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Manage and Track Your Time for Success

Time can be a small business owner’s best friend, or worst enemy. It all
depends on how you use it. There just never seem to be enough hours in the
day to get things done. As a business operator, time is extremely valuable to
business owners—especially if you bill for time. Wasting time can be
extremely harmful to your bottom line.

To operate efficiently, your business may need systems for managing time
and keeping track of who’s working on what and for how long.

Most successful small business owners are also successful time managers.
And they tend to share certain traits and strategies. One of the most basic
time management devices ever invented is the simple “To-Do” list. Each day,
jot down all of the things that need to get done, all on one sheet of paper.

You can also number or check the ones that are highest priority “must-do”
items. As tasks are completed, cross them off. This can help you focus on
getting them done one at a time, and also gives you a sense of
accomplishment.  

Delegating more work can also help ease your time crunch. Many business
owners accustomed to “doing it all” find this exceedingly difficult. But even if
you are a sole operator, you can pass off tasks to others, via outsourcing, for
example, to free up time for yourself.

Periodically analyze how time is spent at your business—and not just your
time, but everyone’s. Divide the day into small time blocks and record what
you, or others, were doing in each block. Now compare this real use of time to
your goals, expectations and mission priorities. If they do not align, you’ll need
to take action. One step might be to set clearer time-management goals for
yourself and your employees.

Banish procrastination from your place of business. Growing, successful
businesses don’t put things off. Even a simple “no” response to something on
your to-do list can extinguish that item and let you move on.

A variety of technology solutions are also helping small businesses track and
manage time. For example, Workarea.com is an Internet-based time tracking
system that can provide billing information to the second.  The system
includes a time clock, time sheet, expense tracking, address book and the
ability to access it all via cell phone or PDA.

The TimeClock Plus Small Business Edition, www.timeclockplus.com, lets
you turn any PC into a time clock.  Employees can sign in or out with the
keyboard or mouse, and easily allocate hours and costs to specific jobs. And
TimeTiger.com is a computer-based to-do list that shows all the items you
could be working on.

To learn more about time management issues facing your small business,
contact SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business." SCORE is a
nonprofit organization of more than 10,500 volunteer business counselors who
provide free, confidential business counseling and training workshops to small
business owners. Go to www.scoredm.org on the web or call (515) 284-4760
between the hours of 10:00 A.M. and 3:00 P.M. Monday through Friday.