When we launch an online business, we dream of freedom, but instead we answer the same customer questions 30 times a day, process orders, run social networks, control employees, and fix their “mistakes”. Every morning starts with checking your mail and checking your work chats. And so it goes on all day, or even night.
How to get out of this trap, says Anna Vsekhsvyatskaya, an expert on time management and the owner of a large online project "Time is OK" Academy.
Many entrepreneurs do not understand the very essence of business, which is why they fall into telephone slavery. Business is a car, and to get to your destination, you just need to refuel and repair it if something breaks down. But you don't have to be a wheel, engine, steering wheel and wipers all rolled into one. A business is a business in order to work with the minimum participation of the owner and to consistently generate income.
But often the owners think differently and put on shackles themselves: “No one will do better than me”, “No one knows how to do it,” “All the same, everything will have to be redone,” “Good personnel are expensive. I still have where to invest money. " It remains only to sit and do everything or redo it ourselves. And by the end of the day, the eye twitches from the next call or notification on the phone.
Solution 1. Delegation and exit from the "RAM"
You don't have to imagine yourself as a many-faced Janus or an octopus and think that you are the best at everything, and only you are able to do the job right. There are many professionals around who can be entrusted with some of the tasks. Believe me, they can do it better than you, and they can also give you fresh ideas for your business. If you sew up so that you are already nauseous from work, it means that the need for a personal assistant or manager is long overdue.
Replenishing the staff with at least one of these employees will free you at least 30% of your time.
Ideally, the entire routine, operational management, highly specialized tasks should be transferred to a team or outsourced. If you really want, you can keep 1-2 creative (or just favorite) things for yourself, no more.
In the free time, engage in strategic development, networking, building a well-coordinated team - that is, your direct functions of the owner. Just be sure, your car will move and start picking up speed!
Solution 2. Strict work schedule
If your work day has no clear boundaries, it most likely starts from the moment you get up and ends before you go to bed. You are constantly on the "lookout", you cannot exhale and relax, even at lunch and dinner you answer someone for work. Such a regime directly leads to burnout and loss of all interest in their work. In addition, you get chronic fatigue, dissatisfaction with your personal life and your appearance.
So that it doesn't come to this, you need to strictly regulate the working day. Schedule work start and end times and only do business during business hours. Warn your employees that after a certain time you can only be disturbed on very important and urgent issues, and everything else can wait until tomorrow.
Try to get at least a few hours a day and, if possible, take a break from your phone and other screens over the weekend. This will allow you to properly switch and recuperate.
Solution 3. Effective use of working time
Those tasks and affairs that you cannot delegate should be correctly distributed over the canvas of the day, based on the knowledge of your peaks of activity.
Ever notice that your ability to think, analyze, concentrate, or create fluctuates throughout the day? To make the most of your work time, you need to audit your circadian rhythms and find out when your brain is at its peak and when it switches to "airplane mode" and cannot process incoming information with due diligence.
Using these observations, you can create an optimal schedule for yourself for the day: put labor-intensive tasks that require high involvement into the active phase, and leave routine, mechanical tasks for the recession phase. This way you will use your time much more efficiently and you will notice that you are doing the usual amount of work 2-3 times faster!
So, delegate some of the tasks to someone else, set clear boundaries for working hours, define your daily rhythms and act in accordance with them. Then you can put your phone aside with peace of mind, feel the desired freedom and finally do what you love, while the business is working properly and making money!
Expert:
Anna Vsekhsvyatskaya
Photo: Getty Images
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