67: Highly Effective Business Routines For Successful Entrepreneurs Whether You Are Starting A
67: Highly Effective Business Routines For Successful Entrepreneurs Whether You Are Starting A Business, You Are Self-Employed, A Solopreneur, Small Business Owner, Remote Virtual Online Bookkeeper, Virtual Assistant Or VA
When you want to be successful, you need to make sure you are taking advantage of every minute of your day. Some people make their success seem so simple. Most successful entrepreneurs follow a routine that they know they can stick to on a consistent basis to get the results they ultimately want to achieve in life and in their business. In today’s podcast episode I am covering some of the highly effective business routines that will keep you on task and ensure you are able to spend your days being as efficient as possible while enjoying your ultimate work-life balance. Everybody views success differently and this is true as far as your schedule goes as well. Your schedule and routines will vary from other business owners and that is alright. Not only am I going to touch on morning and evening routines, but you will gain insight on how you can focus your time to manage your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly business routines as well. Routines are important to put in place and it doesn’t matter whether you are just getting started with your business, you are a self-employed individual, a solopreneur, entrepreneur, small business owner, a remote, virtual, online or in-house bookkeeper, or a virtual assistant or VA, it is never too late to start or improve your business routines. These routines will work for you whether you are using a computerized software system like QuickBooks, Xero, Wave or FreshBooks for your business finances, or if you are doing your bookkeeping manually with an Excel spreadsheet or even a Google Document. Listen in and make sure you are aware of these highly effective routines successful entrepreneurs use to reach their success…
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Show Notes:
When you want to be successful, you need to make sure you are taking advantage of every minute of your day. Some people make their success seem so simple. Most successful entrepreneurs follow a routine that they know they can stick to on a consistent basis to get the results they ultimately want to achieve in life and in their business. In today’s podcast episode I am covering some of the highly effective business routines that will keep you on task and ensure you are able to spend your days being as efficient as possible while enjoying your ultimate work-life balance. Everybody views success differently and this is true as far as your schedule goes as well. Your schedule and routines will vary from other business owners and that is alright. Not only am I going to touch on morning and evening routines, but you will gain insight on how you can focus your time to manage your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly business routines as well. Routines are important to put in place and it doesn’t matter whether you are just getting started with your business, you are a self-employed individual, a solopreneur, entrepreneur, small business owner, a remote, virtual, online or in-house bookkeeper, or a virtual assistant or VA, it is never too late to start or improve your business routines. These routines will work for you whether you are using a computerized software system like QuickBooks, Xero, Wave or FreshBooks for your business finances, or if you are doing your bookkeeping manually with an Excel spreadsheet or even a Google Document. Listen in and make sure you are aware of these highly effective routines successful entrepreneurs use to reach their success…
Welcome Back…Whether it is fitness, health or other important aspects of your life, a big part of your success is not only having a routine but being able to stick to your routine as well. You don’t want to create a routine that is so strict that you find yourself overwhelmed, unhappy and decide to quit on it all together. You also don’t want to have a routine that just doesn’t fit into your lifestyle. Working from dawn to dusk might not be the best fit for you if you have a young family waiting for you at home each day. So how do you find a balance that you know will fit your work-life balance as well as get all your work done throughout the day without causing you to be overworked and stressed? I’m not going to sugar coat things here, it is going to take some effort on your part, and everyone’s routines and schedules will take on different forms, but all in all, if you set aside some time to start working on your routines and tweak them if needed, you should be able to find a routine that works for you by complementing your work-life balance.
We’re going to start off with how you begin and end your day. This is a bit more personal, but just as important as your business or workday routines. You’ve probably heard about successful entrepreneurs and how they start and end their days. Much of their success can be related back to how well they stick to their routines. Most successful entrepreneurs will wake up plenty early to ensure they have enough time to meditate, exercise, eat breakfast, read and journal so that they are in the best shape to start to tackle their day. They also end their day by planning top tasks for the next day, emptying their inbox and clearing their desk so that they are ready to start the next day out right. They also do an assessment of their day, spend time with family, and unplug before they go to bed. Once you have these routines down, it’s time to move on to your workday routines.
I want you to think about how much time you will have for each workday. Will you have the same schedule or routine for each day of the week, or will it differ from day to day? Will you have a different schedule for the weekends? I want you to take some time here and figure out what you’d like to have your ideal workday look like. Once you have a rough idea of how many hours each day you will be working in your business, you will be able to start sectioning off times for different tasks. Make sure you are comfortable with the work-life balance you are creating here and know that these schedules may need to change as different events in your life take place.
Let’s start tackling the workday routines. Whenever you can set up a routine, you’ll find that the work you need to do gets easier to do and it will actually take you less time to get it done. Start by creating a list of tasks that you need to do for your business. You can also add how often they need to be done such as daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. You’ll find that many of the tasks you need to do for your bookkeeping and your business finances are easy to incorporate into a routine. Once you have this list of tasks that you know you need to get done, it’s time to start creating a schedule and applying your routines. Whenever possible, try to batch your work so that you are able to spend a good amount of time working on similar projects so that you don’t find yourself wasting time by jumping around on multiple projects that are not related. This is called batching and when you do this effectively, you can save a considerable amount of time. You may find that it is best to schedule blocks of time to work on your business and other times to work in your business as well. Scheduling a specific time to return calls and emails is another great way to block your time so that you can get work done more efficiently.
When you have all your tasks ready to plug into your schedule, setting up routines for you to do these tasks on a consistent basis will be important. I have found that many of the project management software solutions work well for this. Once you set up your project management solution, you can set each of your tasks to recur on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis. This can really take a lot off your mind so that you are not consistently feeling like you need to remember every single task that has to be done in your business. This can cause a lot of stress, so take my advice on this and do a brain dump to get out as many of those reminders that you have in your head and schedule them so that you can start relying on your schedule and routines to make sure you are taking care of all of these tasks. I personally use a software called Asana. There is a free version, and it seems to work really well for many of my clients as well. By setting up reminders you will also make sure you are meeting deadlines for things that you may not easily remember to do. There are many quarterly and yearly tasks that can easily be forgotten if you don’t have reminders set.
By utilizing a project management software or even a google calendar, you can start plugging in the tasks that need to be done and take a look at how your days, weeks, months and years are starting to look. Let’s say that on a weekly basis, you are not only running your business, but you also need to pay your bills, send out invoices to your customers and make your bank deposits. By creating a routine of when you will start doing these tasks and leaving them on your project management list until they are completed, you are sure to get these done. When you follow your routine, you will find if it is working out for you, or if you need to tweak it a bit so that things will flow more smoothly. Remember that your routines are fluid, and they will change with the demands in your life. You may even find that there is no way that you can handle all the tasks efficiently. This would be a good time to decide where you need additional help and start looking for someone proactively rather than waiting until you are too far behind to even have time to find help. The main goal is to set your routines and follow them as closely as possible so that you are working as efficiently as possible, and everything is getting done without a lot of additional stress.
I’d also like to make sure that you are planning breaks within your workday. By taking breaks, you will allow yourself time to rest and recharge so that you are ready to take on the remainder of your day. By scheduling your breaks and making them routine, you will find yourself enjoying the time away from work and may even find yourself working harder so that you can take that break.
One last thing. Don’t multitask. I know it seems like when you are multitasking you are getting more done, but in reality, most times, you are only getting multiple things done in a longer period of time and most likely they are not done as well as they could have been done if you focused all of your efforts on each task one at a time. You’ve probably had a time when you are working hard on something, and you have a visitor who calls or stops in your office and talks to you for a bit. After they leave, can you honestly say that you heard everything that they said, or even worked as well as you could have on the task at hand if you didn’t have any interruptions? I thought so. Focus your work on one task at a time and do a good job at it, then move on to the next task. You’ll also find you will have less stress from feeling like you need to do so many things at one time.
If you struggle with creating a routine for yourself and your business and would like to start connecting with other like-minded business owners so that you can gain their insight and knowledge, check out my new mastermind groups. I am in the process of creating a couple of mastermind and coaching groups which are advantageous for both your development as a business owner and the success and growth of your business. Our masterminds cover many of the significant topics you run into in your business, and one example would be getting help from others about how they handle their business routines. If you are looking for one on one consulting, you are ready to be laser focused on the achievements you want to accomplish and you are looking for an intimate setting with a small group of business owners who have a similar vision as you to raise your business to the next level, make sure you go to www.FinancialAdventure.com/Mastermind to apply. I have two masterminds for you to choose from. The Mastering Your Small Business Finances CEO Mastermind which is an elite mastermind group for entrepreneurs & business owners who want to level up their business and reach their business goals faster and more efficiently with an experienced, trusted and knowledgeable group of members who want to help you as much as they are looking for help themselves. The second is the Elevate Your Bookkeeping Business GROW Mastermind. This mastermind is for bookkeepers who want to grow and expand their bookkeeping business by leveraging the experience and knowledge from other bookkeepers and accountants who are looking to add clients and increase profits in their bookkeeping business as well. Both mastermind options are perfect for you if you are ready to grow your business and desire the input, guidance and feedback from other successful entrepreneurs. If you have any questions about creating a routine for your business or the mastermind groups, reach out to me and let me know by going to www.FinancialAdventure.com/Contact-Us. I personally respond to all my emails. I’ll post links to these and other valuable resources for business owners and bookkeepers where you are listening to this podcast and in the show notes.
And, you know I’m going to ask…what’s at least one thing you will take away from this episode that will help your business succeed and grow your bottom line? If you need some accountability, join our PRIVATE Facebook community and post your action item, we’d love to support you.
