Turn Minutes Into Money: Small Business Time Management

We all have the same amount: 24 hours in a day. Or to be more specific: 86,400 seconds every day.

Whether it’s a president of the United States, a soccer mom, a corporate CEO, a schoolteacher, or a small business owner, we all have exactly the same amount of time. Time is not partial to anyone, so we must honor and respect it. If you do not respect time, it will not reward you.

Here are some best practice tips in small business time management:

Plan each day, or it will plan you:

• Master your smart phone calendar system, by hour, day, week, and month.
• Record all events in your smart phone.
• Learn to sync your PC and smart phone calendar. This way, you won’t duplicate time and efforts.
• If you don’t have a smart phone (I love my BlackBerry), go buy one now!
• If you hate smart phones, use a day planner.
• Master e-mail usage on your smart phone.
• Check e-mail once per hour, not every time an e-mail arrives.
• Block and manage e-mail spam.
• Learn to say no during business hours. If an activity does not fit with your daily objectives, goals, and plans, kindly say, “No thanks.”
• Use voice mail as an answering machine, but use it tactfully.
• Set aside time each day to return calls.
• Manage interruptions with tact and gentle force. For example, “Thanks for calling, but I cannot talk right now. May I call you back so we can discuss your needs?”

Time is like compounded interest. If you start early, it pays off in the long-term. One cannot become a millionaire overnight. It’s impossible. The same holds true with time. The sooner you master it, the sooner it pays you back.

Differentiating your product and service is critical to substantive small business marketing. Few companies see time as a value-added product feature. If you do, you automatically have an edge up on your competition. Time is money, and money is time. If you waste time, it’s a net loss.

Good time management is one of the best-kept secrets of small business marketing.

Once that minute is gone—it’s gone for eternity. Number your days, and they will make numbers for you.

Make every day count. Why not start the process now?

BTW–the rest of the tips are in my book 🙂

By Stuart Atkins