How to Be a Productivity Rockstar for Entrepreneurs
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8swellstrategies Secrets From a Productivity Rockstar Presented By: Virginia Ginsburg President & Chief Consultant Swell Strategies www.swellstrategies.com
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All entrepreneurs must struggle with time constraints, and the global marketplace continues to squeeze every last drop out of us every single day. Whether you are in the startup stages or are running a mature company, I'm guessing that you need help improving your productivity. Here are five secrets from an entrepreneur I spoke with who can be best described as a "Productivity Rockstar." She is juggling an established small business, a brand new startup, and three children under the age of five. Somehow she manages to do all that while also fitting in exercise and sleep. Seems crazy, but it's possible! Plan It Out: The most simple way to accomplish more is to have a plan for doing so. Each week, entrepreneurs should roughly plan out their critical tasks. Then, because "stuff" always comes up, they need to revisit their plan every morning and at the end of each day. If you are juggling multiple companies and/or family obligations, include them in this planning process. Entrepreneurs never just work on one thing at once, and you don't have to do that as long as you are keeping the big picture in mind. Ruthlessly Prioritize: Because something will always be competing for your attention, you must ruthlessly prioritize based on the plan you created. Of course you need to be flexible, but you simply can't be so flexible that critical actions don't get done. It's all to easy to drop a true priority, like developing a sales strategy for a new product, for a "fire" that demands attention right now. You have to ruthlessly evaluate each fire that comes your way, and be careful not to spend all of your time being a firefighter, which results in absolutely nothing getting done. Delegate: Entrepreneurs are naturally wired to want to do everything themselves, but you can't scale yourself, so you have to figure out how to delegate tasks to others. The more you can get great people around you who you trust, the better your chances of success in business and in life. Let It Go: One of the reasons the Disney movie "Frozen" hit it so big is because of its catchy theme song, "Let It Go." All of us can relate to the idea that we are held back by our personalities, gifts and circumstances. And all of us fantasize about letting go of those restrictions to find freedom. An entrepreneur, more than anyone else, must learn to "Let It Go" - let go of perfectionism, fear, failure, money, and everything else that is holding you back from achieving your dreams. Move + Sleep: So many entrepreneurs fill their days to the brim with work. But when the future of the company rests on your shoulders, there is nothing more important than taking care of yourself. Make time to move your body every day and sleep at least 7 hours. Sure, there is a strong fantasy of the entrepreneur getting by on less than 3 hours of sleep per night, but that's really only sustainable for a short period of time, and is typically associated with severe mental illness and/or breakdowns.
Transcript of How to Be a Productivity Rockstar for Entrepreneurs
8swellstrategies
Secrets From a Productivity Rockstar
Presented By:Virginia Ginsburg
President & Chief Consultant Swell Strategies
www.swellstrategies.com
8swellstrategies
“I have too much time on my hands!”
-Said by No Businessperson EVER
Nope, Nobody Says That …
8swellstrategies
What is Productivity, Anyway?
• Productivity is the ability to get stuff done.
• The ability for an entrepreneurs to get stuff done is directly correlated to his success in business.
8swellstrategies
Productivity is Hard for Entrepreneurs
For entrepreneurs, productivity is in direct competition with:
• Customer demands
• Employee needs
• New ideas
• Constant distraction
Sometimes everybody seems to need the same thing at the same time
8swellstrategies
Is Productivity Possible?
Productivity is possible for entrepreneurs, but they have to be aware of its importance and aware of how to achieve productivity in a hectic work environment.
8swellstrategies
Productivity Secrets for Entrepreneurs
1. Plan It Out2. Ruthlessly Prioritize3. Delegate4. Let It Go5. Move + Sleep
8swellstrategies
1. Plan It Out
• Something will always be competing for your attention
• You need to be flexible, but you also need control over your to-do list
• The only way to make sure you are productive is to make a plan
8swellstrategies
1. Plan It Out
First, create an Annual Plan to guide your work through the year.
This should focus on big-picture goals and objectives. It should say WHAT you want to accomplish, but it shouldn’t have a lot of detail about HOW you will accomplish what you need to do.
Annual Plan
Goals for 2015
Product Goals:
• Finish development on fork
• Begin development of knife
• Refine spoon – what do we
need to do to make it better?
Sales Goals:
• Exceed $10K in monthly
wholesale sales
• Exceed $5K in monthly Internet
sales• Maintain 20% profitability
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1. Plan It Out
Next, on the first day of each month, create a Monthly Plan to keep yourself on-track.
This is still big-picture, but it should get a little bit more detailed – what are you going to do this month to promote the goals you set for the year?
Monthly Plan
Goals for January 2015
Product:
• Review progress on fork. This
month the team needs to
settle on the tine structure.
• Post job, find & interview 5
knife designers.
• Think about how to manage
spoon improvement project.
Marketing/Sales
• Hire new sales person to focus
on wholesale.
• Review Internet Marketing
team performance.
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1. Plan It Out
Finally, either at the beginning of the week or at the beginning of each day, create a Daily Plan.
This should specifically lay out what you want to accomplish in the day.
8 Make sure you leave time in your plan to accommodate distraction – just assume something will “come up.”
Daily Plan
Product:
• Meet with Joe re: fork tines
• Write job description for knife
designer
• Talk to Mary about the spoon –
what does she think?
Marketing/Sales
• Review job descriptions for
wholesale sales person
• Review last week’s Internet
stats
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2. Ruthlessly Prioritize
Know this: • Someone will always
“need you for just a minute”
If you stop what you are doing for every “just a minute,” you will never get anything done.
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2. Ruthlessly Prioritize
You need to be flexible as an entrepreneur, but don’t be so flexible that you break your businesses back because you never get stuff done.
Looks Painful!
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2. Ruthlessly Prioritize
Ruthlessly evaluate every interruption, and decide whether it is actually critical, or if it can wait for when you have time allocated for managing day-to-day issues.
8 Set time aside each day for managing employee, customer and other issues that come up.
Not every fire is an emergency
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2. Delegate
Entrepreneurs really want to do everything themselves.
That’s why they started their own business!
I Can Do It!
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2. Delegate
Doing everything yourself works when you first start a company, but it doesn’t work when you want to grow your company, because companies don’t grow without other people being involved.
What should we do?
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2. Delegate
Managing other people can feel more overwhelming than doing it yourself, but delegating work is a skill you have to build.
Just like anything, entrepreneurs need to train their “delegation muscles” to get stronger.
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2. Delegate
How start delegating: • Start with small tasks• Start by delegating only
to people you really trust
• Train the person so they know what is expected
• Provide immediate feedback and correction
• Repeat
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2. Delegate
Advanced Delegation: • Hold weekly team or
individual meetings to discuss tasks and priorities
• Have the team or individual provide a recap of tasks to be completed
• Review the task list at each weekly meeting to monitor progress and update with new tasks
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3. Let It Go
Entrepreneurs tend to want things done well.
This can lead to perfection problems.
8 Perfection is in direct competition with productivity.
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3. Let It Go
Entrepreneurs, more than anyone else, must learn to let go of:
• Perfectionism• Fear• Failure• Money
…and everything else that will hold you back from your dreams.
Don’t Hold Yourself Prisoner
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4. Move + Sleep
Many entrepreneurs fill their days to the brim with work, work, and more work.
But when the future of your company rests on your shoulders, you simply have to take care of yourself.
Your Cup Overfloweth
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4. Move + Sleep
Myth: entrepreneurs work all the time and never sleep.
That is a recipe for: • Severe mental illness• Physical and emotional
breakdowns• Serious health issues
like heart attack, stroke, etc.
8 I don’t think you want any of those things to happen.
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4. Move + Sleep
While you might be extra productive working through lunch or staying late one day, over time, your productivity will decrease dramatically.
8 You cannot focus unless you give your body rest and movement.
Not Glamorous!
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4. Move + Sleep
To be productive, you need to take time to:
• Move your body every day
• Get 7+ hours of sleep
Your Business’ Health is in Direct Relationship to Your Body’s Health
8swellstrategies
Good Luck!Virginia Ginsburg
President & Chief Consultant Swell Strategies
www.swellstrategies.com
