The 5 W's of ReConnection: #5 - WHEN
I'm a huge fan of weekly schedules. It is crucial to schedule in the most important meetings and tasks in your business to ensure the right things are getting done. But how do we actually create a weekly schedule that works for us?
Start by asking yourself these questions:
> When are we going to build our network?
> When are we going to do social media marketing?
>When are we going to do our business development?
> When are we going to review our goals?
> When are we going to reach out to our champions?
Business development is one of the most important things in our business, but it is often the first to go when we get busy with all of our client work. But if we don't do business development, all that client work we love is eventually going to go away. We have to be bringing in business in order to have the opportunity to serve people and to do the work that we love.
I will often have my clients actually block out a specific time each week in their calendar for business development. That is a standing appointment they have with themselves to actually do networking, social media, goal setting, and connecting with champions. That way it is an unmovable appointment that doesn't get booked over by something else. Because like I said, that's the first to go when we get busy, and it's the easiest thing to put off because it's always a little bit overwhelming. It never feels super fun. It's too easy to say 'I'll do that next week.'
It's really important to schedule those crucial business development pieces into our week. There's no one size fits all. You may try Monday mornings for reviewing goals and realize that it's a terrible time because that's when you're putting out fires. You may decide Friday afternoons is a perfect time to do some social media marketing. (That's when I create all my content. It's quiet. Nobody's looking for me.) I block out on my calendar Friday afternoons for content development, and then I don't have to think about it for the rest of the week.
Putting these things into your calendar is step one. Step two is looking to see that you aren’t doing too many things that you could be delegating. Are there things on your list that shouldn't be on your list?
If you get to the end of each week and realize that you didn't have time to build your business or to reach out to your champions, it is time to re-assess your time. I encourage people to look at all the things on their list and see what they can eliminate, automate or delegate.
ELIMINATE - Look at, at all the things on your list and figure out what doesn't even ever have to be done. For example, you know, creating that new cover page for your next presentation to look prettier than the last one might sound fun, but is it a necessary way to spend your time? Or cleaning up the top of your desk, or filing those papers you haven't looked at in five years. Let’s figure out what NEVER needs to be done and eliminate it.
AUTOMATE - There are a lot of apps out there that can organize your business. By looking at all the different things that you can automate in your business, you can start saving a lot of time that is generally wasted. For example, auto filing emails. I subscribe to many email newsletter lists that I appreciate getting, but I don't need them cluttering up my day and distracting me from the tasks that need me. I have them automatically filed into a morning reading file in my email. So I can just look at them when I'm having my coffee in the morning.
DELEGATE - I am a huge fan of delegation. Years ago, when I was in my sales career, one of my colleagues asked me why I didn’t have an assistant. And I always thought I needed more work for them to do before it would make sense to get an assistant. But I’ve realized that's not the case. You can get an assistant or a virtual assistant for one or two hours a week that can take a lot of tasks off your plate. For example, copywriting, thank you notes, checking your email, booking appointments, general things that take time and add up that somebody else would be happy to do and you can focus on the most important tasks on your list. Things like serving clients, reaching out to new prospects, and nurturing your champions. So look at the things you can delegate and figure out ways to do that. It doesn't have to be a full-time gig.
I feel so passionately about the process of Eliminating, Automating + Delegating in business that I actually wrote an ebook about it. Click HERE to grab your copy and find out how to elevate your business in easier ways than you might think.
