Entrepreneur Productivity Means Business Success
April 16, 2010 by linda walker
Filed under Delegation, Entrepreneurship, Productivity
Entrepreneurs often tell me they are overwhelmed, but with everything you have on your plate, your incredibly active brain is juggling all your To Do’s along with hundreds of great ideas. No wonder it’s difficult to maintain focus!
When you’re unfocused, at the end of the day, you’ve started a dozen projects you’ll never complete and you’ve done none of the things critical to making progress in your business. In today’s competitive environment, it’s more than frustrating to chase your tail; you need to be focused and productive.
Most entrepreneurs start their business as a solopreneur. You create the vision for the business, formulate the marketing plan, execute it, sell, deliver products and services, execute the marketing plan and, in your spare time, network! Oh, and let’s not forget the paper chase: preparing proposals, contracts and invoices as well as chasing payments and making payments! Yes, there’s more, but I’m tired just listing them!
Of course, you also have personal and home responsibilities. Staying healthy and well rested is essential. And keeping the people in your life, your spouse, your children, happy provides a support system (or at least prevents a divorce from taking time and focus away from your business!)
No wonder you’re overwhelmed! Is it possible to run a business and your life without letting anything slip? Yes. How?
You adopt strong entrepreneur productivity practices. Productivity is not only about work performance. True productivity lets you honor all the commitments you make to others, to yourself, and to all the things that support you: your health, work-life balance and financial health. You just need to master self-management.
Neglect your self-management and you’ll soon find yourself overwhelmed, possibly in divorce court and procrastinating on your invoicing or sales calls. But you won’t have to worry about that for long… once your business and marriage fail, you can console yourself that at least you’re not dead. Unless, of course, you are.
Overwhelmed? Frustrated by your inability to focus? Improve your productivity.
Numerous requests have prompted me to launch an “Entrepreneur Exclusive” version of The Maximum Productivity Makeover for Creative Geniuses. To learn more, complete the Request for Complimentary Session or call 514-807-5008.
I guess the main reason that an entrepreneur is “overwhelmed” is that he/she starts the business, as you aptly put it, as a”solopreneur”. What is really needed at the start is setting real-time goals and time management. As the business grows, you need to delegate certain tasks to others (hire somebody) so that your family and social obligations will not be sacrificed. Insisting on “doing-it-yourself” at this point would be “suicide”. Either your business closes down or your family will be alienated.
You can delegate as early as when you first start up, delegating to systems instead of to someone. But realizing what you do best, where your skills are best used, and find ways to systematize the rest, allows you to be more productive. There’s more but that’s why there’s a whole program I’ve dedicated to just that. Thanks for your comment.