It’s no secret that running a small business can be extremely hectic, demanding, and time-consuming. Between keeping up with marketing and branding, tracking inventory, ensuring the satisfaction of customers, and so much more, it’s easy for time to slip away.
Despite the hectic schedule and many demands that come along with running a small business, time management is still very important. Time is literally the only resource that you can never replace or get back.
Knowing the importance of time management and how it can benefit you as a small business owner will make a significant difference. This is why being mindful of the following three details, a must-have time management tool, and how to effectively manage time makes such a vital impact.
Producing Better Outcomes
In one way or another, a lack of time management often leads to rushing. When running a small business, rushing is bad news; it stops you from giving the necessary tasks at hand your full and undivided attention. This is when mistakes tend to happen, thus dampening the potential for better outcomes.
Less Stress
When you’re running a small business, the potential for stress is already present, especially when you’re new or just getting the ball rolling. This makes the importance of time management that much more relevant; by managing your time effectively, you can reduce levels of stress and redirect that energy towards your small business.
Setting a Positive Workplace Example
The importance of time management extends beyond better work outcomes and less stress; the positive examples that effective time management models for your employees are also necessary to consider.
In any business, the quality of leadership from the top always makes a difference. Employees who witness proper time management are much likelier to emulate this behavior than workers who regularly see a stressed-out and frazzled boss.
Knowing How to Manage Time as a Small Business Owner
Knowing the impacts and importance of time management is all well and good; however, having the necessary tools at your disposal also makes an important difference.
You’ll be pleased to learn about the variety of time tracking tools that are presently on the market. These tools can assist you with keeping track of hours, adding workers to payroll, knowing when and where your employees are clocking in/out of work, and so much more.
Time Tracking Apps
When using various employee time tracking apps within your small business, you and your employees benefit from the different features and functions that come along with it.
Across the board, time tracking apps allow your employees to clock in and out of work on their phones and from any job site. Furthermore, if your small business relies upon the services of remote workers or freelancers, you have nothing to worry about; many time trackers allow workers to document fixed rates and tasks completed away from the job site.
Needless to say, being able to know when your employees or freelancers are working can greatly contribute to your time management as a small business owner; with that in mind, time tracking apps come with a series of additional benefits that can help you manage time while running your small business.
Timesheet Automation
So many small business owners waste hours and hours of time inputting information into timesheets. Did you know that timesheet automation is another upside of using time tracking apps when running your small business?
Timesheet automation enables employees’ worked hours to be automatically logged without you having to do the work or hire someone else to do it for you.
As you explore various time clocks, you’ll learn that many of these tools are cloud-based and therefore compatible with a variety of devices. Features like online scheduling systems, ease of exporting payroll timesheets, etc,. can be serious assets for both time management and your small business.
Important Time Management Strategies
Every small business is unique. Some small business owners may struggle with time management more than others; this can largely be impacted by the nature of the business, the number of employees on the payroll, and much more.
With that in mind, there are still some important time management strategies that small businesses across the board can benefit from. These strategies focus on the common themes that are often experienced by various small businesses in different sectors.
Eliminate Distractions
Believe it or not, distractions can be a major thorn in the side of any small business owner. Some of the best ways to cut out distractions include limiting others’ access to you while you’re working, maintaining control over your working area(s), and even turning off your phone when it’s appropriate.
Categorize Your Work
When running a small business, it’s not uncommon for certain tasks to have similarities with one another. One example includes filling out various forms and then depositing them; to effectively manage your time as a small business owner, categorize your work and then complete it in chunks.
In the long run, categorizing your work will not only bode well for time management, but it will also keep you more organized as a small business owner. You’ll find that organization goes hand-in-hand with running a successful business, no matter what tasks you have ahead of you.
Plan Ahead of Time
Just like eliminating distractions and categorizing your work, planning ahead of time greatly assists with time management. Many small business owners have found that determining what their responsibilities are for the day ahead — or even the next several days ahead — makes a meaningful difference.
Having a schedule for when to complete tasks in order of urgency and importance is great. As a small business owner, you’ll also want to consider which tasks can only be done by you versus which ones you can assign to someone else.
Take a Break
On the surface, taking a break may seem counterproductive to effective time management, but it’s actually an important asset. Taking breaks after working and completing important tasks helps keep you from getting burned out.
When taking a break, you ensure that you’re able to recharge and then later return to your small business with a clearer head and fresher mindset. Small business owners who overwork themselves without ever pausing will eventually burn out; this, of course, does not bode well for successful time management or a productive small business.