Over the last little while, I’ve shared a few tips on getting more done with less time and obviously, our focus has been on keeping things together through the many wonderful distractions of summer. But keep in mind, the approaches we’ve discussed can certainly apply all year round. Most of us started our businesses because we wanted freedom and really, we have it right here for ourselves when we need it. My time here is done (for now), but I thought I’d do a little wrap up of what we’ve talked about, so you can create the schedule for your business that you want. • Be Disciplined: It may seem contradictory to tell you to be disciplined when you’re actually seeking freedom, but the more disciplined you are, the more time … [Read more...]

When I’m busy, one of my favorite things to do is to bring out some old (but great) content and let it make the rounds again. After all, I worked hard on creating that content and if my readers responded well to it, it’s worth giving it that extra push. For example, if I’m about to go camping for a week and I run out of time to write one of my weekly emails, I’ll dig through some old stuff to find a gem that is relevant to what we’re talking about today. It might be a blog post, a report or even an email that I sent out previously. I do this for a few reasons: • I’ve likely gathered plenty of new readers that haven’t seen this useful resource and it’s new information for them. • Even for those who followed my … [Read more...]

In previous posts, I’ve talked about answering emails being a huge distraction, but there’s a bigger distraction lurking about 24 hours per day and 7 days per week. Yes, I’m talking about social media. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Pinterest, it’s easy to get sucked into the virtual social world. While there can be plenty of benefits to using social media for your business, it’s important to evaluate the time you spend on social media. It’s easy to get carried away looking at pictures of mouthwatering food on Pinterest or reading clever graphics people post on Facebook, but is it growing your business? As a general rule, social media shouldn’t require your constant presence. Think about it, your website … [Read more...]

Even if you’re away from the computer a lot in the summer, there’s no reason why you can’t keep generating plenty of traffic to your website. Put things into place now and there’s no reason to face a slow down while you’re gone. Here are a few ways to achieve ongoing traffic to your business. • Use autoresponders: If you’re going to be away from your business for a while, make sure you schedule emails to go out to your subscribers regularly. You can use email to drive traffic to your blog posts, articles and product offers. • Preschedule blog posts: Just like with email, preschedule blog posts to publish while you’re away. If you have an RSS feed and email subscription for your blog, your subscribers will … [Read more...]

If there’s been a common theme to my guest posts here, it’s that you need to outsource. Trying to perform each specific task for your business works against your productivity for many reasons. Here are just a few of those reasons: • Performing small tasks gives you less time to do more important business building activities like planning and marketing your business. • Doing the job of several people (admin assistant, bookkeeper, accountant, marketing manager and more) means it’s difficult to do any one thing well. • You are working harder than you need to and you sacrifice your health and wellbeing by working so much. Many business owners tell me they simply can’t afford to outsource, but in my opinion, you … [Read more...]