Prosper Newsletter: February 2008 > Entrepreneurship

You understand that the following information is educational in nature and is not intended to be legal, accounting, or tax advice. You are responsible for your own financial decisions and should consult your own legal, accounting, and tax advisors before making your financial decisions.

The Essentials of Spare Time Management

You might say to yourself, "Spare time? I don't have any of that." Well, when talking about the basics, time is something we all have in common. We each have the same allotment of 24 hours a day. With a commitment to prioritize, focus, schedule, and manage your time, you'll find you have enough hours to do the things that really matter. You'll have better quality time with family, and you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you were truly productive.

Where does one find this alleged spare time? For many, a typical workday is something like this: Arrive at the office on time (around 9 am, but never early). Have coffee. Check in with friends and talk about last night's episode of a favorite TV program. Then around 10 am, start to answer voicemail and email. Fiddle around until 11 am. Work hard for half an hour because it's almost lunchtime. Get ready for lunch. Go to lunch. Get back at 1 pm—now you're tired from a big meal. Return some calls. Maybe go to a few useless meetings. Answer some email. Get ready to go home. Around 4 pm, start winding down and prepare for another busy day tomorrow!

Exaggerated? Maybe, but it's more true than not. If you don't think this scenario applies to you, try an experiment. Work a day as if you were going on vacation tomorrow. Remember the last time you went on vacation? That last week at work and at home got you really organized, didn't it? You knew you had a lot to do, so you made a list of goals—a to do list—to get it all done. You were in a pre-vacation mode. We can all relate to this. For most of us, the last several days before a vacation are some of the most productive days of the year. In the words of the legendary motivational coach, Zig Ziglar, "Handle your life and career as if you were going to Hawaii tomorrow."

Now, think about how much work you accomplish just before you go on vacation. That's a real workday. Okay, maybe you don't want to work that hard every day. That's acceptable. But here's a suggestion. Get to the office early, work hard for six to eight hours, and then go home!

You might be thinking: "Wait a minute. There's no way I can do that. I have a job where I have to punch the clock. I can't just go home early." Fine, then consider looking for a new job. Find yourself the kind of career where you are rewarded for results instead of time spent on the job.

The truth is, most of us can become rich by being very productive for no more than six to eight hours a day. Who wouldn't work that hard if they knew that the reward included having a life, too?

Still having trouble finding time? Try delegating the tasks you shouldn't be doing to someone else. First thing tomorrow, delegate one task that you currently perform (that you know you shouldn't be doing) to someone else. For example, if you make more money than it costs to hire a cleaning service, have your laundry sent out, or cook meals, then hire someone to do those menial tasks for you. Delegate those jobs and spend the extra time with your family or on your passion. Grow your income so that you can get more out of life.

The same is true for the way you handle tasks in the office. There are many people with high-level careers, yet they still answer their own phones, do their own filing, and type their own letters. Stop doing anything you can pay someone else to do for less than your time is worth. If you stop wasting time, doing things others can help you with (the basics), you can then focus on things that will yield results and make you more money!

Testimonial

Coaching and word of mouth increase pharmacy sales by 127%

Our business has grown in sales by 127%. Our production is averaging 12 to 15 prescriptions per day, five days per week. Our most important growth factor seems to be patient word of mouth. It is interesting however, that most of the individuals are not very interested in our friends and family referral program with discounts. It is working, but most people just tell a lot of other people and say they are so excited about us, and don't care about the discounts. We have been so busy I have been working in the lab as a Tech, so the website is suffering right now. We will be doing two more things that will increase the business. One, we will expand our marketing to some of the new parts of the Inland Empire that we have not covered. This will also include contacting exercise places, gyms, and physical therapists, etc. We also have some exciting seminar opportunities coming our way. Second, we are beginning to plan our second phase—adding sterile compounding and the room and equipment that goes with it, and our preventive care program. If things stay on track as they have been, I anticipate we will do better than 200% growth in sales for the year. Thanks again for your help!

Gordon and Raylene M.

Tip of the Month

Getting Back to Entrepreneurial Basics

You may have heard various business consultants advocate the strategic philosophy of work on your business, instead of in it. Many entrepreneurs would readily agree with this sage-like wisdom; yet, very few have the insight to actually execute the idea. This disconnect has been the downfall of many a business owner who tried to raise their organization to a higher level.

In many cases where business owners are so entrenched in just keeping things together, all the schedule planners and smart phones in the world can't free up an additional hour for brainstorming innovative business ideas. Sad but true. Time can and should be made for important things like planning and strategy. Do you ever go grocery shopping with the notion that you want to spend as much time as you can picking up what you need? Of course not. You plan and devise clever ways of getting in and out as quickly as you can by being as smart as you can.

Such is the philosophy of getting back to basics. In some cases, an hour of planning can save hours of execution and reworking shoddy work. Based on surveys of entrepreneurs, there are 20 attributes that are strong indicators for success. These qualities, worked on and honed, may be just what you're looking for. In 2008, whether it be hiring, project management, strategic alliances, or just qualities that you would like to improve upon, it may be well worth your time to work on some of these entrepreneurial basics:


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