One of the most successful strategies my clients adopt is creating focus in their “TIME and TASKS”. It’s hard to balance it all and even harder to do it all yourself. The following is a system that I use almost every week. Your schedule may be totally different than mine – it doesn’t matter what your system is, only that you create a system that works for you.
Marketing Mondays- This is when I do my marketing activities and my preparation for the week.
• I prepare for my client appointments for that week – research, emails, contacts etc.
• I do all my writing, preparing for e-blasts for my Business Support Manager to send out, writing for clients, contacting colleagues and suppliers, setting up potential client appointments, preparing proposals… whatever needs to happen!
Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursdays – are client days.
I am out of my office first thing in the morning and have client or potential client meetings all day, networking events and usually back in my office late in the afternoon. I am also usually out 1-2 nights a week to networking events. Getting out there in a big way leads to people knowing, liking and trusting you – the formula needed for people to do business with you!
Fridays – I may have one appointment in the morning, but most, if not all of Friday, is my own. I may have lunch with a friend, run errands, go shopping.
During every week the most important strategy is delegation! If someone else can do it faster, cheaper or better – delegate it. Also recognize when you reach your STUCK POINT. Ever notice you can get tons of things done really quickly and then you agonize over a certain project for days, weeks, months? This is your stuck point and the perfect time to delegate. Just image how much time you’ll free up, how much stress will be relieved and how many incomplete projects will actually come to life!
Originally published in Work Better, Not Harder on December 8, 2010
