Small Business Coaching on How to Create Daily Success [Part 2]

By Allison Babb

In part 1 of this article, we talked about deciding on your top 3 actions, making them profit-producing tasks, and what to do about your email.

In this follow-up article, I'll share 3 more secrets to creating daily success, one of which is truly golden. If you do it consistently, be prepared for immeasurable success. Also, I share why I don't subscribe to time management and the alternative I DO subscribe to instead.

Shut off your phone

Don't panic, you're not shutting it off forever, but think about this for a minute. You're the boss and you get to decide when you answer your phone. I can't remember ever having a single business phone call that couldn't wait a couple hours for me to get to it. Some of us need to get just a little more ruthless with how we structure our day for success. Plan a time during the day when you will return all phone calls. Trust me, most of those calls can wait. Don't let the phone control your day.

For clients, try batch-scheduling them. I have most of my client calls on a specific day of the week. That's my "coaching day." You can batch other things as well. Mondays and Fridays are virtually free of phone or other appointments for me because that's when I focus heavily on marketing, projects and planning.

Carve out your golden no-excuses hour

This is a golden secret. Let's go back to that list of 3-5 top priorities for a minute. If you're trying to multi-task hour after hour, it will still be a challenge to get your top priorities done. When those 3-5 profit-producing tasks are identified, remove all distractions, shut of email, unplug the phone, lock the door to keep the kids out, plop yourself down and focus on nothing but that one thing for that one full hour (or 2 hours even). Keep a timer on hand if you have to.

Sometimes, taking your laptop into a different part of the house or to Starbucks or the library is the way to have that "no excuses" hour. And if you have young kids, your no-excuses hours may need to be at night or at the crack of dawn before the kids get up.

Even if you don't get to do your golden no-excuses hour every day, I'd strongly recommend you do this at least two or three times a week. But don't cop out here, daily is preferred. And remember, stay focused on profit-producing tasks during that time and pre-plan what you're going to do. Just try it - you'll be amazed how much you will accomplish and how much extra cash it produces.

Recognize that it's YOU-management

My clients often ask me for time management strategies. But in reality, they're not looking for time-management techniques. Time is constant. It's fixed. It never changes. You cannot manage time. The only thing you can manage is YOU. So take a look at you and what you're doing each day. Decide to shift into implementing actions that manage you so that your days, weeks, and months are creating the success you want.

If you enjoyed this article on you-management strategies, you'll also love Allison's client-generating resources that show you the profit-producing tasks you must focus on daily to create a steady stream of new clients and a more repeatable/predictable (and growing!) income month after month!

<<Back to Part 1

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WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Allison Babb is an author, speaker and Small Business Coach to solo entrepreneurs. Allison publishes the "Small Business Success" weekly Ezine on how to create a steady stream of clients for your small business at: www.GreatSmallBusinessAdvice.com

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