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Life as an entrepreneur or solopreneur keeps you busy. Gary Vaynerchuk says that he feels exhausted all of the time, but he can also make all sorts of things happen when putting in 18 hours days.

We all work in different ways. Time keeps ticking for all of us as well. When you have these time management tips providing structure for your day, then it becomes possible to maximize your success.

Best Tips for Time Management

1. Get Started

Most entrepreneurs and solopreneurs never get out of the starting gate. They either wait for the perfect time, want to complete a product before launch, or come up with some other excuse. You can never reach the finish line if you are unwilling to take the first step.

2. Create Priority Management Systems

Instead of trying to complete multiple tasks simultaneously, you can be more productive by creating a list of high-impact activities to finish each day. Always work backward from your most essential to-do item to maximize results.

3. Think Small, Work Small

Do you need to keep “remembering things?” Use tools like Evernote or SaneBox to automatically coordinate with your calendar to receive notifications on anything important that is going on.

4. Provide Reflection Time

Take at least five minutes out of your day to think about what you want to accomplish. Then reflect at the end of the day to see if you learned something new. If you have a creative thought during this time, then pursue it in some way.

5. Create 100% Protected Calendar Blocks

You need unstructured time as an entrepreneur or solopreneur to keep your bandwidth strong. Jeff Bezos used to leave Monday and Thursday entirely this way to devote time for thinking about the future of his company. When the pressure of a schedule is not present, new ideas tend to pop up.

6. Change Your Workspace

Most entrepreneurs and solopreneurs organize their working areas around their computer screens or electronic devices. Although they help with productivity, this technology can also cause a tremendous distraction. Going with paper notes and lists can be quite helpful.

7. Only Fix What is Broken

There are new tools that come out every month which could offer productivity benefits. Just change something if it isn’t working for you. Sometimes it is better to stay productive than to be on the cutting edge.

8. Get Up Early

It is much easier to get work done when no one else is away because your focus can remain on each task. Even if you get up at 5:00 a.m. to prepare for the day, it can reduce your stress levels because you know that you are productive.

9. Automate What You Can

Many entrepreneurs and solopreneurs struggle with their email composition and marketing. Tools like AudiencePoint allow you to optimize your send time to increase your CTR, open rates, and conversions. Look for other options to automate processes whenever you can too.

10. Audit Your Time

If it seems like you always run out of time during the day, then perform an audit. This information will show you where your productivity levels might not be at their maximum.

11. Manage the Mind

If you wish to manage your time, then you must organize the mind. Mentally map out each task that you want to complete. Think about how long each effort will take, and then schedule these moments between your existing appointments.

12. Get into a Routine

Once you establish a productivity routine, it is difficult to break out of it. Stick to your schedule religiously.

13. Shut Down the Email

Your email tab will provide you with numerous distractions throughout the day. Even a notification is enough to cause a loss of focus. Schedule a specific time each day where you review and send messages. This same principle works for social media too.

14. Get Some Exercise

Working out will help you to manage high stress levels. The exercise you get will also inspire your mind to be creative. If you have a healthy body, then you will also have a more vigorous mind.

15. Embrace Laziness

If you tend to be a procrastinator, then embrace the desire to be lazy by seeking out more efficient ways to work. When you can produce results in less time, then there are more chances to relax.

Hope these tips will help you as they helped me. Do you want to start your entrepreneurial journey? Get this Ultimate Business Startup Checklist. 

Do you have any other tips to share?

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Ok, you have decided to become an entrepreneur or a solopreneur. Well, if you are wondering who or what is a solopreneur, first read this article. On the other hand, if you are wondering what all things you need to do focus on initially, read on. When I (re)started my entrepreneur / solopreneur journey a few years ago, I checked around to see if there is a checklist. Nope, there is no neatly laid out checklist that I could lay my hands on. Sure, they had a bunch of articles on how to incorporate or how to start a website, etc. but not a comprehensive list of things I had to get the business going. Hopefully, this article will give you that head start. Click here for THE Ultimate Business Startup Checklist.

The first item on the checklist: Self-Assessment

The very first thing you need to do before you embark on your entrepreneurial journey is ‘Self-assessment’. Why do you want to start a company or start your own business? What is the purpose? Do you either have or willing to acquire the discipline you need to be successful? Can you drive yourself day in and day out, through thick and thin, and persevere during tough times? What is your financial viability? How long can you survive without going broke? The rest of the items on the checklist are secondary to answering this primary question.

Business / Marketing Plan

Business plan: This was the most time consuming and tedious step for me but an absolute necessity. The plan should address questions like:  what product/service are you planning to offer; Is there a viable market for this kind of offering; Who are the intended customers and what are their pain points? Your business plan is more than the idea which inspired you. It is a set of steps to follow in order to launch your business into reality. In the world of business, there are many steps to starting a legitimate, legal company.

Foundational items

Business Name:I took a considerable amount of time to select my business name. For my very first business, I tried to be clever and picked a name that was unpronounceable by many. I soon realized that it was a mistake and for my second company, I zeroed in on a business name that reflected our products and services but differentiated enough from our competition. I spent time doing Google search and also on many domain registrars to ensure that our name was unique.

Follow this process when selecting a name for your business:

• Know your business mission and your own purpose for starting the business
• Brainstorm possible names
• Search names already in use to eliminate
• Experiment with your short list of names and possible designs
• Cross check with domain registrars like GoDaddy to make sure that there are no conflicts
• Choose the best name possible

Choose Your Business Address:A real address lends credibility to your business. If your business does not need a physical office space, consider signing up with part-time leasing and/or a mail pickup/delivery where you can rename as a suite to project a physical office address.

Obtain a Business Phone Number:A business phone number also lends credibility to your company, as well as making it easier to keep business and personal calls and expenses separate. Many options exist, including mobile lines.

Create Your Business Identity: This includes the steps above as well as getting your business known among your target market. A name, logo, contact information, and other physical props like signage and business cards all let the world know your company exists.

Register Your Business: Your business must be registered within your state as a legal business entity under a specific name, as well as with the IRS for tax purposes.

Obtain a Business License and Necessary Permits:  All businesses need some form of license or permit in order to operate legally. This often comes as a surprise to new business owners, especially online and home-based businesses.

Apply for Your Employee Identification Number(EIN): This is only necessary if you will have paid employees. Otherwise, you can simply use your social security number.

Decide on a business structure: Sole proprietor, LLC, partnership, corporation, etc. – and file the necessary documents and set up the necessary accounts with whatever agencies regulate you or for which you collect taxes.

Obtain a DUNS Number: This is a unique nine-digit identifier for businesses, used to establish a D&B® business credit file. This is accessed by lenders and potential business partners to help predict the reliability and/or financial stability of your company in question.

Financial related

Financial Sources: Your financial viability plan must address the financial sources, required finances for at least one year of operations and contingency finances. I don’t have to tell you that there will always be unexpected expenses when it comes to money. 

Accountant or Accounting software: I decided early on that I’ll rely on accounting software to start with. I use Quickbooks Online and it seems to be sufficient for our needs. You may still need an accountant for tax purposes but it all depends on you to know if this is a must.

Establish a Business Checking Account: Keeping your personal and company finances separate is crucial, and not just for tax purposes. If you set up your business as anything besides a sole-proprietorship, you need separate bank accounts for handling your money.

An Accountability buddy: Find an accountability buddy, mentor or friend you can talk with regularly who can help you stay focused on your goals. This is very, very important as you’ll be driven in multiple directions on an ongoing basis.

Outreach list of items

Identify the professional associations and other groups your prospective clients belong to. Join and become active in at least one, with a goal of X number of referrals or clients within one year. Identify where your clients go for professional development, and find the most strategic way to contribute to their learning, through public speaking, writing a column, serving on a member-facing committee, etc. Conduct at least five successful informational conversations (a.k.a. reality-check interviews) with people who represent your market. Find out what they need, value and will pay for. ___ Write several vignettes that describe successful engagements (or your anticipated engagements), articulating the value you offer your clients.

​​​​​​Web and Social networ​ks

Establish a Website: In today’s global marketplace, a quality website for marketing and commerce is essential. Don’t skimp here; your website is most often the first impression a potential client sees when checking out your company. It can mean the difference between getting their business or losing it.

Establish Business Social Media Accounts: Social media is a powerful medium for promoting your business and linking back to your website, and business accounts separate from your personal accounts can be used solely for company interests.

Register with Online Business Directories: Many online directories exist to aid searchers with locating local businesses in certain industries. Register your company with several and be sure you are in the most applicable category that represents what your company provides.

Of course, we’ve only scratched the surface here. Under each item above there are numerous questions to be answered. Many considerations must be taken into account. You will likely need guidance from someone with experience launching new businesses.

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Since I started my entrepreneurial journey, I ran into one issue or another. I became curious as to what challenges the other entrepreneurs are facing. My research and interviews with others culminated in this list. They are not ordered in any particular rank as each one of us will have different priorities based on what our personal strengths are and what phase of the entrepreneurial journal each one of us is at.

Lack of Capital/Cash flow

This came up many times in my research and interviews and is probably the most obvious one. One advice I’d give to budding entrepreneurs is to focus on this item before you start your journey. Do you have adequate capital or access to adequate capital to sustain for at least one year? Just like building a custom house, building a business will take longer and more money than you have put aside. Based on my experience, I can vouch for the adage ‘cash is king’. Enter your text here…

Marketing & Advertising

Marketing / Advertising can take many shades and my own business didn’t need much of advertising but needed a focused marketing effort for the intended audience. My business plan evolved over a period of time and I struggled to identify the ‘ideal’ customer for my business. Just in case you are curious, my ‘customer’ is a senior level executive who can make decisions on their company’s digital transformation efforts. Once I identified my customers, I focused my marketing efforts on conferences, speaking engagements, writing & distributing strategy papers.It seems like many business owners also have issues identifying their ideal customer. The marketing / advertising plan becomes relatively easy (still not very easy) once they know what problems the business owners are solving for their customers that the customer would be willing to pay. Please spend adequate time solving this puzzle first. With so much focus on social media management, I fell into the trap of making that my primary ‘marketing & advertising’ channel initially. I engaged with couple of firms who educated me on managing social media in a smarter way. Depending on your type of business, social media can be a big item on your list but please always take a long term approach to social media management.

Time Management

By far, this has been my biggest challenge. As I started as a solopreneur, I had to initiate and track everything: Company formation, accounting / financing, learning new things, web site, collateral, content creation, marketing etc. Very quickly, I realized that I can’t do everything by myself and started engaging freelancers and outsourcers to do many of these things in parallel.  Even after outsourcing, I needed to spend time program managing many of these tasks and at times doing it again. As an example, I outsourced my web site creation but realized that the actual copy / content on the website didn’t reflect my personality. So I decided to get that portion in house and outsource only the technical aspects of the web site.

You can look at the list of my recommended tools and resources in this area.

Recruiting & Retention Of Employees

One of my businesses had no employees and everything was outsourced. It may sound easy but recruiting the right vendor and making sure that they can stay with me throughout the projects was not easy. Other business owners mentioned that this is by far their most difficult task and especially when economy is doing well. These startups and small businesses were competing with large companies who’d offer more perks and also people who are more comfortable being freelancers.I do not have much to offer in this space other than to say that you should have a clear purpose and passion towards your business that you can communicate to your prospective employees.  Many times, I found people respond very favorably to passion and purpose in addition to salary and perks. I know I swayed at least two by talking about my passion and why I am doing and what I am doing.

Administrative Work & Payroll

This one was relatively easy challenge for me as I decided early on that I’d sign up with Quickbooks for accounting and rely on outsourcers for mundane admin work. Of all the challenges, I believe that this is something that can be solved relatively easily. One word of caution though is keeping an eye on your finances. Please make sure that cash flow is happening relatively smoothly (i..e. Not many pending invoices etc.) and you’ll always have adequate cash to stay alive for next 6 months at least.

I know many people also struggle with Business Plan. I have put together a separate section on Business Plans in this area. 

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