Articles

Successful Time Management (aka Managing Yourself!)

Countless books, audios, videos, and training material exist out there already on the complicated topic of Time Management. However, this article is going to review what might be considered hidden productivity secrets or big picture ideas that will help any work-at-home entrepreneur. The material here was largely gleaned from an excellent video on the topic by Eben Pagan.

First off, as a home business operator it is difficult for us to quantify our daily output. Most manual labor jobs, even white-collar jobs, can easily be quantified in terms of productivity or widgets produced/hour or per day. However, when you are you own boss in the network marketing industry you are instead dealing with "knowledge-based" activity which is very difficult to quantify in terms of effort. Because of the onslaught of information and knowledge we face every day, it is very easy to lose focus and fall into the "curse of multitasking". Multi-tasking...a curse? You bet it is! Why? The bottom line is multi-tasking is not efficient. One recent scientific study actually showed that multi-tasking lowers you IQ to less than someone smoking marijuana! In short, you are far better off to focus on one thing at a time. (And yes, this applies to women as well even though it has been shown that they are better than men at multi-tasking!). Ideally, one should focus on one specific task without distractions for two hours at a time - close your e-mail program, close the Internet browser, switch your cell phone's ringer and/or text feature off, tell family members not to bother you during these periods, etc. and do whatever it takes for you to remain focused. Then take a short break, but one that is "healthy" as your body naturally goes through pulses of energy, so get in touch with your own rhythms.

Another excellent tip is to create routines at the same time of day, day in day out - at first this may seem like "work" as you free-spirited folks may feel that this is limiting, but in fact establishing a routine for important tasks will make you infinitely more productive in the long run. We all have to work at reducing the distractions of life and avoid a scattered "monkey mind" or letting a "busy idiot" syndrome from taking over. Believe it or not, but top producers do not check their e-mail every 2 minutes. Block aside specific periods of time to deal with e-mails if necessary, but frankly you only need to do that a couple of times per day. Working in concerted, focused bouts of activity on one task is far more productive than trying to do 3, 4, or 7 things at once! For example, I bet that the top producers get more done in 90 minutes working on one activity than you can ever do now juggling 3 or 4 actions at once and over double the time frame.

However, it is also important to balance your activity with periods of renewal to give your body and brain a chance to rejuvenate. The top producers understand this and have learned how to efficiently renew themselves and increase productivity. This can involve exercise, even simple things like walking the dog, or working in your garden - but try to avoid watching TV or surfing the Internet during your breaks. You're better off to read a good book on personal development for 10-15 minutes, or do some basic meditation or breathing, or jot down some personal thoughts in a journal.

As for structuring your day or time, you can use the following percentages as a guideline to give you an idea of where you should best be putting your efforts:

1. Spend 40% of your time on building your business -- generating leads, tweaking your marketing...anything that drives traffic to your website or landing pages;
2. Spend 20% of your time converting prospects to sales -- this may or may not mean talking on the phone or in person with them, but note this also includes improving your sales copy or sales funnel process;
3. Spend 10% of your time on improving your content or marketing material;
4. Spend 30% of your time "managing" your business -- this includes the administrative or financial side of your enterprise, but also people management (e.g. you may be interacting with if for example you are outsourcing your marketing efforts, or with any team members underneath you who need a nudge or guidance).

[This article was originally written as an e-mail response to one of my new team members who was feeling overwhelmed getting started].

Darren, the anxiousness and uneasiness that you are feeling is normal and perhaps even a good thing as the path to becoming a successful entrepreneur is uncomfortable. Frankly, if you are not uncomfortable, you are doing something wrong! Seriously, you are teaching yourself to get out of your comfort zone(s) since we've all been pre-programmed perhaps by our family and/or by our previous employment, inevitably "working for someone else". Becoming a successful entrepreneur is arguably one of the hardest easiest things to do, capiche? Trust me, it will get easier, but you are on a steep learning curve for first 90 days-6 months. However, you should be learning from your mistakes and the "adversity" you face will mold you into a leader. And most of the adversity is actually internal, in your head in other words...

As for solutions, 1-3 hours per day 5-6 days per week is plenty (and yes, you need time off from this to re-juvenate too), but you just need to structure YOUR time better. Approach this as a business, not as a not-for-profit hobby, and even if you are doing it "part-time". Create daily to-do lists the night before for the next day -- make the list realistic and be self-accountable: put down your top 5-7 things and actually do them/cross them off! Some top leaders recommend putting your to-do list in the order of least pleasant/least preferred first -- it feels really good to get the things we like least out of the way, otherwise they sit like a monkey on your back, nagging you and making you feel guilty because you know you should be doing that task. And create weekly and monthly goals and/or tasks -- e.g. I want to have 250 leads by the end of October; I will post 5 articles/month; I will post 12 free ads/day; I will send out at least 10 friend requests/day on BetterNetworker.com, I will post a marketing tip/day on two network marketing user forums with my URL in the signature, etc. Perhaps put this is terms like you would do with a client you are training for exercise goals --> ok, 10 push-ups today, but by end of next week let's be at 30...push yourself, but don't overdo it...

As for the CarbonCopyPRO's Business in a Box (BiB) and back-office marketing guide...it is just that: a GUIDE. In other words, you don't have to do all 30 days and all 20+ marketing techniques at once. Read over the guide and pick 1 or 2 marketing tools that resonate with you off the bat, and MASTER them first before taking on any others. No one is doing more than 4-5 at a time (maybe 7 at max for the really driven, crazy folks) as there are just not enough hours in day. However, if it is recommended in the back office, IT WORKS! Just be aware that the free and low-cost methods require more WORK and more TIME for you to see results (requires more consistency too). If the back office recommends sending out 10/day, do 12 or 15 or 20 and DO THAT EVERY DAY! For example, I made it my personal mission this month to have 1000 friend contacts in Better Networker -- I started with only 13 and am now almost at 500 and I am sending out a minimum of 25 requests/day. If you do something like that consistently, it will become a habit and not a chore and you will see results (e.g. I am now getting e-mails and phone calls from BetterNetworker members looking for advice -- I am now the hunted, instead of the pursuer!). If you come back and whine to me that you have no leads, I'm going to ask you how many ads you sent out and for how long. If you tell me you did it for two weeks and you sent out 10 all together, I'M GOING TO SMACK YOU UP THE SIDE OF YOUR HEAD and send you back to the gym for more reps at a higher weight!

However, you are obviously doing something right as you have already received leads. Build on those mini-accomplishments and be grateful...seriously, be really truly grateful for all of your successes and put that positive energy back in to your efforts. Believe it or not, but many networkers NEVER generate a single lead; understand too that the marketing training you are being given in the CarbonCopyPro back office and in the BiB puts you ahead of 98% of marketers out there. I am both amazed and appalled after speaking with other existing marketers at how little [to no] Internet marketing training and guidance is provided by most other opportunities.

As for the conference calls, same thing...remember, you are in charge of your time and your business. Pick and chose what you want to listen to, but definitely pick 1-2/week for training (whether live or recorded). Find the trainer that works for YOU -- for example, I focus on the trainers that "speak to me" (e.g. Jeff Combs, Doug Firebaugh, Brian Finale, Norbert Orlewisc, Andrew Cass, and of course anything by founders Jay Kubassek or Aaron Parkinson). If I were you, I would focus on free ads, article writing [believe me, you are wayyy ahead of most people being able to do that!], forum marketing, and maybe dabble with YouTube and MySpace (e.g. check out Brian Finale and Gregg Davison's training for YouTube). The problem with conference calls, training videos, and reading e-mails is that one can become a "busy idiot": in other words, you are "busy" but not actually getting anything done! Take action, massive action preferably, dive in, and don't be afraid to make mistakes.

Remember to also book some private, quiet Darren-time -- don't waste it by watching TV or reading CNN on the Internet ("Constant Negative News"), but instead read a book, or write in a journal, or go for a walk in nature. If you don't have a dog, find some little old lady in your neighbourhood who has a dog that needs a walk. I'd be lost if it weren't for my "boy" Mischa: he makes me take him for walks 3-4 times/day. I've lost 25 lbs thanks to him since January and it keeps him young and fit too. I use that 20-30 minutes with the dog to recharge my batteries, and remind myself to be grateful for many things on the walks (we do 8-10 km/day!). Plus, I find having a dog is a chick/stud magnet -- my Dad used to always tell me to get a dog and I would get dates (shoulda listened!). My wife finds it funny how many women come up to me to be schmoopy with 'Mischa'...he loves all the attention too!