If you have any questions or comments, please post them here, and I will answer them for you.

Small business owners are in constant battle for their time. Everybody wants a piece of you. Time management and focus are two of the most important skills that a small business owner can learn to help them be successful.

Time is the one thing that once it’s been spent, there is no getting it back…

Here is an excerpt from and Excellent Article by E-Myth Worldwide on the topic of Time Management.

5 Time Bandit Busting Tips

1.  1.Prioritize and Stay Focused Evaluate your daily tasks and prioritize. If nothing else gets done today, what are the one or two items that absolutely must be done? The most successful CEOs of Fortune 500 companies only focus on one or two priorities for a given day.

2.  2.Delegate as much as you can. Let go of the idea that nobody can do what you do the way that you do it! With the right systems in place, you can properly delegate the tactical work that keeps you from working on your business. There is critical distinction however, between delegating and abdicating, and you can read more about that here.

3.  3.Set and meet deadlines for yourself and your employees. Set reasonable deadlines for all jobs and stick to them. Hold yourself accountable just as you would an employee. It’s true; work expands to fill the available time so set expectations.

4.  4.Don’t postpone unpleasant tasks. Those “bitter pills” that you put off can come back to haunt you in so many ways. A situation may become more acute with time, not to mention the fact that it will be sitting in the back of your mind (or somebody else’s mind) becoming a distraction. It’s best to take care of important matters that are unpleasant immediately. Resolution is so much better than wasting precious time wondering “what if…”

5.  5.Learn to say “No.” Beware of over commitment! You are the only one who can truly protect your time. Learn the art of saying “no” politely. If this seems daunting, try this: when confronted with an opportunity, don’t commit immediately. Take a moment to listen to your intuition and refer to your schedule; you may find that declining is the reasonable answer. People know you’re busy, it’s okay to set boundaries.

Read the Full Post Here:

http://www.e-myth.com/cs/user/print/post/5-ways-to-eliminate-time-bandits

Posted via email from Vi Wickam’s posterous

http://holykaw.alltop.com/how-drain-brains-into-america

http://www.youtube.com/v/PQ7PrqhRM5U

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This top 10 list is a good start for getting out of the day-to-day grind of your business, and start thinking about it strategically. http://www.e-myth.com/cs/user/print/post/top-10-holiday-gifts-for-a-technician

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https://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/how-to-promote-your-business-on-flickr-rohit-bhargava

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There is no such thing as a business that you can just set and forget. We live in a  constantly changing world, and those who lead the change eat the lunch of those who sit on their laurels.

If you aren’t asking the right questions, you CANNOT be successful.

Here are a few of these 10 key questions that I think are often overlooked and especially insightful:

·         What is our purpose for existing?

·         Why does anyone need what we’re selling?

·         What were our competitors up to? 

·         How are your employees holding up? 

Excerpt from this article at Forbes.com:

Smart, experienced, highly connected people were involved in this deal. It didn’t matter. Why? No one bothered to examine the fundamental realities of the business; no one asked the right questions. Instead, everyone was consumed with generating revenue.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/20/ten-key-questions-entrepreneurs-management-kramer.html

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