One of the biggest challenges of being self-employed is staying productive. This is especially true when working from home! I suppose the same can be said about anyone working from home regardless if they are self-employed or not. But if you are employed, you have a boss breathing down your (virtual) neck. If you are your own boss, then it can be challenging to keep your productivity up!
This article helps summarise some of the tips and tricks that I use to stay productive during the week. I will also share some of the software that I use to keep on my toes.
Chances are that you already have been doing some of these – but it’s always nice to share!
Set your goals for the week!
I like to start each week by blocking out certain hours a day for my work. In my case, I block out 9am to 3pm everyday for work stuff.
Then I set about crafting my weekly schedule.
For planning my schedule, I use Google Calendar – It’s free, it’s easy to use and it’s colorful!
More on that colorful bit – I find it very useful to color code my tasks/meetings and appointments. You might have a color scheme that works for you but for me it works like this:
(Note that I’m a blogger/accountant/academic so that means throughout the week I’m wearing at least three different hats!)
RED: Accounting/Tax work
YELLOW: Academic/University work
PINK: Blogging work/writing/publishing
BLUE: All meetings with clients/collaborators/leads etc
GREEN: ‘Extra curricular’ work (anything that doesn’t fall under blogging, accounting or Uni work)
PURPLE: ‘Quadrant 2’ (Important but not urgent) Self-improvement and long term growth work.
Having things color coded helps me (because i’m a very visual person) to take a quick look at my calendar and know what I have set out to do for the rest of the week.
Have a to-do list and have a MUST-do list
Like most workaholics, I tend to plan lots and lots of things in my schedule for the week (also it fills my calendar up with such pretty colours!) because at the start of the week it always feels like I have so much time!
Then the week starts and reality kicks in and I realise that actually, I don’t have time to do ALL the things I wanted to do at the start of the week.
This is why I have a to-do list (of things that I want to do) and I maintain a separate, mental MUST-do list.
My MUST-do list contains things that I HAVE to do every week. For me, these things are my must do’s every week:
- Publish three times a week
- Reconcile and update all my client accounts
- File any outstanding tax returns that are ready to be filed
- Lecture and classroom prep
- Share old blog posts
So while I certainly have many, MANY other things I would like to get done during the week – these five things are at the top of my priority list and if I’m running short on time, I will gladly sacrifice other tasks to make way for my MUST-do’s.
Obviously, if you want to start a MUST-do list, you need to keep it small and efficient. If you have 10 or more items on your MUST-do list, then you need to start looking at what tasks can be pruned off your list. This practice also helps you to really focus your energy on things that are crucial to your business.
It keeps me focused on the core work that I do (blogging, accounting and teaching) and as long as I get my MUST-do’s done, I won’t kick myself at the end of the week if I didn’t get everything on the to-do list done.
Plan your workflow
This relates more to my accounting practice than my other hustles. I find it really useful to have my workflow planned out when it comes to doing accounting work for my clients. It means I stay on top of things and my clients receive their valuable financial and tax reports on time.
For my workflow planning I use Click Up – which is a free project management tool (emphasis on the FREE here). It’s really useful and despite being a free user, it helps me do the things I want to do.
I can set up templates for generic tasks for each client and I can assign each client a folder to add additional tasks that relate to specific requests or requirements the client has.
Tasks can then be broken down into various categories depending where the client is in the workflow.
Like, I could go on and on about this – but then I’ll start creeping into very accounting specific practices which I don’t really want to bore you with.
Suffice to say, Click up is a pretty awesome tool which you should check out if you are looking for something to help you organise your workflow. Also, did I mention that it is FREE?
Wherever possible – Automate!
I am a HUGE believer in the power of automation. Part of the reason why I can juggle many different hats is because of automation.
My accounting practice is set up in such a way that I automate many account classifications and my main input is checking that they are coded correctly. At the end of every month, client reports are ready for me to view and I can analyse and advise my clients accordingly based on that data.I have templates for client communications and proposals which are ready to go at the click of a button.
I also use handy (free – because we’ve established that I’m super cheap) CRM software like HubSpot to help me track my client conversations (in both my email and my Facebook page) which let’s me know at which deal stage my leads are in and helps me send out bulk communication to specific lists of individuals.
Bonus: Hubspot also has the ability to send out newsletters, proposals and other communications. This is what my standard client proposal looks like on HubSpot:
Gone are the days of manually typing out each email and proposal. Gone also are the days of manually reconciling bank transactions to a paper journal. The future is here, embrace it or be left behind!
AI grows more and more sophisticated as time goes on. Arguably, there will be a day when AI can do whatever I’m doing right now, which is why I’m always seeking additional ways I can add value to my services in ways that AI can’t (yet). That and I’m also working on developing simple AIs to help businesses with things like asset tracking and costing (if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em)
Have a think about what business processes you can automate. You might be able to automate the proposal process, client communications and newsletters and sending invoice reminders to clients already. The more you automate, the more time you free up for doing value-added stuff for your business!
In Conclusion
As small businesses living in the future, we have at our disposal the assets and tools which only 20 years ago were available to big corporations. The playing field has been levelled immensely and we need to stay on top of technological developments to stay ahead of the curve (a tired cliche, I know, but still relevant!).
Always keep an eye out for ways to better plan, automate and design your workflow so that you too can get the things you need done, DONE!
Stay smart dear reader and always,
Stay positive!