconscious minds. The conscious mind is in charge of communications, logic and decision making. It controls about 6% of your total brain activity.  The subconscious, on the other hand, controls all of your bodily functions, your feelings, emotions, thoughts, behaviors and habits which make up the remaining 94% of your brain.  Everything you have experienced in your life is stored in your subconscious just waiting to be recalled as a recognizable experience shows up. 

For this reason, having a clear, complete vision of what you want your business to be is essential to keeping your mind focused on activities that lead to that end result.  If you do not have a vision statement with all the relevant specifics (time frames, revenue levels, profits, brand, identity, facility and staff needs and size of client base, etc) you are allowing your focus to be swayed by a multitude of distractions and false opportunities.  Once you write out your vision, create a bulleted list in large letters and display it everywhere you work.  Seeing it on regular basis will train your subconscious to start looking for things that will support good focus habits. 

2.                  ‘Screaming Baby’ Syndrome- A Constant State of Overwhelm: 

Overwhelm stems from 2 things; not knowing what to do and having too many things demanding your attention.  It’s one of the most arresting feelings I know of and if left unchecked, it can paralyze you from making any decisions or taking any action at all! 

Having a clear vision will at least give you a sense of direction but until you become confident in what you need to do and eliminate the ‘screaming babes’ from your daily routine, not a lot is likely to improve.  Start by recognizing that you can’t do it all.  Multitasking has its benefits but in business it’s generally unproductive in the end. 

Get help from someone outside your business who can help you objectively determine which tasks are priorities and which ones can wait.  Consider hiring people for the most important areas requiring special knowledge or skills.  Look for people in your surroundings that might be willing to barter services if finances are tight.  You can also visit your local college to see what intern programs are available.  You might have to pay something for their time but most college students are more interested in getting meaningful experience.  Once you have identified the sources of your overwhelm and engages people/ services to handle them, you will notice a tremendous change in your level of focus. 

3.                The Debilitating Effects of Environmental Clutter: 

Most of what we react to are things we see or hear.  A work environment that is unorganized or loaded with clutter can be an ongoing reminder that things are out of control.  Stop telling yourself, ‘I know where everything is’.  The moment you see something that you tossed aside a week ago, the tendency to deal with it happens quickly, pulling you off task and in many cases, dropping the work you intended to finish. 

The only cure for clutter and disorganization is to strip the environment (your office, your car, etc) of everything and start fresh.  The reason this is needed is so your mind understands that the old ways have come to an end.  Start by forming 3 piles; things that most be urgent, items that can be addressed in 30 days and everything else.  Then toss the ‘everything else’ pile.  Fact is, if it ends up being important, it will come back to you but for now eliminating as much volume as possible is critical to organizing the rest.  If you don’t think you can do this, bring someone in whom specializing in organization.  Believe me; the cost will be worth it.  In the end, eliminating the clutter and organizing the rest will help you stay focused on the important plans and projects. 

4.                   The Lure of Shiny Objects:  

Ever notice how you can get charged up over a new idea?  One minute you are hard at work, the next you have a brain storm that is so appealing you immediately abandon your work and begin a new direction.  I call this ‘the lure of shiny objects’ and it’s a huge problem for many entrepreneurs.  It’s caused by engaging in mindless activities which allows your brain to drift.  At this point, you become susceptible to other influences which manifest thoughts in your subconscious.  Without warning, out pops a latent great idea.  Now you immediately shift gears and start working on your new idea leaving your prior endeavor for another day.  Trouble is this new idea will probably be replaced several times during the week with other great ideas.  Bottom line- nothing ever advances past the initial thought stage.  

Now, the shiny object interruptions don’t seem to happen when the task in front of you is meaningful and vital to the growth of your company (new revenue, new client service, next phase of marketing plan, etc).  The shiny objects usually appear when we’re doing rote, menial tasks that put our minds on autopilot.  I have colleagues for which this phenomenon is so powerful, they literally go through withdrawals trying to fight the lure and stay on task. 

Use this technique to wean yourself off the endless merry-go-round of chasing shiny objects.  Jot down the idea.  Put the note in a folder marked ‘Great Ideas’.  Place the folder in a draw and go back to the task that is directly connected to your vision and growth plan. 

5.                   Making the Mistake of not Delegating:  

Delegation is a skill that can be learned.  Effective delegating is an art that requires practice and involves foresight, communications, planning and a defined level of expected results.  If you have employees in your business, ask yourself two questions before taking on a task that is not supporting primary goals:  1). Who can I get to do this? and 2). If no one knows how to do this, who can I train to do this?   

The more routine tasks and responsibilities you can delegate, the more your focus will stay on things that get you to your goals.  If manpower is an issue, look for outsourcing options.  There will be an initial cost involved but the benefits of staying above the minutia and connected to your growth objectives will more than pay for the it. 

Business owners are a proud bunch by nature and we like to think no one can do it better than us!  The daily mantra usually is- by the time I explain it to someone else I could do it myself.  Break this habit.  There is no better feeling than having things get done by others while you attend to the important stuff. 

6.                   No Awareness of Boundaries: 

I suffered from this early on and it caused more problems than just focus!  Maintaining a healthy level of focus requires being uninterrupted at certain times.  It also means knowing when to put work down and focus on family, relationships, hobbies, charity work, whatever re-energizes you. 

If your employees know that during certain times, you are not to be disturbed, they will learn to operate and make decisions without coming to you all the time.  Likewise, your customer’s will accept a reasonable amount of time to receive return calls from you.  Planning to tackle an important task and then having your time repeatedly interrupted by questions and phone calls will grind your focus down to a tiny nub. 

Set boundaries that are reasonable for your business and stay consistent with them and you will love what you get done with the uninterrupted time. 

Being focused enough to grow your business at the pace you want and move in the direction that reaches your ultimate vision is the best way to use two of your most valuable resources- your time and your sanity!

More Business Growth Resources:

If you would like more information on various topics having to do with small business growth strategies, tune in to Steve’s weekly Radio Show on BlogTalk Radio- ‘The Small Biz Growth Show’.  Each Tuesday at 11:00am (PST) and Thursday at 1:00pm (PST), Steve and his co-host, Cash Miller, discuss specific business building topics that small business owners can take action on.  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-small-biz-growth-show  

If you need help to figure out where your best sources of growth are, sign up for my free business growth guidebook and learn where to look and what to do to improve your revenue, clients and overall health of your business.  http://www.growthsourcecoaching.com/business-growth-strategy-guidebook.html 

Originally posted 2011-09-08 18:03:07. Republished by Blog Post Promoter