How to manage your time as a business owner

When you’re an independent business owner, there’s a lot to do! From managing orders, serving customers, looking after the finances, marketing and everything else in between, you’re going to be busy!

This is why it is really important to manage your time as efficiently as you can. And we have some top tips to help you do this.

1. Plan your day before it begins

Planning ahead is key. Whether you do this daily or weekly, or both, it’s up to you, but we’d recommend that you write down your tasks and prioritise them in order of urgency. This means you don’t have to waste time trying to decide what to do next.

To prioritise, focus on what you need to accomplish, when the tasks need to be done and how critical they are to your business. You’ll probably want to spend more time on ones that are critical and the ones that are going to benefit your business the most.

Whether it’s a list in a notebook or Word document, a calendar or diary, try out different ways and see what works best for you.

2. Delegate tasks

When creating your lists of tasks, also consider the ones that only you can do yourself and ones that you can delegate out to others (if you have staff, of course).

It’s not always easy to delegate, but it can help you save time (and stress!) and should let you get more done in your business.

It’s also important to make sure the person you’re delegating to is up to the task, which may mean some additional training to begin with, but it will save you time in the long run.

3. Get rid of distractions

It’s so easy to get distracted from your daily plan, so try to do as much as you can to avoid things that will draw your attention away from what you need to do.

Put your phone on the other side of the room and turn off your notifications so you don’t look at it unless you need to. Also don’t have loads of tabs open on your computer which you can easily click on and try to find a quiet area if you need to concentrate (or stick your headphones in if that works for you!).

4. Allow yourself a break

You’ll be doing yourself absolutely no favours if you work flat out all day every day. Your brain will need a rest!

Take regular breaks, whether that’s for lunch, or just to get away from your desk for a bit. You could go for a quick walk, grab a coffee to have a chat with a colleague. You’ll come back refreshed, energised and will probably work more effectively for it.