My client said she lacked the time to work on her business.

This is something many business owners struggle with, so I suggest we do a time study (or audit) to see what is taking up her time throughout the day.

After about a week we had our next session and she said, “Tim, I’m really embarrassed by this, but I found that I spend about 7 hours of my week on my phone.”

She then explained that it usually starts productive by checking her emails, but then she drifts off to check other things, sending texts or scrolling through social media.

If this sounds like you, there’s no need to be embarrassed by this. Many business owners fall into the same habits that often go unnoticed because they are considered productive tasks.

But there are many of these deceitful tasks that take away valuable time from business owners. I explain them more in this video.

Now let’s talk about solutions.

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3 Ways to Overcome the Biggest Time Wasters for Business Owners

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Obsessive Phone Checking

Solution: Do Not Disturb

If you find that you’re excessively checking your phone or that your cell is ringing off the hook with insignificant conversations, use the Do Not Disturb setting on your phone. This will filter out calls, texts, and notifications that keep your eyes glancing at your mobile screen. There are some phones that have different Do Not Disturb settings that allow you to customize what notifications are filtered in.

If you can’t do it for the entire workday, schedule times throughout the day that you need to be head down at work and can’t be distracted. During those times, turn on the setting and turn it off when you are finished.

Scheduling Meetings

Solution: Go Digital

I do a lot of meetings, meet and greets, and coaching sessions. Instead of communicating back and forth through email and playing phone tag, I find it easier to just send them a link to my calendar and have them choose a time that works best for me. Calendly is a great tool for this.

Or, you could hire a virtual assistant who can do this scheduling for you. If you have more questions about this I suggest you reach out to me directly.

Micromanaging Employees

Solution: Systemize the Business

How much time do you spend checking every single thing your employees do, listening to their phone calls, and monitoring their performance? Of course, you want your employees to adhere to the standard you’ve set for the business, but we don’t hire employees to babysit them. We hire them to take tasks off of our plates.

So there are some key systems you should have in place to ensure you spend less time working in the business and more time working ON the business.

1. Manuals - Document everything that needs to be completed and have step-by-step instructions on how it should be completed. This will ensure it is done correctly every time.
2. Organizational chart - Having a chain of commands in your business ensures that you are only brought in when no one else can help. Ideally, the team reports to the managers and the managers report to you any issues that are happening in the business.  With the manuals and systems you’ve implemented, they should be able to come to a solution on their own.

I would start with these two systems, but truthfully there are a lot more depending on your industry and nature of business. If you want to stop wasting time in your business, let’s chat. Schedule a complimentary coaching session and we can take a deep dive into your business.

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