SO YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO RUN YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS

SO YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO RUN YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS ... TRY USING THESE 'HOT' TIPS TO CREATE MORE TIME!

by Jim Turner

If you are at all like the typical person living in today's society, time is a rare and valuable commodity. No one has enough of it, everyone would like to have more of it and if you had the 'magic' answer to this dilemma, you would soon be rich.

Well, I'm going to take a shot at it and share with you some of the tactics and strategies that I use to get more out of a 24 hour day. Just as most online marketers, I have a family and a full time day job. In order to fulfill all my roles, optimizing the use of times is essential to my maintaining my sanity.

Running a business, especially over the Internet, can be overwhelming at times with new ideas and untapped markets flashing past you every time you turn on your computer. It becomes exceedingly difficult to know where to focus your most precious possession, time. Here are a few tried and proven tips to help you out:

1. Prioritize.
Keep a list of your tasks and classify them under long and short term goals. First you need to have some idea of what you want to achieve with your business. Do you want it to become a full time venture or to remain a source of supplemental income. The bigger the contribution you want from your business, the higher the priorities you will have to assign to related tasks.

2. Use the Salami Tactic.
Break down all major tasks into smaller ones. Tackle each "small" task one at a time. Have you ever sat down at your computer to perform one task and find yourself jumping from one task to another and back. This is truly a time waster. Try to stick with one task until it's done. One way to ensure that this happens is by using a list. Start with the most important task and work on it until it's completed. Put a line through that item and move on to the next one. There is a great sense of achievement when you've done something completely and get to mark it off the list.

3. Set Firm Deadlines. Are you familiar with the old saying that "Tomorrow never gets here." It is very true. Nothing gets done in a timely manner without a due date. Set a deadline for all projects but be realistic and always give yourself extra time, everything takes longer than you think.

4. Maintain Balance.
Keep work and personal responsibilities separate so that you don't get out of balance and neglect one or the other. If you examine your daily activities, you will find that you play many roles, some of which include: mother, father, doctor, lawyer, engineer, work-at-home mom (or Dad), little league coach. You get my point. The point that I'm trying to make here is, don't forget or neglect these areas of your day-to-day activities. Another way of saying this is, don't become a workaholic. Balance is the key. You will be amazed at how more creative and productive you will be by getting away from your computer and doing other types of activities. Some of my most "brilliant" ideas pop up when I'm doing something totally unrelated to my business.

5. Use a calendar.
Organize your commitments by listing all upcoming events on one calendar. This is a highly leveraged activity. The payback is phenomenal. If you can see the list of tasks layed out as a list of chronological activities leading to a final product, such as an article that you are composing or your complete newsletter ready for mailing, it helps you with staying focused on the important tasks.

6. Do one thing at a time.
Give all your attention to the project at hand. This is a tough one for me. It is difficult to not get distracted by those other items on the list that need to get done and stay focused on one, singular task. Whenever I'm working on producing my weekly newsletter, I have to sign off from the web and my email program. When those two are open, I'm very tempted to start browsing or reading emails. So, the easiest way to avoid the temptation is to turn those programs off until I complete the critical task for the night related to newsletter production.

7. Eliminate Distractions.
Don't try to watch TV while trying to do some of your business related tasks. What would normally take you an hour to perform will take an hour and a half, if you're trying to watch TV at the same time. Decide to do one or the other. Watch the TV show and do your business tasks later, when you can exert your total energy to those tasks. Or you can turn the TV off.

8. Just Say No.
There is going to come a time when others are going to want some of your time, when you know you have tasks relating to your business that must get done. What will you do? It goes back to your priorities. If the business has a high priority on your list, then you will have to say no to friend. And the way you avoid the guilt feelings is by recognizing that fact.

I hope you find these tips beneficial and that they allow you to multiply your efforts, subsequently multiplying your profits.

Jim is the administrator of http://www.webprofitsource.com and publisher of WebPROFIT Tips Newsletter.

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