Distractions Are Everywhere

I don’t think we here at Social Fox are alone in feeling that sometimes it’s just hard to get things done! You sit down at the computer, completely ready to tackle the day, and then you look up, it’s six hours later and you don’t really feel like you’ve accomplished what you set out to. 

Business time management is particularly important in the case of the digital entrepreneur because you are most likely working from home and don’t have the watercooler discussions as a way to break up your day. This makes it all too easy to get consumed by one task [and then forget to tackle the other ones that you wanted to get done]. 

Add to that the ongoing temptation to check your phone, scroll your social media, or take just a quick look at that one email that just came in and the day can fly by. The good news is that if you want to improve your business time management, there are ways to become more focused on your task at hand and make time for other items on your to-do list. 

Keep reading to learn four ways to make your time more effective during your workday!

Why Digital Entrepreneurs Need Time Management Techniques

Perhaps more so than people who are working in an office, digital entrepreneurs need to have effective business time management skills. When you’re your own boss it can be hard to set boundaries and deadlines for yourself. Without a structure in place that works for you, days can easily get away from you and projects can take much longer than you planned to complete.

If you think back to when you worked in a corporate job, it’s likely that you would typically get your tasks done on time. You had someone that was expecting this of you and there would be repercussions if you didn’t deliver. Fast forward to now in the digital entrepreneur realm and the only person who is supervising you is… you.

Putting together a framework of certain business time management techniques that work for you is of paramount importance to make sure that you are living up to your highest potential. This will not only help to make sure that you’re moving your business forward, but that you avoid the dreaded burnout from overdoing it for too long. 

There’s nothing worse for your to-do list than reaching a level of burnout that makes you want to check out of your business completely. This is where business time management skills and techniques come in to save the day!

4 Time Management Techniques For Entrepreneurs In the Digital Space

Everyone’s level of accountability and motivation is different. Some people thrive without a firm structure to their day or their life. On the other side of that coin are those that benefit from having an outline to their day to keep them on task and moving forward with their business. 

The business time management techniques we’re discussing today are optimal for making sure that you have a clear idea of what your day consists of, how to spend your time, and how to avoid being burnt out by your schedule. 

Brain Dump & Prioritize

People are very familiar with the concept of a to-do list. The lesser known cousin to the to-do list is the brain dump.

A brain dump is simply a way to clear your mind of clutter when you are sitting down to do a task. These can be used in many different ways and to achieve different goals. For the purpose of optimizing your business time management skills, we’ll outline how to use a brain dump as your first business task of the day. 

As a digital entrepreneur, or a solopreneur, you’re likely responsible for many or all the tasks that have to happen to make your business and your life run smoothly. So to begin, categorize your tasks for the day. 

Brain dump categories are specific to what the needs of your business are but some example categories might be:

• Marketing

• Content Creation

• Administrative Tasks

• Email Management

• Product Research

• Webpage Building

• Invoicing

• Client Follow Up

If you want to use your business time management skills to help with keeping track of household tasks and family obligations as well, you could include categories like:

• Household Chores

• Appointments

• Family Activities

• Self-Care

• Meal Preparation

Your brain dump is as specific as you are. Take time to think about what categories are going to help you sort your thoughts and get all the little things in your life done. 

Now that you’ve picked out your categories, write them down on a piece of paper [we’ve also put together a nifty brain dump template that you can grab below]. Put together a little to-do list of everything that is on your mind for that category, including the items that you want to complete today. 

By completing this process at the beginning of your day, maybe when you are drinking your morning cup of coffee, you’re allowing your mind to relax. You don’t have to keep all those tasks on a running list in your brain and you can focus more intently on the task at hand. 

Since we’re trying to optimize our business time management skills, the next step is to review your brain dump lists and prioritize the items. Rank the tasks from most to least important [this can be done easily by numbering them starting at one for the most important]. The tasks that you’ve got to get done today are highest priority (#1). The other tasks go up in number from there all the way to the tasks that are on your radar but not necessarily an urgent task. 

Business time management for digital entrepreneurs is all about determining the important tasks and prioritizing those. This brain dump system allows you to get all the ideas out of your head at the start of your day and look at them objectively to determine where your time should be spent. If you don’t make it all the way through your tasks for that day, it’s okay, just roll them over to the next day’s brain dump and tackle them then. 

Now that you’ve determined what you should be doing in your business for the day, let’s talk about business time management techniques to get those things done!

Minimize Distractions

Alright, so obviously we know that distractions are bad for productivity, and it should go without saying to minimize these, right? But for a digital entrepreneur, that can be harder that you think!

Your business probably lives on the internet, and in your computer, so sitting down at that computer each day to work means that you have your whole business right in front of you… all the time. This is why setting boundaries for yourself is an excellent business time management technique. 

There will absolutely be times when you have to be available for client calls or you’re waiting on an important email to come in, and that’s totally okay. The real issue arises when you make those communication routes too open and they continually creep into your day, frequently interrupting your train of thought or the current project up on your screen [did you just check a text message that popped up too, or was it just me? 😉]. 

I think we’ve all been there when you check just that one message, then you have to go look something up for that one message, then you remember you forgot to change that link in that one email… these tasks can snowball and get out of hand so fast! 

So how do we avoid this business time management snafu? SILENCE NOTIFICATIONS. Silencing your notifications can be your best friend because it removes the temptations to “just check it really quick”. With Apple and Android devices this can easily be done through enabling your “Do Not Disturb” mode. This silences the unimportant notifications that pop up throughout the day. 

If you are feeling really bold, just leave your phone in another room completely. This removes the muscle memory temptation of picking up your phone to check notifications. 

Along the same line of thinking, simplify your computer screen to only include the exact task you are working on. Digital entrepreneurs are notorious for having a thousand tabs open in their web browser at all times which contributes to a lot of visual clutter and accidental tab clicks. Pare down to only the tabs or programs you need to have open at that moment, and minimize or close everything else.

Minimizing your distractions is a business time management technique that can instantly boost your concentration and your productivity making your days go much more smoothly. 

Time Blocking Your Calendar

Elon Musk is a famous supporter of time blocking and with good reason. As the name suggests, time blocking consists of allocating certain blocks of time to different tasks throughout your day. This can be done for your entire day [including time blocking for meals, chores, down time, etc] or just for your working day as a business time management hack to keep you on track with your tasks. 

After you’ve completed your brain dump and prioritized your tasks, the next step is to determine how long you anticipate it will take you to complete those items. Once you’ve got a solid idea that it will take you a half hour to respond to emails, block that off on your daily calendar. The next item up on your brain dump list might be writing the newsletter for next week, block that off as the next hour in your day. 

This helps to not only give you plans for your day but to give you time limits to complete these tasks. If you give yourself 4 hours to build a funnel page, for example, it will probably take you close to 4 hours. If you give yourself 2 hours, it’s likely that, even with less time, you’ll still get the job done. 

This business time management technique is particularly effective for people who have multiple businesses or many different life commitments. It allows you to schedule exactly what your day will look like to keep it organized, keep you focused and on the right track. 

Build Time In For Yourself 

Learning how to optimize your business time management can be an extremely effective way to achieve your business goals, but there is a caveat: you must also take time for yourself. 

Like the example above, maybe you have a section of your brain dump that consists of your personal care or self-care activities for the day. Make sure to schedule time for these activities just as you would your business activities. 

You can’t pour from an empty cup and not taking care of yourself is a surefire way to not be able to show up in your business in the way you’d like. 

It’s just like the flight attendant’s instructions when you’re flying with a child: put the oxygen mask on yourself first and then on your child. Show up and support yourself first and you’ll be better able to be present in your business. 

If you’re digging the time blocking method, be sure to also build in buffer time between your activities so that you don’t stack your day too full with no mental breaks. This down time serves to refresh your mind and improve your focus for the next task on your list.

BONUS: Automate Your Tasks

As a digital entrepreneur with a business that can live on a phone in your pocket, it’s too easy to get consumed by small daily, weekly, or monthly tasks. These little tasks take your time and build up in your day so it’s important to seek out opportunities to take these them off your plate. 

We believe that one of the best ways to gain back time in your day is through automating business processes. We believe that so much, in fact, that we’ve made it our business to help you improve your business time management, and your business itself, through automations.

These automations can come in many forms, whether it be email sequences for customers or new leads, automated access to course materials to educate your clients, segmenting your email list so you can provide exactly what your customer needs when they need it, or managing your calendar and confirming appointments. 

Aside from just the automations, having an all-in-one marketing and customer management tool helps to streamline your business system as a whole. Personally, we are big fans of having all our business processes in one place. 

Every business and digital entrepreneur is unique and here at Social Fox we know that we can simplify your business. If you feel bogged down with the daily management and want to gain some time back in your day, we’d love to brainstorm with you! Jump on our calendar for a demo and let us show you how to get time back in your day through business automation.

Business Time Management System For You

By putting all the pieces together, you can easily formulate a business time management system that supports you. Lean into what feels right for you, and for your business, because the needs are different for each digital entrepreneur. 

You deserve to have a process in place that lets you take advantage of your zone of genius and optimize your business time management. I think it’s safe to say that you probably didn’t get into business for yourself to work 12-15 hour days and be chained to your computer. 

That’s not exactly the time freedom dream that we all aspire to, right?

Through brain dumping, prioritizing tasks, optimizing your calendar for work without distractions, and taking care of yourself, we know that you can improve your time management in business and achieve your goals. So on the days when you feel like you might not be able to do it, rest assured, we know you can do it!