Two Fantastic Tools
Well, it’s been school holidays here. We spent a week at the in-laws down in Victoria and the rest of the holidays staying at home. The kidlet and I spent a lot of our time doing ‘girl stuff’, cooking, sewing and really enjoying each others company.
In the middle of our visit to the in-laws I spoke at the Business Mums Network Pampering day. It was a really great day and kudos to Melissa for organising it. The talks will be available soon in downloadable and/or CD format, along with the notes.
Recently I discovered two fantastic tools that I’m loving using.
Timedriver
For quite a while now I’ve been looking for an online appointment maker that could work with different time zones and I finally found Timedriver – it does everything I wanted and at a lower price than I expected. How awesome is that?
The way it works is this: I enter in days and times that I’m available to take appointments, in my own local time. Each ‘appointment book’ is for a different type of appointment – I currently have set up appointment books for 45 minute coaching sessions, 15 minute Laser coaching sessions and 15 minutes quick consult timings.
When a client needs to book an appointment with me I send them the link to the appropriate appointment book. When they open the link, Timedriver detects their default time zone from their computer and so they see the available appointments based on their own local time zone.
Timedriver sends both the client and myself an email when an appointment has been booked and also syncs with my Outlook calendar to book them in. You have no idea how excited I was to find Timedriver. And the best part is that after the free 90 day trial it costs less than US$30 per year!
Dropbox
Dropbox was shown to me by Sean of Psychotactics when I took on managing a project for him. It’s a way to share files with other people without having to email them.
You download the Dropbox application and install it on your desktop. Anything you want to share you save to a folder inside dropbox.
To share a folder with someone you got to the online application and send the person an email invitation to the folder. That person can only see folders that they’ve been invited to – they can’t see anything else in your dropbox.
The other person can then add files to the folder, change and save files, all from their desktop. The first two Gb are free. Great for storing small backups, sharing files, photo’s and audio/video, working with your VA etc.
Business Systems – How and Where to Start
Last week we looked at Why we Need Systems in our business, even in our micro business where there’s only one person doing everything. Today we’re going to look at How and Where to start building those systems.
It starts with you. You’re the boss. Your job is to plan for expansion, and this is the first step (after your business plan). McDonalds systems enable 16 year old kids to run a busy restaurant. Your systems will enable you to work more efficiently, to identify hiccups and roadblocks in your business and to get people to help you when you need it.
So where do you start?
The easiest way to start is to write down every hat you wear within your business – Receptionist, Bookkeeper, Manufacturer, Copywriter, Supplies, Order Fulfilment, etc.
Under each heading then write a list of the tasks that position is responsible for – yes, even when it’s just you doing it all. Note that here you’re writing each task, not each step of the task.
Eg: Receptionist – answers the telephone, makes bookings, filing, taking orders.
Once you have each task, draw a flowchart for that task detailing each step from start to finish. This is where some shortcuts come in – skip the basic tasks. When it’s just you, then you don’t need a manual to answer the phone.
You do need a written down system for anything that you can envision yourself delegating at any time in the future. Usually, this will include tasks such as packing and posting orders, bookkeeping and emails (we’ll cover emails in a future post).
Write down your systems in a way that is so simple and basic that you could pull a teenager in off the street and ask them to follow it. That’s a really good test of a system by the way, if you can hand it to a person who’s never done the task before and they can follow it then it works. If they get hung up on any part of it and begin asking questions then you need to add in more detail.
When you’re satisfied that it’s written in detail and is easily understandable save an electronic copy in a special folder labelled “Systems” on your computer and then print out a copy. File the hard copy somewhere easily accessible – you’ll be using it regularly.
Keep working through each task until you’ve done them all, or at least the one’s with more than five steps.
The hardest part here is the actual doing. Finding the time to work through a task and write down every step, everything you do in the process. One good way to do it is to have someone observing and writing down what you do. Swap with a friend, you observe her and she can observe you.
Business Systems – Bringing Order Out of Chaos
What are Systems and why do you need them?
A system is a written down process for a particular task within your business. When collected together, the systems form the Operations Manual for your business.
Now, I can hear you saying, “Why would I need one? I work for myself/at home/sole trader.” Why? Because having up to date and easy to follow Systems keep work flowing smoothly, prevents overwhelm because you know what you’re doing and where you’re up to. They allow you bring in staff members and train them, they add value to the business when/if you ever decide to sell it and they allow you to hand over tasks to other people – such as family members – so they can help you. Systems save you time and money.
You already have systems for most tasks within your business; you just haven’t vocalised or written them down. Often the systems don’t actually work that well, because they’ve evolved over time, rather than been designed for maximum efficiency and ease of use.
- When you answer the phone, do you have a particular way of answering and a set of words that you use to answer? That’s a system.
- Do you have a procedure for registering new clients and recording their information? That’s a system.
- Do you have a routine for packing orders, checking them and posting them out? That’s a system.
- Do you have a process for receiving, distributing and answering emails? That’s a system.
Heck, we have systems for our housework, for our kids, for gardening. We just don’t recognise them and label them as such.
How often have you looked at some work for a client and had to figure out where you were up to with it? What had already been done and what still needed to be done? What if you had a written down checklist that began with the new client and followed their work through to completion and was then filed? How much time would you save, how much more work could you take on? How much more profit could you make?
How often has someone offered to come in and help you with some aspect of your business when you were overbooked and stressed beyond belief, and you said no because it was easier to do it yourself than to teach them how to do it? What if you could hand them a folder, walk them through it once, show them where everything is that they need and then leave them to it?
Are you one of those business people who talks of getting a VA one day “but just has to catch up with my emails/bookkeeping/orders first”. Imagine how much easier it would be if you could email your VA a document that tells them exactly how you want the work handled, complete with examples and text templates.
When are you planning to bring order and structure to your business systems?
Coming up in Part 2 – How and Where to start building your business systems.
Time Can't Be Managed
Following on from Friday’s post on dealing with overwhelm, today we’re going to look at how you use your time. You see, Time cannot be managed, it can only be used.
Time is not alive, it does not act or react, feel emotions or breathe. Time simply is. It continues at the same rate for every person in the world, day after day. Although it can feel as though it does, time never speeds up or slows down. Time cannot be managed, it can only be used.
When we make the best use of our time, that’s when we say we are managing time well; however, the truth is that we’re actually managing ourselves.
So, you’re a mum. A wife. A business owner. You serve on committees, go to night school, worship at church, take time with friends, have hobbies and passions to follow, kids to look after, a house to keep presentable, friends and family to keep up with. How do you do everything and still run a business?
Remember the four D’s from last week? Do, Delay, Delegate or Drop? Before you can get to the 4D’s you need to take a good hard look at how much time you have.
I recently answered a question on a forum, where Christie, from Childhood 101, asked “I am just wondering how much time other blogging Mums put into managing their own blogs, reading and commenting on other blogs and social networking each day? I struggle to get maybe an hour during rest time and everything else is at night, so then poor DH misses out on us time and I have less time to read, knit, etc.”
Paraphrased, this was my answer:
“You need to look at how much time you have available and plan around that. All those activities I mentioned that I do {Facebook, Twitter, Forums, Blog commenting} are marketing or marketing related. You don’t have to do them all the time. While blogging is marketing, it’s generally not what gets you clients – believe it or not.
You’ll need to be very organised, and know exactly what you need to do. When your time is limited then business planning becomes even more important. Don’t waste any time on “Gee, I have 15 minutes, what should I do?” because you’ll do what’s fun and not what’s important.”
The first thing you need to look at is how much time you have available. Christie says she has around an hour during rest time. That’s only about five to seven hours a week, plus what she can find when her baby is in bed of an evening. My daughter is in school, so I have a lot more time available during the day, however because I’m at school two evenings a week I don’t get a lot of night time work done. Realistically, how much time do you have available on a regular basis?
Filling that time. When you’re starting out, a good rule of thumb, no matter how much time you have available, is to spend 80% of your time Marketing and 20% of your time on other work. Marketing is more important than blogging, than tweaking your website (unless that is the marketing), than anything else. Marketing will get you sales.
Plan your work so you’re working on the most important tasks first. I like to list my tasks under three headings;
i) Essential – these are the things that directly make me money. Marketing and product development mainly.
ii) Very Useful – tasks such as blogging. The things that help spread the word about your business, indirectly related to sales, readers and subscribers.
iii) Nice to Have – If I get time I’ll do with these tasks. Facebook comes under here (for me, because I don’t really use FB as a marketing tool right now). Checking the website for spelling errors. Looking for new forums to post on.
All your tasks should be planned out, so you know exactly what you need to be doing when. As I said to Christie on the forum, don’t waste your time wondering what to do. You should know what’s next. What is important today. What do I need to be working on now.
The other point I want to make here is tied in with prioritising and dropping tasks. Christie mentioned that she likes to read and knit in the evenings. The time is likely to come, as she transitions into becoming a work at home mom, that she’ll need to drop these. Her business will need to be a higher priority temporarily. There are always going to be times where your business requires every bit of time you can find and almost everything else has to take a backseat.
There’s nothing wrong with this on a temporary basis. (If it continues permanently then you need to look at what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. Contact me, I can help you!) However many business owners, particularly work at home moms, are unprepared for their business to take over their lives like this. It’s actually a fairly normal part of business, particularly in the early stages. The majority of work at home moms go through this. It can last for a week, or a month or two.
Be organised. Plan well in the beginning and you will get through it. Know what you need to do, know what your highest priority is. Use your time well.
Getting Out from Overwhelm
The hardest part of dealing with overwhelm is realising we’re in it and being able to get out before everything collapses into total disaster around us. Often we know we’re feeling overwhelmed – and for most of us it’s something small that is the final straw – however we’re also overwhelmed with trying to work out how to get out of it. Which adds to the overwhelmed feeling, makes us feel worse, makes it harder to try and work out how to get out of it… and we can all see the downward spiral from there.
There’s two issues involved here. Either you have way too much to do, or you don’t have enough time. Normally it’s a mixture of both. You need to work out how much time you have available, and what needs doing the most in that time frame. Then you have to decide what is to be done, delayed, delegated or dropped. The four D’s.
Here’s what you need to do the next time you feel that familiar feeling creeping up:
(don’t skip any of these steps, even if you think they’re unimportant. They’re not. Every step here has been tried and tested and this is what the majority of people have found works best)
Stop what you’re doing, close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths.
Go for a short walk, just five to ten minutes, to get a mental break and a little physical distance. Try to make it a brisk walk and get your blood moving and your heart beating a bit faster. (Truly, try it.)
Have a drink of water and then grab a pen and paper.
Write down everything you need to do. Forget about any order or logic, just get everything out of your head and onto paper. Name it and Tame it. Writing things down captures them and frees up space in your mind that can be used to work out how to do it all.
Is it a huge list of things that need to be done? Don’t panic. Take a few more deep breaths and go for another walk if you need to. It’s only a five to ten minute walk. Relax, if you’re still feeling overwhelmed then it’s likely you wouldn’t be using this time anyway. Take the time to calm yourself and get organised and you can use your time better.
Have a look at the list and work out what needs to be done first. “Everything” I hear you cry. Well, I have bad news for you. ‘Everything’ can’t be done at once. Not possible. Have another look. What needs to be done the most? What will have the biggest effect? What affects most people?
Take another four sheets of paper and title them respectively Do, Delay, Delegate, Drop. Then go through your list and put each item on your list on one of the sheets of paper. Resist the temptation to put everything on the Do and Delay lists. SOME THINGS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO BE DELEGATED OR DROPPED! You only have 24 hours in one day, something has to give and it’s better to be a few tasks rather than your sanity or your family.
With the delay list, put a rough time of when you expect to get to that task. And no, they can’t all be labelled ‘Tomorrow’. Be realistic. If you only have six working hours in a day then you can’t fill them with ten hours of work.
The second to last step is to begin working on your most important task on your Do list, and keep going until you have everything done. Hand over everything on your delegate list. Tear up and throw away your Drop list – you don’t need it because those tasks aren’t going to be done.
The very last step, once you’ve recovered sufficiently to have some form of balance back in your workload, is to look at WHY you became so overwhelmed. Are you taking on too much? Are you trying to do everything yourself? Is your middle name Superwoman? Was it a one-off because of outside influences? Is your business growing to the point you need to hire staff? Are your processes working or do they need to be looked at and changed? Do you need to automate some processes for your business?
Whatever the reason is, you need to work out how to prevent it happening again. Living permanently in a state of overwhelm and stress is not healthy for you, your business or your family.
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Meet Mel:
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The web's business planning expert - just for work at home mums. Together we'll find the time for you to make money.