Carol Bentley

I’ve been taking a peak at some of the questions people have been asking in my blog survey that’s currently running. (If you haven’t seen the survey yet - it is here: www.copywriting4b2b survey)

And ‘how to find the time to do things’ whether copywriting, marketing or other things has come up a few times. So I thought I’d share just 3 effective tips I’ve discovered with you and also recommend a book that I got some good pointers from.

Change Your Mind…

We all have just 24 hours a day (yes, I know you’ve probably heard that from every time management expert) and I believe that changing how you think of ‘time management’ is probably the first step towards using that time effectively. I don’t think of ‘time-management’; no - I tend to regard it as ‘activity management’; deciding what activity you want to do and complete in any given workday.

So here’s 3 of the tips I’ve picked up over the years. I bet you’ve come across them before or you’ll say “well, that’s just common sense!” True - but does that mean you’re using them to make yourself more effective?

1) Get Rid of The 21st Century Time-Thief

Emails! Go on, be honest - how much time do you waste every day on your email? Which of these do you find yourself doing…

• Sorting & deleting spam emails - even with filtering software too many still get through
• Checking your spam-filtered emails in case anything urgent has been caught by accident
• Checking your inbox regularly throughout the day - especially when you’re expecting a reply to an email you’ve sent
• Stopping to read and reply to non-urgent emails - effectively getting distracted from what you are meant to be doing

Guilty as charged m’lud!

Yep - given the chance, I’m a confessed email junkie! And it was draining valuable hours of my time. So what did I do? Simple…

1. I decided on a timeframe when I would check incoming emails, e.g. 11a.m. for morning emails and 3p.m. for afternoon missives for just half-an-hour or less.
2. I had numerous email addresses. I redirected ALL my incoming emails, except those coming to a personal, unpublicised address, to Kelly, my P.A. (Yep, this is one of those solutions where you need someone to delegate to. If you aren’t in a position to employ a P.A. I suggest you seriously consider a virtual assistant).Kelly checks the content and forwards the emails I need to attend to personally. You wouldn’t believe how much time that has grabbed back for me.

The second action took care of the spam controlling and the distraction problem because I only see emails that are important.

2) Organise and Prioritise

Different people do this in different ways… blocking time in my diary when I intend to do something specific… like working on a particular project; write posts for this blog; work on products; studying (yes, that is continuous for me) and so on works for me.

I prioritise my tasks as I set my time blocks. By the end of the day or week I have a clear picture of what I’ve achieved and what remains.

I must admit I do get a real sense of satisfaction and achievement as each activity is completed and ‘ticked off’.

3) Stop those rude interruptions

The rudest interruption you suffer every day, without fail, is the telephone. Think about it - if you were in the middle of doing something or having a conversation and someone barged into your office and started shouting at you “Listen to me NOW!!” you’d be understandably extremely annoyed. And yet that’s exactly what we tolerate with incoming phone calls.

The phone is a rude and distracting interruption.

And it is something that, as the business owner or an entrepreneur you need to take control of. Here’s my advice…

• Don’t answer the phone yourself. If you haven’t got staff to take the calls organise a top quality, personal telephone answering service. Dependent upon your business I would suggest you do not rely on an answering machine or voicemail. It may not give the right impression to prospective clients. After all, if you call a business number and get an answering machine what do you think?
• Use gatekeepers. This is obviously part of the previous point. Make sure that whoever is answering your phone doesn’t just put callers through without checking with you first. In fact I tell my PA at the beginning of the day if I’m expecting any calls I need to take. All others are a definite “No” and she deals with them appropriately.
• Make telephone appointments with clients. If they want to speak to you set a date and time when you will take their call. You’ll find that clients are far more respectful of your time if you start your relationship this way.
• Don’t give your mobile phone number out too readily. I have the same mobile phone number that I started with back in 1995. I have never had to change it. And that is because I do not tell anyone - other than private clients, family and close friends - what the number is. And even with private clients I’m selective about who gets the number. I only ever give it to people who I trust not to abuse it by calling me at ridiculous times of the day. They respect my time and privacy, whilst knowing they can get hold of me in an emergency.
• Set a time of day when you will follow up on any incoming calls that need your attention. Perhaps, like with emails, a half hour in the morning and/or afternoon.
• Set a time of day when you will take calls, for example from your team or work colleagues, let them know when they can call you and expect to get through. Explain you are not available at other times because you are working on projects and cannot be interrupted.

I appreciate that for many people some of the pointers above may seem to be impractical - but you’d be surprised at just how readily people will accept your working method and respect your time.

Worth Spending The Time On Reading…

There are many books, courses, seminars and systems that seemingly offer a solution to this age-old problem of time management.

One of the easiest and most entertaining to read, as well as the most useful, I’ve found is Dan Kennedy’s No BS Time Management for Entrepreneurs. Dan’s thoughts on the time-wasters we all face every day are sometimes colourful - but I think you’ll probably find, like me, that you’re frequently nodding in agreement. I’m sure you’ll find some good tips in there.

~ Carol Bentley

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Date: Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 10:00 am | Category: Business Tips | RSS Feed: RSS 2.0 feed.
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