Ten Time Management Hacks for the Recently Self-Employed

Ten Time Management Hacks for the Recently Self-Employed

If you are new at being your own boss, you've probably already discovered that one of the greatest joys of self-employment is also one of the biggest challenges.  Being the boss of your own time is indescribably freeing.  But that freedom comes with a burden of responsibility because your new business's success depends on how effectively you manage your time.

Unfortunately, learning and developing time management skills is not a once-and-done crash course.  Instead, it's a lifelong pursuit of doing things better, unlearning bad habits, and practicing new ones. It's an ongoing effort to ensure you're maximizing your most vital resource – your time. 

Working your way through this top ten list of hacks will get you off to a stellar start in the ever-evolving science of time management for the self-employed.

1.    Track and budget your time

You've heard the must-do tips for managing your money.  Track each dollar you spend so you can see exactly where your money is going.  Budget every dollar you earn, so you'll be putting your money to work for you.  Financial success never happens by accident, but by accurate and intentional tracking, budgeting, planning, and executing your financial plan.

Managing your time starts the exact same way.  First, track every moment of your time as you are getting established in your new business.  Understand what your time-sucks are.  Know where you spend the most time and the least.  Pay attention to how much time you invest on crucial business drivers compared to administrative tasks.  Note the time you are tied up doing things that someone else could do for you or that won't contribute to a return on your investment.

Honest time tracking leads to endless revisions to your time budget, but that's okay.  As you deliberately hone the skill of spending your time on the most important things, you'll get closer and closer to the sweet spot of having a healthy work-life balance.

2.    Effectively manage your email

A 2019 Harvard Business Review article cites a McKinsey analysis reporting that business professionals, on average, spend about 28% of their workday on email.  There are some simple ways to reduce the time spent managing emails, and perhaps the most helpful is to avoid leaving your email open all day.  Instead, designate specific slots in your time budget for checking email.

Don't leave messages in your inbox after you've read them.  Either respond, delete, or move the message the first time you read it.  Reduce the time you spend searching for messages by getting comfortable with search functionality.  Set automated rules for filtering, filing, and deleting messages to decrease the number of less relevant emails you have cluttering up your inbox.

3.    Practice organizational skills

There are wildly conflicting statistics about how much of our time we spend locating lost things.  When you're self-employed, making the most of every moment matters, so any time spent searching for something is too much time.  You reduce your stress levels and save yourself some time by beefing up your organizational skills. 

Most books about decluttering or organizational skills include the famous phrase, "Everything has a home." Simply put, everything in your office, studio, shop, store, warehouse, or barn should have an assigned place to live.  If you know where everything lives, finding it will be a breeze.  And the secret to long-term organizational success is to follow another popular catchphrase from the decluttering world, "Don't put it down, put it away."

The simple practices of assigning everything a home and returning it to its home after use can apply to digital spaces just as effectively as physical spaces.  Using apps like Google Calendar, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Trello can help you get your digital life organized, saving time by reducing how long it takes to find the file or appointment you need.

4.    Multiple monitors

If your new business requires you to spend much of your workday in front of a computer screen, you might be surprised how much more productive you can be by using more than one monitor.  Some studies indicate you can increase productivity by up to 30% by reducing the time spent clicking back and forth between open tabs. 

Going from one screen to two or three screens can simplify data entry.  Side-by-side comparisons, or comparing your finished graphic design image to the original image or the specs you worked from, can save hours each week.  Purchasing an additional monitor might feel like a luxury, but since time is your most valuable commodity, you'll get a solid return on investment.

5.    Social media boundaries

Social media can be one of the most cost-effective ways of marketing your new business.  It can also be a time-wasting activity that hijacks your workweek.  Imagine how easy it is to open up Facebook to post something clever on your business account and find yourself still scrolling through your newsfeed an hour later.

If you utilize the tools within most social platforms or free apps that make posting to multiple channels at the same time quick and easy, you can be strategic about how and when you access social media during the workday.  You can schedule an entire week, or a whole month, of posts at one time, reducing the time spent on creating and adding content.  Include blocks in your time budget to check for comments or messages that need a response, and hold yourself accountable to honoring those blocks of time.

6.    Delegate

Delegating responsibilities could feel like an impossible ask for the newly self-employed.   You might fear giving up control of even the most minor tasks related to your budding business.  Or you might think of plenty of things you'd love to get off your plate but worry that hiring someone to help might be cost-prohibitive.

Whether you're a staff of one or have a team of people on board to help, there will nearly always be something that pulls your time away from the business-driving activities that only you can do.  If you have friends or family members offering to help, take them up on it.  If you can't afford to bring an employee on board, hire a virtual assistant or freelancer to handle some of the administrative tasks on an as-needed basis.

7.    Manage how and when you multitask

Multitasking sometimes gets a bad rap.  Most experts agree we aren't hard-wired to manage too many tasks simultaneously. The implication is that juggling between multiple activities means nothing has your full attention, so you're not giving any of the activities your best effort.

While working for different clients or on multiple business-related tasks, focus on one thing at a time.  Give that one thing your undivided attention and apply yourself to excellent execution.  Imagine your clients, jobs, roles, or tasks are different drawers in your file cabinet.  Open one metaphorical drawer, take out the file you have planned to work on, and devote yourself to only that. You'll improve productivity and do higher-quality work.

There are times when multitasking can be a fantastic time management hack.  For example, if you have periods that seem like wasted time, perhaps you can do something useful to help you feel you gave that purpose. 

For example, if you pick up your kids from school or soccer practice, you might find yourself waiting several minutes a day in your parked car.  That might be an opportune time to quickly scan email from your phone, return phone calls, update your calendar, or work on your to-do list or supply order.

8.    Work at unexpected times

By working when others are not, you'll have several advantages.  First, starting your workday early in the morning means you're likely to get a lot accomplished before most people start their workday, reducing your interruptions from incoming emails or phone calls.  Likewise, working in the evening or over the weekend allows the heavy communication traffic from the traditional nine-to-fivers to quiet, providing a peaceful time to be productive.

To be clear, the tip isn't to work all the time, just at some unique times when you can, to increase the opportunity to get tasks accomplished with minimal distractions while most people aren't on the clock. 

9.    Calendars and schedules

You might be one of the unique individuals capable of keeping dates and events organized in your mind without writing anything down.  For most newly self-employed people, the first few months in business can be a wild ride as you learn to navigate an entirely different way to work.  Just as it's essential to track and budget your time, it's equally imperative you develop a system for keeping up with your schedule.

Whether you utilize something like Google Calendar or an old-school day planner, you need to have an organized way to make sure you don't miss deadlines, appointments, billing cycles, or payments.  Find a system that works for you.  Maybe you are visual and prefer to color code different types of commitments on your calendar.  Or perhaps you need the structure of blocking off chunks of time each day to perform specific tasks.  The technique can be unique to you, but the need to keep it all straight is universal.

One of the best time hacks of all is to utilize an app like Calendly to handle scheduling all your appointments.  This app eliminates all the back and forth emails as you try to set up a sales call, meeting with a client or your accountant.  You simply connect it to your calendar, choose times you're available to schedule a meeting or appointment, and put the link in your email signature. 

10. Walk away

Perhaps the most crucial time hack for the newly self-employed is to take time away from your fledgling business.  It might be scary.  You might feel compelled to work every minute, so you don't miss a single opportunity to service a customer or client.  Whether you're an operation of one or have a few others on your team, you'll need to be proactive in protecting your personal time.

It's not healthy, personally or professionally, to work all the time.  Occasionally, you might have to pull long hours or put in a long week, but don't let that become your new normal.  Take breaks throughout the day.  Take a day off, or a weekend off.  Be intentional about making time for recreational pursuits, gatherings with family and friends, or just some long walks in the fresh air.

Standing up a new business in the marketplace might have the frenetic pace of a sprint, but every runner knows you can't maintain the same speed in a marathon as you do in a 100-yard dash. You're going to need plenty of stamina to stay the course, so don't burn yourself out in the early days.

Being self-employed has so many perks.  Being the boss and controlling your schedule are two of them, but time is finite and fickle.  Establish helpful time management habits right from the beginning that will serve you well for years to come.