planning – Page 10 – One Insight Closer

How to Prepare Your Business for Your Vacation

May 30, 2013May 30, 2013 by EvieBurke, posted in planning, Self Care

It’s almost June! Which means schools are finishing up (if they haven’t already) and summer is practically here (regardless of what the weather might try to tell us). And with warmer weather and longer days comes the desire of a few days off, or even a vacation (!) to enjoy the weather and sun and have some time to relax.

Sounds wonderful right? But then you start to think about all those things that you want to or should be doing for your business right now – and suddenly taking any time away from your home office sounds less wonderful and more stressful.

On some level though, you know you need the time away – a time to rest and not think about your business. You just don’t know if that’s possible.

Let’s take a step back and remember having a JOB (play with me here). Remember going on vacation then? If your job was anything like mine, going on vacation meant that you had to set aside some extra time before you left to tie up any loose ends, to let clients and/or co-workers know you’re going to be gone and to update anyone who was going to be handling some of your responsibilities while you were gone (and maybe letting them know how to reach you in an emergency).

You know that that process was? A system, even if you didn’t call it that or think of it that way, it was the system that you, or the business you worked for, setup to make sure that things ran relatively smoothly while you were gone.

Let’s step back to today. What is your system for taking time off in your business?

Okay, I hear some of you laughing (or sighing) that you are your business and if you’re not there things don’t run. Nothing happens when you’re not in the office – or worse, if you’re not in the office things start to fall apart. Well, that might currently be true, but there are probably a few things that you can do before you leave or set up to happen while you’re gone to make sure nothing falls apart and that things run smoothly when you return.

Let your clients know you’ll be out of the office
Just give them a heads up. This could be a quick phone call and a follow-up email so they have the dates and other information at their fingertips. And let if you’re in a business where emergencies happen and they might need you now. Let them know how to handle that.
Tie up loose ends
If you have any projects or communications that have under 15 minutes left on them, finish those up. These things will take longer to do if you wait until you return, because they won’t be fresh in your mind.
Decide what can wait until after you get back
If you’re anything like me you’ve suddenly decided that those two bigger projects that you put on the back burner should really be DONE before you leave. Because you don’t want to think about it when you return. You want to have time available for those great new ideas that will pop up when you return from vacation.This is where I remind us both (you and me) that some things will have to wait until after vacation. Trying to cram too much in before you leave will result in frustration and the temptation to take work with you on vacation (don’t do it!).Instead, decide ahead of time what can wait. Make a list if you need to and then you can schedule those things when you return.
Out of Office email reply
Most email programs have this. Set it up for the dates that you’ll be gone and let them know when they can expect a reply back from you.
Update your voice mail message
Again, let people know you’re out and when you’ll get back to them.
Set time aside for replies and phone calls when you return
Set aside a couple hours on your first day back in the office for returning emails and phone calls (and cleaning out your inbox).
Plan the first couple days you’re back in the office
This one is really important for me. Last year I didn’t do this when I went on a two week vacation. Actually, I “planned” on planning my first week back on the airplane ride home. Yeah, so on the airplane ride home I think I slept, talked with my husband and maybe read a couple of chapters of a fiction book. So, my first week back “in the office” I did catch up on email and send my newsletter, but that was about it…I realized that first week back would have been a lot smoother, and more productive, if I would have planned a few tasks to be completed that week. I could have gotten back into the swing of things a lot faster.
Write and schedule your newsletter in advance
If you send a newsletter, you can write it in advance and schedule it to go out while you’re gone. And if you have a VA you can write everything in advance and pass it along to her early.
Enjoy your time off!
Allow yourself to mentally unplug from your business and enjoy your time off!

You deserve some time off! Put it on your schedule and start planning for it!

In the comments below share what else you do to prepare for vacation or even a day away from your business.

Image courtesy of Mary Wu at marywuva.com

How Do I Find The Time To Work On My Long Term Priorities?

May 23, 2013May 22, 2013 by EvieBurke, posted in Goals, Overwhelm, planning, schedule, Time, Uncategorized

Last week we went through how to identify the projects/tasks that are your highest priority. So, you hopefully now know what you want to work on in addition to your day-to-day tasks. However, your day-to-day tasks still take all day.

And now you’re wondering, or still wondering how to find the time to work on those tasks, because you still have the day-to-day work to take care of. You can’t exactly let that slide, right? Of course not!

So, let’s get started!

How to find time to work on those priorities you identified:

Break it down into bite-sized pieces.
And I hear you saying: “but that doesn’t solve my time problem!” And you’re partially right. Last week, one of the example tasks was updating your website and if that a task on my to-do list I would probably avoid it like the plague.Why? Because I’d have no idea where to start, it’s too big. The first step would be to break it down into manageable pieces. And you don’t have to know all the steps right now. As long as you know the first step or two, you can get started and then fill in the next steps and you decide (or discover) what they are.
Estimate the time to complete each task.
Do this as best as you can. I know that it can be difficult to know how long a new task is going to take. However, I also know that if I give myself an unlimited amount of time to do something I get easily sidetracked by other distractions like Facebook and email. But when I give myself an hour to complete something or research something, I’m much more focused. When I’m working on it I know I only have so much time to complete it and then I want to move on to the next task.
How do you currently spend your time?
Be brutally honest with yourself. Are you spending too much time checking email, Facebook, Twitter or whatever your distraction of choice is?One tool I have installed on my desktop and laptop is Rescue Time (it’s free!). It monitors the websites you visit and the programs you use on your PC and you can assign how productive or distracting each site or program is. It’s a great way to find out where those little bits of time went.
Schedule time to do those tasks.
Make an appointment with yourself and keep it!I’ll admit that there was a time that I found this piece of advice really, really, oh my goodness sooo annoying. It took me a bit of time to really realize why. My main calendar, the one I sync with my phone, is my place for appointments and meetings. Putting tasks on it felt like clutter to me – I’d look at my phone to see my meetings/appointments for the day and only see the tasks for the day – my meetings would be lost in the tasks. Usually this meant I’d dress for a day at home and realize later that I had a networking event or coffee meeting with someone.

So, what I ended up doing was creating another calendar. I use Google Calendars and it allows you to create as many calendars as you want and you can decide which ones are visible at any time.

This means I can now schedule my tasks, but they aren’t downloaded to my phone. This is fine, because when I’m working on my tasks, I’m generally near a computer anyway. I still keep a paper list of what those tasks are too, so if I’m not at my desk, I know what is on the agenda for the day.

What’s that I hear? You still think this piece of advice isn’t going to work for you? Okay, I hear you – and let’s go through a scenario (come on, play along!). Let’s say that you’re planning your week (what, you don’t really do that? That might be part of your frustration). Anyway, you’re planning next week and a potential client calls and asks if they can talk to you next week. You don’t tell them: “I’m sorry, I’m too busy with the day-to-day of my business to talk to next week – call me back in a month.” Nope, instead you find a time that works for both of you and block the time out in your calendar.

Completing the high priority projects and tasks you’ve identified is just as important to your business as that potential client meeting. The biggest difference is these projects and tasks generally aren’t as obviously related to your income.

At any rate, try scheduling the time, even if it’s just on a piece of paper near your desk and see what happens.
Hire it out.
What can you pay someone else to do for you? Is there a task you do every day or week that you could write directions for and pay someone else to do it? Maybe one of your non-day-to-day projects has a task or two that would take you a couple hours or so (between the research and then actually doing it) and it would take someone else a fraction of that time.Your time is valuable. So, even if you don’t think you’re at a spot where you can hire someone else right now, start a list of things you could hire someone else to do. You never know when an opportunity to pass some of those tasks on might land in your lap!
Be patient and kind with yourself.
One of the big reasons I get frustrated with all the THINGS! that must be done NOW! Is I’m feeling behind where I think I should be. The truth is it doesn’t matter and worrying about it, or beating myself up about it, is just a huge time and energy suck.All that matters is that this is where you are now and that you’re taking steps forward.

Know that you’re not alone! And it’s okay if you’re not where you feel you should be. Take a deep breath (I’m fond of those) and look at the things you’re doing to move forward. Then pat yourself on the back!

Feeling overwhelmed happens to everyone. There are always things to do! And that can be really frustrating, but it can also be very positive (it means that you’re constantly moving forward!). Along the way, don’t forget to celebrate your victories, big and small. And reward yourself!

What other things do you do to address your entrepreneurial overwhelm? Share in the comments below!

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How Do I Decide What My Long Term Priorities Are?

May 16, 2013May 15, 2013 by EvieBurke, posted in Goals, planning, schedule, Time

At the beginning of last week I was at a conference, Spark & Hustle, with a bunch of other small business owners. And I heard this said many times and in many ways: “How do I get all my day to day things done and still have time for all those other things that should be done?”

Do you ever wonder that?

I know I have. And it’s usually accompanied by a feeling of overwhelm, a physical tightening of my back and feeling like I have a rock in my stomach. Oh, and it’s topped with a small voice telling me “there is NO way you will EVER get all of that done.”

How does it show up for you?

And then the voice might tell me I might as well go check Facebook or watch TV, basically just give up now, don’t waste your time.

I’d love to tell you I never experience this anymore, but that’s not truthful. It still happens on occasion. However, it does happen less than before and the voice that tells me I’m wasting my time isn’t quite as loud as it once was. And sometimes it doesn’t bother showing up at all, it must know I’d ignore it now anyway.

So, what to do?

It’d be easy and decent advice to tell you to just identify your priorities. But it probably wouldn’t be extremely helpful. I know when I’m in that place described above and someone tells me to figure out my priorities my thoughts are along the lines of: “Well, yes, setting priorities is the extremely logical thing to do. However if I could easily do that, I wouldn’t be having this problem! Right now the priority is my day-to-day stuff, and that’s part of the problem!”

I’m going to use the term “long term priorities” to mean those projects or tasks that you want to work on, but seem to get lost in the day-to-day tasks. These projects or tasks might not take long to accomplish, but they don’t seem to move forward either.

What I needed was:

A little help deciding what those long term priorities were.
A way to find time to tackle the long term priorities.

This week’s article tackles the first topic and next week we’ll look at the second topic.

Note: I’m using the term “long term priorities” to mean those projects or tasks that you want to work on, but seem to get lost in the day-to-day tasks. These projects or tasks might not take long to accomplish, but they don’t seem to move forward either.

Help deciding what your long term priorities are

What method currently is bringing you the most clients? And if you don’t have clients yet, what method will most quickly bring you the most clients (hint: if you’re a new business, the fastest way is almost always going out and meeting people).

Is there anything on your “I should do this” list that relates directly to that method?
For example, perhaps you met most of your current and previous customers networking. And when networking you pass out your business cards, but your business cards have an old email address on it that you cross out and write in your current email address. Then, getting new business cards with your current email address would be a task directly related to networking.
1. Yes, there are directly related tasks: Those tasks are your highest priority.
2. No, I don’t have any directly related tasks: What is the second way you are most likely to meet clients? Ask step 2 again.
Optional: Is there anything on your “I should do this” list that indirectly relates to that method?
For example, using the above example of networking and business cards, let’s say that the website on your business cards is correct, but is no longer an accurate representation of what you do (hey, it happens, our business tend to evolve). Then, updating your website would be a task indirectly related to networking.

What are your priorities? Did any priorities from this exercise surprise you? Share in the comments below!

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Making Time in Your Schedule to go Networking

April 18, 2013April 18, 2013 by EvieBurke, posted in networking, planning

At this point you know who your ideal clients and referral partners are. And you’ve found some places to network, or at least know where to start.

So, now the question is: How do you fit it into your already busy schedule?

First, you’ll want to further narrow down the events / groups you’ll go to.

Pick just one group to attend a week.
If you can make time to go to more or if networking is a high priority activity, then find a couple to attend. The main point here is to prioritize which group you attend.
What is the travel time?
If you’re picking between two groups that both feel like a good fit, then give the one that’s closer a slightly higher priority, at least initially. Later check out the other one and decide which one is the best fit for you.
Which group appears to be a better match for connecting with your ideal client?
This can be difficult to determine for a group you’ve never attended. Which brings us to:
Go a couple of times!
Yes, some groups you might go to and know in the first five minutes that it’s not quite for you, but generally, going twice will give you a good feel for the group.

Are you wondering how the heck you’re going to find two or more hours to do this?!

What are your three main goals for the week?
Make sure those things get done and don’t get lost in the minutia (Facebook, Twitter, email, anything you find yourself checking multiple times in a 30 minute period that has nothing to do with the task at hand).
Prioritize networking!
Fact is, networking is an important marketing activity (make sure you read the next two articles for tips on how to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your time!).
Know exactly what’s already on your plate.
This allows you to decide what you want to devote your time to – it allows you to be a bit more strategic with your time and not get lost in the things that can wait.

If you’re just starting out, networking can feel like a really frightening thing. On the way to one of my first networking meetings, I remember feeling nervous, scared and looking for legitimate reasons to turn my car around and head back home. I made it there anyway. And felt awkward and wondered if I was doing it right most of the meeting. However, the group was very nice and inviting. And I ventured out again to that group the next month and was welcomed. And over two years later, I still attend that group whenever I can.

I’ve had many more good networking experiences than I’ve had bad ones. And yes, I have been at groups where everyone was more interested in talking with their friends than meeting new people, but those are the exception and not the rule.

So, my question for you is how do you (or will you) pick places to network? One that I mentioned or something else? Let me know in the comments below!

What Season Are You In?

March 28, 2013May 15, 2013 by EvieBurke, posted in Goals, planning

Supposedly, the season is changing here in the Midwest from winter to spring. The weather must have received the memo on that a bit late though. So, I’ve been thinking more than usual about seasons changing.

And while I was wondering if it was ever going to warm up, I had a random question pop into my head: What season am I in and what’s the next one?

I journaled about that for a bit and it highlighted what I want to leave behind me in my business and what I want for the future. It was really useful, so I wanted to share the prompts I used with you.

What season of your life / business are you leaving?
And what behaviors, habits, results, feelings, etc. characterized that season?
What is the next season of your life / business?
1. What is the melting snow washing away?
  What behaviors, habits, feelings, results, etc. are you leaving behind?
2. What flowers are coming up?
  What behaviors habits, feelings, results, etc. will characterize this coming season?
3. What additional behaviors, habits, feelings, results, etc. need to be washed away to allow those new flowers to flourish?
4. What kind of fertilizer or care will encourage those flowers to grow?
  What support or strategies will you have in place?

Print this out and spend some time with it.

You’ll find some really great insights to where you want to be in your business. And, you’ll outline some of the ways that will support you on that path.

I’d love to know a little bit about your seasons! Share what season you’re leaving or what season is just beginning for you below!