If I had a pound for every time I hear this, I’d have a very full piggy bank.
Time seems to be the single biggest thing we women business owners stress about – or rather, a lack of it.
For some of us, it’s down to having kids. School runs, after-school clubs, weekend activities, sick days, school holidays, not to mention the endless WhatsApp group chats… no wonder the time seems to flow through our fingers like water.
For some of us, building a business is something we’re doing around holding down a job. The dream is to ditch that job and earn enough from our business – but in the meantime, every spare minute is precious. That’s exactly why tools like Canva, ChatGPT, and scheduling apps like Later are absolute game-changers – they let you batch your marketing so you’re not starting from scratch every day.
Time is a precious, precious resource. So how can we make the most of it?
Get Clear On What Success Looks Like
If you don’t know what success looks like, how will you know if you’re heading in the right direction?
One of the best ways to waste time is to paddle around in circles, not knowing where you’re headed. Get clear on what you want to achieve, by when, how much money, how many customers. What does your ideal work life look like?
Having clear goals and targets is a great way to unlock precious time and free up energy for what actually matters.
Celebrate Little Victories
Instead of thinking “I must get my website done” or “I must write all these blogs”, give yourself a break! You’re already doing a great Superwoman impression.
Think about what you CAN achieve in your slivers of time. Can you plan some social media posts? Draft out a flyer? Scope out a newsletter?
Little steps. Baby steps. Add them together and big things get done. Break things down into tiny chunks you can do in 10 minutes and tick them off your list.
Be Realistic And Be Kind To Yourself
Stop comparing yourself to others. Run your own race, at your own pace.
All the time you’re comparing yourself to others or feeling so overwhelmed you’re paralysed into inaction, you’re not getting anything done. All the time you’re beating yourself up for not achieving more, quicker – you’re not getting anything done.
You’re an entrepreneur. You’re doing the best you can to build your business around a busy life. You’re not going to be as fast as others, but they aren’t living your life.
Slow and steady wins the race every time. Ten minutes a day spent on your business is better than a thousand minutes wasted on pointless worrying.
Stop telling yourself you don’t have time – you do. You have 10 minutes or 30 minutes a day. Your job is to make every one of those minutes count.