- Pam Weiser
Common Mistakes That Business Owners Should Avoid
The new year is here! Can you believe it? It’s the perfect time to start the year off right, with effective business strategies. As a business owner, it’s easy to continue doing what you know in the same manner, but when you don’t use your time wisely or overwork yourself, you can become burned out and lose motivation and productivity.
Here are some common mistakes made by business owners, and some helpful tips to improve your work habits.
Mistake #1 - Being disorganized.
When you’re disorganized, you are less effective and less efficient.
Deadlines may get missed, you may experience loss of control, and your accuracy may decrease, because you’re stressed. When you can’t make deadlines on time, you lose money.
Instead: Get organized!
Keep a list of everything you want to get done in the next few weeks.
Prioritize your tasks.
Focus on the most urgent and important items. The lower down on the list that the unimportant things fall, the less stress they will create.
Mistake #2 - Trying to do everything yourself (and not doing it very well)
When you do everything yourself, you can’t possibly do all of the tasks to the best of your ability, and you become constrained by time. Maybe you dislike doing the operational and administrative tasks and they’re taking forever to complete. There is a time and place to do things for yourself (e.g. strategies and high level tasks) and when to decide to offload them.
Instead: Delegate!
Decide what tasks you want to hand off.
Delegation frees up mental space and time for you!
Hire someone who has the experience to get the job done.
Initially, you’ll need to do some training, but the outcome should be a partnership with someone you trust and you’ll get your time back to be in front of customers and clients.
Mistake #3 - Poor time management
Poor time management can cause rushing to complete projects, mistakes, and burnout. If you fall behind, you likely need to work until project completion, which can affect your work-life balance, and may ultimately affect your mental health.
Instead: Explore better ways to manage your time!
Use your calendar to block focus time and stick to it.
Work when you have the most energy.
Break up your larger tasks into smaller ones and do the most difficult task first.
Focus on one task to completion at a time.
When you are more productive, you can achieve your goals and the reward comes when you achieve those goals. By adjusting and developing better work habits, you create a positive path toward success.
If you’re struggling with where to start, let’s set up some time to chat.
“The great dividing line between success and failure can be expressed in five words: 'I did not have time.'" -Franklin Field
Be The Wiser