Time Management
Time management is an area of business that can always find improvement. And it is something many self employed business owners struggle with. At this point, I feel, it is important to identify that any work is good progress towards your end goal. There will always be things that you wish you had time to do or wish that you had done instead. Small business owners are always struggling with feelings of guilt that they are not doing enough.
I thought I would bring a few of my time management techniques in order to show that we all struggle. The key is finding a time management practice that works for you and your business. Have a read of my blog post on my timesavers for some great time saving ideas https://www.claireyatfairycrafters.com/timesavers-my-must-haves/
Time Management Techniques
My time management technique is a mixture of tried and tested time management techniques. I found that one technique by itself did not fit my business. Therefore I combined a few to find a solution that worked for me.
Time blocking
Many people swear by time blocking where a certain segment of time is put aside for a particular task. As a homemade business owner who reacts to orders I found that I’ve acquired a more reactive schedule.
At times an order can come in through the day that will require me to work on it straight away. With a time blocking method, this doesn’t give me the wiggle room to accommodate this unexpected task.
The Pomodoro Method
Another tried and tested method is to work continuously on a single item on your to do list for 25 minutes followed by a five minute break. This routine is repeated throughout the day. This is a fantastic method for tackling a larger task in smaller bite sized pieces. For information on this time management technique see Gabby’s post https://letsgabb.com/pomodoro-technique/
The main pitfall I found with this method was a number of my tasks took perhaps 30 to 40 minutes to complete. Therefore when my timer went off after 25 minutes, I would find I had almost completed the task and did not feel like stopping for my five minute break.
I have combined a number of methods together in order to create my own work schedule.
Schedule
There are certain tasks that I have to do every week, these tasks are scheduled. For example every Tuesday morning I do all my social media scheduling for the week. I do this for both the craft shop and my own craft business and schedule into the future. I can then forget about it and it will automatically schedule for the rest of the week.
By having the same schedule every week when I start work I know exactly what I need to get on with and so I am more productive as I can start work straight away. In a way this is very similar to time blocking however this is the only part of my time that is specifically designated to a particular task.
Batching
If I have several orders that require the same process I will batch them and try to complete them together. For example if I have a several items that need painting. I will paint all the items at the same time and will attempt to paint some stock items at the same time as well.
Similarly I will try and get all tasks on the sewing machine completed at the same time. This is more productive as my time is not then split and a task collectively done takes less time than repeating the process individually.
Multi Tasking
This is frowned upon more and more nowadays, however it works for me. It is believed that by multitasking you will be less productive as you are not giving one task your full attention. However multi tasking in certain instances can be very helpful. I usually multi task in what I consider wasted time.
For example using Otter www.otter.ai I managed to write this blog post while tidying the children’s bedroom as I just spoke and it was transcribed for me. This is also regularly undertaken in the time it takes me to drive to or from work. This time would otherwise not be productive. Another example is checking email on my phone while waiting to collect the children from school.
At the end of the day you need to find a time management system that works for you and your business. This will be different for everyone, although I would keep researching new methods. Particularly methods for automating are constantly evolving and could potentially save you a large amount of time.
For more tips on keeping yourself and business productive have a read of my blog post on avoiding burnout https://www.claireyatfairycrafters.com/how-to-avoid-burnout-in-business/
Let me know if there are any methods that work well for you, or what you struggle to find the time to do.
