Lesson 3: Time Management

Hello and welcome to Lesson 3 of Social Network Marketing! Lesson 3 I am going to discuss Time Management. This is a big issue for most people and I was included in this for a long time. It's one of the HARDEST things to train yourself to take care of because most people are not used to working for themselves and get a bit relaxed when they are their own boss for no one is going to fire them...right? RIGHT. So you have your business picked out, you have a strategy now you have to implement all this. When? How? When: Let's deal with when first. When do you possibly have time to work on a home based business if you have a full time job? Sit down and look at your daily schedule and routine. Actually physically sit down and write down what you do in all 24 hours of the day........go on.........get the paper & pen..........I'll wait. Split the day up into 4 sections: Morning: Afternoon: Evening: Sleep: Fill this in with 7 hours first. No buts, you need at least 7 hours so just do it. If you are getting more, get up earlier, if you are getting too little, fix that we need you healthy. In each section start adding the times by hours, for example if you wake up at 7:00am start Morning section with 7:00am and fill it out like this: 7:00am: Wake up get ready for work. 8:00am: Eat breakfast, out the door by 8:30. 9:00am: Arrive at work. 10:00am:Take a 15 min break. 11:00am: Check emails when the boss isn't looking ;-) Afternoon: 12:00pm Lunch 1:00pm Back to Work 2:00pm etc. etc. etc. You catch my drift. Now the evening time, if your daytime is pretty routine, evening is where things can get crazed. You are now home from work, either you have to cook dinner or you are expected to eat the dinner someone just cooked for you, play with the kids or the dog or cat or whatever, pay bills, talk to relatives or friends on the phone, watch that special tv show on at 9:00pm whoops toilet is clogged oh geez gotta go fix that etc. Really focus and try write down everything you do throughout the day, yes it will be hard for some people everyday is a different thing however, this is showing you where you may or may not have time to fit in working your home based business or internet business. Yes you may have to sacrifice a show or two on tv but I had to also so don't feel bad. As a matter of fact I double up somedays so I CAN watch my favorite TV show now :-) In the beginning try to give your business an honest hour everyday for at least 5 days in a row or at least 5 days total in a 7 day week, whether it's Mon., Tues., Thurs., Sat., & Sun., or maybe you notice there is just NO WAY you can get to your business during the week but you could devote 5 hours a day on the weekend here and there. Oh remember, this doesn't mean sit in front of your computer non stop and don't eat or take a break or don't even THINK about going to the bathroom, I mean give it maybe 30 minutes here, 30 minutes there, maybe try that 3 times a day each day, that's an hour and a half right there. Sometimes when you write out your schedule you see either you just have way too much on your plate and you may have to scale some of that back if possible, or you may see in print that you actually do have some spare time to fit in your new business. Also, when you do figure out when you can work on your business, please write down WHAT you are going to do for your business. In other words, if you had a chance during the day to check your emails great! You saved some time for yourself during "business hours". Perhaps you have to make some phone calls, or market your business, place your advertising ads, etc. etc. Make a schedule of what you are going to do each day so each day you actually get something done! Self discipline is a very hard thing to accomplish for some people but with a little effort, and a little organization you will be so much more productive and not feel like you are wasting your time when you actually have some to spare! Now go get organized!!! See you in Lesson 4 ;-)