Business owners invest in the business by purchasing equipment and hiring staff, but how often does the business owner invest in him or herself? Taking time to invest in yourself will help you reap rewards.
Here are some ways the entrepreneur can invest in himself:
Education matters. Continuing education in your profession is always a wise investment. Are there certifications you can earn? Courses you can take that will help keep you up on current technologies? Any education that can set you apart from the competition?
Investing in yourself outside of the realms of the business is crucial to mind and body. What can you do that will advance your life’s purpose? Are there goals you are working toward? Take steps every day to achieve them.
Stay healthy. As an entrepreneur the stresses are many and varied. You need to take time every day to exercise and eat with mindfulness. Better health will help you perform at your peak and will also give you more energy and reduce your stress.
Cultivate relationships. Yes, it takes a lot of hours and effort to sustain a business that will support yourself and your family. You also need to invest in your relationships though. Schedule time off for family time. Cultivating relationships also extends to business and networking events. No entrepreneur can exist in a vacuum.
Plan for the future. Whether the business is brand new or if you’ve been working it for decades, the future will be here before you know it and you need to be prepared to face it head on. Whether that means, saving and investing for retirement or working toward a goal for the time when you close the business and move onto other endeavors, you need to have a conscious plan for it.
Because we spend so much time at work — whether you work from a home office, corporate America or somewhere in between. The feeling of stress and feeling out of control while in our work environments will spill over into your home and personal life unless you regain control.
Here are my tips on regaining control, managing your time and reducing your stress:
Quantity versus quality. Just because you can say you put in a 12 hour day doesn’t mean you accomplished everything you set out to do. Chances are you’re not productive the entire 12 hours, are you? You’re better served, and so are your clients, if you concentrate on the quality of the time you work rather than chalking up quantity.
Is your work space and your desk conducive to getting your job done in a stress free manner? A clean desk, a welcoming work environment and being comfortable where you’re working will help you be productive… and happier!
Most entrepreneurs are “idea factories.” Problem is, there are times you need to shut the factory down and concentrate on the tasks at hand. You always want to capture your ideas in a note book or on your computer, but know that you don’t have to act on all of them all the time.
Are you working on personal growth? Professional growth is a given, but neglecting personal growth leads to stagnation. Learn a new skill. Make a new habit. Take time for yourself and incorporate healthy habits into your work day.
What’s on your agenda on the weekend? If your weekends are necessary as a way to unwind and recharge to face the upcoming week, you need to rework your time. The way to do this is to look at your weekend as “you time” and family time and time to pursue activities you let slide during the week. Your weekend should be a time for family and recreation and yes a little bit of planning for the week ahead.
There is no one size fits all when it comes to growing your business. One methodology that is true though, is that no entrepreneur should rely on only one marketing stream for all of the business’s income. Multiple strategies help ensure that the cash is flowing, productivity is enhanced and if one marketing strategy is not producing you merely shift focus to the higher producing effort.
Here are my five tips for implementing multiple marketing strategies:
“Ordinary excellence” is as important as stupendous strategies. Companies that are in it for the long haul understand that they should be undertaking the “Little Engine That Could” methodology. Strong and steady efforts will keep your business viable. Additionally, entrepreneurs need to drill down and identify those tasks (or even clients) that bring negative energy to the project and remove them if necessary.
Business owners need to embrace a mindset of being an entrepreneur rather than a technician that is working in the business. True entrepreneurs work on the business. It’s crucial that you spend your day to day activities focusing on your core competencies and keeping your business competitive.
How many items do you have in your “sales funnel”? Strive for at least three lead generation activities and work those generators regularly. Ensuring your sales funnel is always full relieves pressure and keeps the machine humming along.
Focus your time on high leverage/high producing tasks. Spend your time working on those tasks that will grow your business. Put systems in place to streamline those activities and your productivity and the company income will likely soar!
If you’re introducing a new product to the market, spend some time beta testing it. Work with trusted clients as test groups and launch the product or service as a test. Gauge reaction and work with the test group to hone the process prior to implementation.
Does 30 days sound like too long of a time toward a more productive you? Toward a way to get more accomplished while at the office? It doesn’t matter whether you work in a cubicle or from a home office or from the front seat of your car, getting more accomplished during the course of the day leads to a sense of accomplishment and is a feeling that propels you toward even higher productivity.
I have five tips to offer as a way to get you down a road of productivity and a sense of well being and accomplishment:
Commit to 30 days. You don’t have to wait until the first of the month to start this. Start today and commit for the next 30 days going forward. Having an end in sight may make you more likely to stick to it a goal/project. If you find the steps you’ve implemented aren’t working, feel free to toss them or look for new ones at the end of your 30 days.
Make certain your goals are realistic. Yes, we’ve heard about those rare individuals that can pen a bestselling novel in 30 days or reach a six figure sales goal in a month… those individuals are few and far between. Don’t set yourself up for failure by setting unrealistic goals. Remember, you’re looking to change your work habits and you can’t change yourself overnight. Don’t let a missed goal make you feel like an under-achiever; instead determine whether the goal was truly reachable.
Baby steps are critical to making it to the top and achieving success with your goal. Remember, it’s easier to eat an elephant one bite at a time than to tackle it all in one meal.
Find an accountability partner. Having a goal-buddy keeps you both accountable and helps you stay on task. It’s great to have someone to bounce ideas off of when you’re feeling stymied and run down.
You need to believe in yourself, your capabilities and your skills. Be confident in who you are and what you do and that will go a long way in helping you reach your 30 day goal.
To do lists and adhering to a schedule can lead to productivity and a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day, but how do you get there? Here are my top five tips to getting, and remaining, productive:
Are you going into a meeting? Is there an agenda? If there isn’t, call a time out and ask for an agenda. Walking into a meeting without an agenda is a recipe for spending time unproductively and walking out feeling frustrated.
Hello? Do I know you? If I don’t know you, chances are I will not answer the phone when you call. Send me an email first as a way to introduce yourself. Too many times, business owners get bogged down on phone calls that go no where because… see number #1… and because we simply don’t know whether we can work together.
Don’t get bogged down in emails. You need a system that works for you for not only answering messages, but for following up and for even knowing whether you need to answer, delete or delegate the message. The system you come up with is one that will be unique to your business’s specific needs. There is no one size fits all even though there are steps that can be taken to formulate a system to prioritize messages.
Turn off email alerts while you’re in the midst of a mentally intensive project. If you’re constantly checking emails because it sent an alert, you won’t be fully invested in the project in front of you and therefore, you won’t give it your all. If you have to, let people know that you turn your email off from the hours of 9 am and noon or between 2 and 5 pm – whenever your most productive times are. Just because you get an email doesn’t mean you need to respond right now!
Take a break. You read that correctly! You need to take time to get up from the computer screen and give both your mind and your body a break. Physical and mental exhaustion can set in quickly and you need to be prepared. Staying healthy and active benefits you and your clients!
What will you do to either get – or stay – productive?
January is the time of rebirth, renewal and resolutions. So many times, people set a goal or make a resolution only to see them unfulfilled. A goal unrealized can have the power to take you down a path of despair and the inability to complete other tasks on your list. Conversely, a resolution met propels you forward toward greater project completion.
Here are five ways we make resolutions we can keep:
What is the end goal? Write that down. Break that into smaller steps then check those off as you complete them. Set a timeline, if necessary, to keep you on task.
Note a target date and chart your progress toward reaching it. Build flexibility into your plans to account for setbacks. Don’t look at a setback as a failure – it is a chance to revamp the target itself.
Document daily progress. In addition to writing a to-do list, there is power in crossing items off that list. The daily progress documentation keeps you on target and is a great motivator.
Accountability matters. Find a trusted colleague to pair up with and work to keep each other on track. Report in several times a week. Share successes and come up with solutions to targets unmet.
A minor setback is just that — a set back. It doesn’t mean that you need to scrap the project, it just means you need to rework your timelines and deadlines and the steps you need to reach the goal.
