Do you sometimes feel like your agenda started living its own life? And no matter how hard you try, your days are always filled to the brim with planned and last minute things to do? Then it’s time to intervene! As an entrepreneur you need enough sleep and enough ‘me time’ to be able to function properly. In this article, we give you three time management tips to make sure you’re more in control of your own schedule.
Table of Contents
1. Outsource things that cost you too much time
Most entrepreneurs of growing businesses like to keep a good overview over everything that’s happening, which makes sense. But that doesn’t mean you have to do everything yourself! It’s totally ok to admit that you’re not the best at filling in your taxes and that it takes you forever. Or that you hate dealing with HR things, such as making contracts. Luckily, you can outsource pretty much anything to skilled professionals. Yes, you pay for their work, but just think about all the time you save if you don’t have to plan every evening for a week to fix your taxes! One thing we always recommend outsourcing, is the collection (Dutch: incasso) of debts. Contacting debtors time and time again is time consuming and will give you stress. Working with a debt collection agency (Dutch: incassobureau) can help you out. Find a good one in your area by checking the Google reviews. If you live in the Dutch city Tilburg, for instance, check out ‘incassobureau Tilburg’!
2. Automate repetitive tasks
If there’s a repetitive task you despise that you have to do weekly/monthly/yearly, it might be a good idea to check if someone hasn’t made software or a program for it. We live in an age where technology is everything and artificial intelligence is smarter than ever. There are programs that for instance automatically create invoices with minimal input needed from your side or artificial intelligence that takes over routine tasks in a payroll process. Handy! We recommend to take a good look at your weekly schedule and maybe even track your time for a week. Where do you spend your time on and what takes more time than expected? If you notice one task eats away your time, it’s a good idea to see if there’s a program that can help you out.
3. Put yourself first sometimes
You can’t be accessible 24/7 for clients and colleagues or you’ll burn out. As an entrepreneur it’s important to sleep enough and eat enough so you feel good and you’re able to think outside the box or excel in your work. We know how easy it is to work day and night because you’re busy. That’s why it’s a good idea to see yourself as a client that needs certain things done. For example: four times a week you’re offline because you’re having dinner with your family. Block these moments in your agenda and try to hold on to them. Your family will thank you and honestly, you’ll be better at dealing with stress if you can relax every now and then with your loved ones. You can do the same for your workouts and any other ‘me-moment’ you might need.
We hope we helped you out with these time management tips!
