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Time management tips for small business owners

Make the most of your time and relieve stress with our expert time management tips.

February 11, 2021
Business Tips

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CEO, manager, HR, receptionist… Having your own business often means wearing many hats. When there aren’t enough hours in the day, try these time management tips to make multitasking easier.

Plan your week ahead

Planning your week is the key to good time management – whether you’re a one-person business working from home , or a growing start-up. Creating a schedule for your week allows you to plan ahead and structure your time so that you can prioritize and re-prioritize tasks – all while cutting down on your stress levels, to boot.

Small business time management can be tricky, so start with the essentials. Deadlines and urgent jobs should define how you organize tasks across your week. For example, if you’ve got a big deliverable on Thursday, make the days leading up to it production days, and leave non-urgent but important tasks like admin and meetings for Friday. Be ready to reorganize your schedule if priorities suddenly change, too. Think of it as a ‘Plan A’ or a work in progress rather than something set in stone.

1. Group tasks by project or type

One of the most effective time management strategies when it comes to planning your week is to group tasks. It can be helpful to arrange similar or related activities together on a single day, so that you’re not hopping from one thing to another, and can focus on the specific goals you need to achieve.

For example, you might dedicate a whole day to working on marketing tasks like social media and writing your newsletter, as the tasks will relate to each other and you can apply your creative flow to several things at once. Keep in mind this time management approach works for methodical jobs too. You might spend an afternoon doing invoices, which will be quicker in a batch because the same steps are repeated and you’ll get faster as you go along.

2. Create a day-by-day schedule

A proper structure is the backbone of a planned week, and there are lots of ready-made templates available online that you can download and fill in to itemize your days. These can work for individuals or whole teams. A good template should give equal weight to each day, and have enough space to write a few words about each task or target – not too much though, or it just becomes cluttered.

If you’re a one-person business and you like to plan on paper, you could start getting organized with a Notebook to keep track of your week and make sure your schedule is always at hand.

3. Plan for distraction

It’s not realistic to plan productivity and focus for every hour of every day, so don’t set your business’ time management strategy up to fail. The best time management systems are all about balance! Instead, expect to be distracted, disrupted and confronted by unexpected challenges and opportunities. When you’re planning for the week ahead, add ‘interruption time’ – a proportion of the day when you don’t expect to spend every moment getting work done.

So although your office hours might be 9 til 5 with an hour for lunch, you can realistically deduct an hour from the total. Don’t think of that as wasted time, however – what feels like a frustrating delay will help you refresh your mind and might even be the moment inspiration strikes.

4. Dive into deep work

The idea of deep work is that you’re consciously focusing on your task and training your attention away from distractions. To achieve that, you need to be able to carve out time when you’ll be free of meetings and other commitments, able to focus fully on one task.

Put time for deep work into your weekly schedule, and support your intentions by blocking this time off from distractions and interruptions. A ‘do not disturb’ sign and an email auto-reply are a good start to apply this time management strategy .

Organize your day’s work

What does a typical workday look like for small business owners? A common answer is that there is no typical day – various and exciting activities are a hallmark of life as an entrepreneur. That doesn’t mean you can’t organize your time, however. A daily plan is valuable even if it changes, as it can help you keep track of priorities, deadlines and your progress on longer-term goals. As with your weekly approach, the trick is to have a fluid schedule that can flex and adapt to new things, rather than a rigid timetable.

Here are a few more time management tips to help you plan how to spend your day.

1. Keep priorities in check with a to-do list

A business time management classic, the to-do is a list of the things you want or need to get done within your day, organized according to priority. The most urgent and important things should be at the top, and less important or postponable things towards the bottom. But keep in mind, a long to-do list will just cause you unnecessary stress. Some experts recommend keeping a daily to-do list down to 6 items, and others advise as few as 3.

To keep track of what you accomplish during the day, use a checklist and tick off what you’ve completed as you go along. You can even make your very own tailor-made to-do list in your MOO Notebook .

2. Target your efforts with time-blocking

Time blocking is a time management technique that many small business owners find useful. It’s the practice of chunking out your work into dedicated sections of time – the opposite of multitasking, where attention is spread inefficiently across multiple activities at once. The idea is that by focusing on one thing at a time, you can dedicate attention and energy to each task and get it done more quickly and to a higher standard. A great way to approach work if you’re wondering how to manage time as a business owner.

To time-block your day, you need to schedule the hours you have available and assign them to items in your to-do list. For effective time management , you won’t necessarily do the most important thing on the list first thing in the morning. Instead, you should assign your top task to the part of the day when you know you’ll be most productive. If you’re a morning person, that could be first thing. If you’re a night-owl, late afternoon might be when you really hit your stride.

If you tend to feel sleepy after lunch – most of us do –, spend that time doing necessary but low-effort things like paperwork or timesheets.

3. Separate daily and weekly planning

If you’re wondering how to manage time in business, separate daily from weekly objectives. This is a good habit to start effective time management . It’s important to know the difference between a daily and weekly schedule, as each one is valuable to your business in its own way. Your daily schedule will include ‘business as usual’ goals like answering emails and phone calls, attending daily team stand-ups and other routine tasks. They take up time during your day and need to be accounted for, but you don’t need to put them on a weekly planner.

Your weekly schedule gives you a wider view of your work life and allows you to manage tasks across the week. What happens in your daily schedule can impact the weekly one – for example if you need to roll a task over from one day to another because it took longer than planned to achieve.

3 productivity tips for good time management

We’ve all had those days where we look up at 4pm and say ‘where did the time go? I’ve got deadlines approaching!’ To keep those moments to a minimum, here are some ways to establish good time management .

1. Recognize your distractors

We’re all prone to getting side-tracked from our goals, and thanks to the digital distractions of modern life, staying focused is more challenging than ever. Notice the things that claim your attention most often. It could be having too many interesting browser tabs open on your screen, so that you drift off-task and start reading a blog or news story. Or it may be that your phone is taking your mind off work by flashing or vibrating each time you get a message in a group chat.

Once you’ve spotted the things that are repeatedly stealing your attention, you can take steps to eliminate them until you accomplish your task. For effective time management, throw your phone in a drawer, close every tab except the one you need for your work task, or put on headphones if you’re tempted to spend time chatting. Over time, good habits like these will become automatic.

2. Be wary of trying to do too much at once

It’s one of the most important time management tips for business owners to avoid burnout. If the things cutting your productivity down are less to do with losing focus and more to do with interruption, you might be spreading yourself too thin. It’s common for people heading up growing businesses to have a lot of competing demands on their time. Being busy is good, but it’s important to be aware that you could reach a point where you’re tiring yourself out but not achieving the results to justify it.

Remind yourself to notice the difference between being stressed and busy and being highly productive. A good time management system should help you relieve stress and make things more…manageable. Look at what you achieved as well as how hard you’ve worked, and make sure you’re getting the positive outcomes you deserve for your effort. Managing a small business can be incredibly stressful. Resolving to work smarter rather than harder can also make you feel more in control and is better for your mental health.

3. Take time to recharge

On a similar note, it’s true that productivity requires rest as well as hard work. It’s an crucial part of time management for business owners as it’s key to protect your mental health. If your schedule involves a few hours work and several periods of rest, you’re in company with some of the greatest achievers in history. Charles Darwin, for example, required an afternoon nap and took leisurely walks outdoors during a work day. It proved an effective time management technique !

Manage your time spent in front of a screen – you should be taking a screen break of five or ten minutes every hour , according to the UK Government’s Health and Safety Executive. Little and often is the best way to take breaks, as this will help you feel more refreshed. Some periods of deliberate rest during your work schedule will give you the time and space to reflect on your goals, develop ideas and allow your brain to make new connections between things you’ve learned or observed. Don’t be afraid to take your foot off the gas – you could accomplish great things on a day when you thought you were chilling out doing nothing.

How to boost your efficiency

What is efficiency.

Isn’t efficiency the same thing as productivity? In fact, they’re very different, and can even work against each other at times. To put it simply:

Productivity is about the volume of work you produce, and efficiency is about the quality of that work. So if your company makes cookies, your productivity is the number of items you can bake in a day.
Efficiency is how delicious they are when your customer bites into them, how much energy it took to bake them, or how much you had to spend on ingredients to get great results.

It probably goes without saying that productivity and efficiency are both essential for any business, and they can have a strong impact on one another. The idea of productive efficiency is used in some businesses, meaning that the two things are measured at once. In these scenarios the managers are measuring the total number of products completed in a given time, and deducting inefficient products from that total. So if some products fall below a certain quality threshold, they’re not counted.

This business time management tip is easiest to understand in a manufacturing situation, where a business has physical products that can pass or fail. But it can apply on a small scale too, including companies that provide services rather than products. The key to measuring efficiency this way is to define a quality standard that you want to stick to, whether it’s customer satisfaction, timely delivery or reviews and ratings. If your units of work (be it projects, products or something else) don’t meet the standard, they’re ignored.

How can I be more efficient?

Improving efficiency is a strategic job that often means slowing down and taking a step back from your work. If you’re interested in making efficiency your superpower, start looking at the way you’re doing things and seeing where you can make improvements to your methods, habits and behaviours to get better results.

One example that applies to entrepreneurs in all walks of life is sleep. Getting a solid 8 or 9 hours sleep every night can improve your concentration, motivation, mood and ability to learn . If you’re a one-person business, prioritizing sleep is a way of optimizing your most valuable resource – yourself. You can make your brain more efficient by giving it enough sleep, so that the quality of the work you do is high, it takes fewer hours, and you have more time for your passion projects .

From a business time management perspective, your goals will be to achieve the best quality work you can within your deadlines – and with any luck, upping your productivity at the same time. Here are some ways you can boost efficiency in a small business:

1. Avoid multitasking

It might feel necessary, but resist the urge to hop between multiple activities during the working day as much as possible. It takes time to refocus on a task when you switch to and from it, so try to chunk work into organized blocks as much as you can. Time-blocking wins again!

2. Optimize your environment

Make sure your workspace is geared for focus by minimizing distractions, noise and stress. Have your workstation – or workstations – set up for comfortable, sustainable posture and freedom of movement. Organize people, tools and materials physically in your workspace so that it’s easy to get tasks done without rearranging everything and everyone. It’s all about saving time and effort.

3. Delegate tasks to others

If you manage a team, use them wisely. Chances are, you don’t actually need to be in every single meeting! Be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses as well as theirs, so you can assign tasks that take up too much of your time to someone who can do them faster. This applies to specialism and experience too. If you have a statistics whiz on your team, they’re the person who should be tackling your website analytics, not the business owner whose time is better spent on leadership strategy or creative development. Time management in business requires assigning the right people to the right jobs. If you work alone, consider hiring a freelancer or partnering with someone who could help lighten your workload and bring new skills to the table.

4. Use technology to automate

Automating routine tasks will do wonders for your work life. Using chatbots to answer customer service queries, or employing software to handle bookings and sales, is a great time-saver for busy humans.

Hopefully our time management tips will help you to make the most of your precious work hours. Ready to make your weekly schedule? Treat yourself to a beautiful new Notebook for all your creative projects and daily to-dos.

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8 Tips to Manage Your Time as a Small Business Owner

A small business owner's time is precious. Here's how to make the most of it.

When running a small business, you’re at the center of everything. You juggle meeting client deadlines, handling finances, and leading your team. It might often seem like there’s no end to your to-do list.

Let’s face it, time is priceless and managing it well is a crucial skill for you, as a small business owner. There’s no perfect formula for mastering time management but you can always develop habits that align with your schedule and work rhythm.

Here are eight practical time-management strategies that will empower you to ramp up productivity , make wiser choices, and shift your focus to the expansion and success of your business.

How to best manage your time

If you feel like there are never enough hours in the day, these tips can help you better manage your time.

1. Get organized.

An organized workspace and a clear work plan can vastly improve your productivity. If either is chaotic , it’s easy to get overwhelmed and have your workflow disrupted. Take these simple steps to streamline efficiency:

Organize your workspace. This involves decluttering and designating places for important items. Discard needless items or effectively store them away. Convert your physical files to digital versions to create more room for yourself. Organize these digital files based on the client or the project, depending on what works for your business.
Organize your work. O rganize your work process by setting clear, achievable goals . Creating a list of about five tasks you want to target within the week is a good start. Elaborate on each task, specifying its importance, and then focus on executing them one after the other. This strategy ensures you make substantial progress towards your broader plans.
Know when you are most productive. Recognizing your productive periods can contribute to better work efficiency. Note the times when you’re more active and productive . I could be after a morning exercise or post-lunch. A digital app , like Toggl , could be beneficial in understanding your productivity patterns by keeping track of the time spent on each task. Once you’ve identified your peak productivity period, you can devote that time to more challenging, higher-priority tasks, leaving simpler ones for other times.

By following these simple suggestions, you can overcome the clutter – both tangible and intangible – that may be hindering your effectiveness, and direct your effort more productively towards achieving your business goals.

2. Embrace apps.

If you have a smartphone, turn it into your ultimate small business tool with apps designed to help you take charge of your schedule and workflow.

Here are some excellent time- and task-management apps:

Wunderlist: If traditional paper to-do lists aren’t cutting it, the Wunderlist app allows you to prioritize tasks, set reminders and share your to-do list with others. It’s accessible from smartphones, laptops and Apple Watches, so you can stay on top of your tasks from any location.
Harvest: If you’re a small business owner who charges clients by the hour, an app like Harvest can easily keep track of the time you spend on each task, making invoicing easy. Even if you don’t charge by time spent, Harvest lets you track how much time every project takes, making you more aware of how long a project truly takes to complete.
Trello: When it comes to managing overall workflow, Trello is an excellent resource. You can create boards for each project and set up step-by-step pipelines to send them through, allowing you to track tasks from beginning to completion. It’s also a great tool for collaboration and tracking your remote staff’s productivity and efficiency.

3. Learn when to delegate.

When you’re starting out, it’s natural to take on anything and everything to do with your business. You’re likely accustomed to learning on the job and have picked up marketing skills, accounting skills and other abilities required to run your organization.

However, as your time becomes more precious, delegating becomes crucial. Learn to outsource some tasks or assign projects to employees, giving yourself the freedom to take growth opportunities.

First, decide what tasks you’d like to offload. Pinpoint tasks you typically procrastinate on to determine who could better handle the job. If you don’t have a staff ready to pitch in, find independent contractors or freelancers specializing in that area who can work on an as-needed basis.

Reach out to your professional network and get referrals to find trustworthy people who can do the job. A delegated task is only successful if it gets done properly, so hire carefully and enforce deadlines.

4. Keep track of your finances.

Handling finances can take a great deal of time and cause massive stress. Implementing an accounting system early on will help you stay organized, which will save you time later.

If you don’t already have accounting software in place, consider one of the best accounting solutions to get you on the right accounting and bookkeeping path.

These are a few to consider:

MineralTree lets you track the accounts payable process from invoice approval to final payment.
QuickBooks , which is compatible with MineralTree, offers myriad functions to simplify your accounting. Read our in-depth QuickBooks review to learn more.
Xero is a timesaving, cloud-based tool that graphs your payment schedule and debts, so you can better manage your cash flow and make payments on time. Find out more in our full Xero review .

5. Avoid unnecessary distractions.

If you’re a solopreneur, it’s up to you to keep yourself motivated and stay focused on your work. There’s no one else to make sure you’re working hard or keeping on top of things. Here are some tips to help you limit distractions and remain productive:

Keep your phone on silent.
Consider using tools like the SelfControl app, which restricts access to websites you tend to waste time on.
Pay attention to your emotional state and general well-being during working hours. Be present and aware of your work.
Maintain a healthy work-life balance by keeping business discussions separate from family time. Planning your day allows you to manage your time effectively, helping you to make the most of each hour.

6. Use the 80/20 rule.

The 80/20 rule states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your effort – and vice versa. Identify the 20% of your tasks that result in the most “bang for the buck” and concentrate on them. Delegate or spend less time on the rest.

For instance, if you spend a large chunk of your time on the phone, ask people to email you rather than call.

Some customers or employees are high maintenance, taking up more than their share of time with complaints or drama. Consider letting these time-wasters go.

7. Avoid multitasking.

While multitasking may seem like a great way to get everything done, it’s ineffective because the brain takes a little while to refocus attention, making you less productive and more error-prone.

Concentrate on one thing at a time, and organize your day that way. For example, you could focus on answering emails first thing in the morning to get that out of the way, and select another block of time to return phone calls. Once finished with a task on your list, move on to the next one.

8. Schedule downtime – really!

Working non-stop can tire you out, both mentally and physically. It can dim your creativity and reduce your knack for problem-solving. You’ll often hear business owners sharing how their best ideas were sparked when they were taking a relaxing stroll, enjoying a refreshing shower or just chilling out.

Giving yourself some downtime helps your unseen mind sift through various data and cook up innovative solutions. This doesn’t just mean going on a break, though that’s a great start. Make some time for family and friends, dive into a hobby, step out and get moving, or explore a fun book. It’s about balancing work with relaxation. Harness these moments of peace to help your business shine.

Why time management is critical for entrepreneurs

Here are several key reasons why time management is crucial when you’re running a business:

You should think of time as a limited resource. There are only so many hours in a day to get things done. Don’t you want to make the most of them?
It increases competitiveness. This is especially important if you are in a highly competitive industry. Being first to market or the first to come out with a new feature can be the difference between success and failure.
It could boost your bottom line. Whether you pay your employees hourly or with a fixed salary, the more productive they are, the more value you gain. If you’re disorganized, you can’t efficiently assign tasks and monitor employee productivity, so you may end up spending more money than necessary.
You make better decisions. When you prioritize critical tasks, you have more options and can make a bigger impact on your operations. Conversely, when vital tasks get buried and neglected, you may miss out on opportunities and need to hustle and pay a premium to get stuff done.
You’re better able to focus on growth. When your day-to-day operations are a smoothly running machine, you’re free to consider expansion opportunities.
You could get more clients. Business efficiency creates higher-quality work and a better customer experience. Happy customers are loyal and can boost your business with positive reviews and referrals.
It reduces stress. Being organized, taking things off your to-do list, and getting things done efficiently is enormously satisfying and eliminates some of the stress inherent in being a business owner. Stress lowers productivity , so stress reduction is crucial for business operations and your physical and mental health. With lower stress levels, you’ll be less likely to experience burnout.

Meredith Wood contributed to the writing and reporting of this article.

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