Everything I knew when I first ventured into online entrepreneurship was practically self-taught.
From learning HTML to setting the design to selecting a domain name and everything else involved in creating a website, I slowly and painstakingly built my online career. It was a very low-key start for me if I remember correctly. I didn’t have the same knowledge about things like SEO and making a website mobile-friendly as I do now. All I knew was that I wanted to build an online career and make a living out of it.
When I decided on starting a blog, it was also because I wanted to share what I had learned and experienced in the hopes that it could help budding bloggers and aspiring online entrepreneurs alike.
Running more than one digital business at the same time was a pretty daunting endeavor. Still, I mustered up the courage and took risks.
Looks like it paid off because now, I am running several digital businesses right from the heart of my home. These include digital marketing, eCommerce, and design services. I also found a passive income generating system that I could put my faith in.
It wasn’t always sunny, of course. When I began getting my hands into a lot of pies, I admit I had many near-hits and quite a number of misses. It took a while before I finally had everything under control.
So, how do I manage all of these things at once?
Along the way, I was able to pick up a few things. Some of them I learned the hard way. All the same, I would like to share them with you in hopes that they may help you in the same way they helped me.
This article is geared towards everyone who may be interested. But most of all, I would like to direct this to new and budding bloggers who are dreaming of becoming online entrepreneurs. This is to help them realize that foraying towards online business, although not necessarily easy, is also not impossible.
So here goes.
How You Can Successfully Manage Multiple Digital Businesses Right From Your Home
The secret to writing good content is knowing which topics to focus your energy and attention on.
On a larger scale, the same goes for managing businesses.
Shopify’s Cassandra Campbell interviewed 34 Entrepreneurs regarding their best time management hacks. The majority agreed that time management is really mind and attention management instead.
So before anything else, set your priorities first. Break down things from most to least important. This will help you decide what you need to concentrate on.
2. Create A Schedule You Can Religiously Stick To
After setting your priorities, build a working schedule. I find it easier to work with blocked schedules.
That means setting certain hours within the day devoted solely to work. At those times, avoid or at least lessen distractions. No phone calls. No emails. No meetings. Definitely no social media interaction. At least none that’s not related to your productivity.
Make a to-do list of everything that needs to be done for one work-week.
Next, classify your tasks according to importance and urgency. Which ones do you need to finish the soonest time possible? Which ones can wait?
Then, assess how much time each task needs. Make sure to include those timeframes into your to-do list.
Lastly, stick to the times you’ve set. For example, don’t spend an hour on a task that should have been finished within 25 minutes.
It could be a little hard to follow through the first few times. But give yourself a bit of time, and you’ll eventually get it into your system.
As a matter of fact, faithfully adhering to your schedule is also one of my best blogging tips for beginners.
The longer you keep at it, the faster you’ll be able to adjust to the same schedule.
3. Take Breaks
The total opposite of the previous tip this time: make sure that you don’t do anything work-related during your breaks.
Working too hard with too little time for rest and recreation is one of the worst mistakes new bloggers can make. Avoid that temptation. You’ll be the better for it, even if it seems counter-intuitive.
Instead, devote time to yourself and to the people who matter the most to you. Relax and have fun.
You’ll find that by doing this, you’ll actually feel more energized and focused when you get back to work.
4. Accept That Not Everything Can Get Done All At Once
No matter how much of a hard worker you are and no matter how good you are at doing your job, you’re still just one person.
Multi-tasking is not the same as over-working.
It’s kind of the same when you’re selecting a blog niche. You have to choose a niche that is loaded enough to be discussable but not too vast that it would be impossible to cover every topic in it within your target timeframe.
Trying to do everything at the same time has a huge potential to unnecessarily stress you out. Also, doing so could lead to mediocre output.
To keep your business in tip-top shape, you have to give your best to each and every specific aspect. That will be a tiny bit hard to achieve if you’re wearing too many hats and have your hands on too many things.
Using the best productivity and efficiency tools you can get your hands on also makes a solid difference. You’ll be surprised at the amount of stress the right tools can save you from.
Still, at the end of the day, you have to set a point where you need to be satisfied with the amount of hard work you have put in. After that point, if anything else needs changing, save it for the next day.
Trying to do everything at the same time has a huge potential to unnecessarily stress you out. Click To Tweet5. Hire A Virtual Assistant
Managing multiple businesses has taught me first-hand the dangers of trying to do everything on my own.
As a result, knowing when to outsource for help and delegate tasks is something that I learned to do.
You can do the same.
Soon, all the research being done on emotionally intelligent AI may give us access to robot assistance that can take care of our tasks for us. For now though, your best bet is to find a human assistant that you can rely on.
Thanks to the wonders of the internet, it’s now easy to find skilled virtual assistants from all over the globe. Most of them you can hire at quite reasonable rates.
A good way to save time is to focus your energy on only the most important of things.
Have your assistant take care of everything else that you don’t necessarily have to do by yourself. Like sorting your emails for example.
Your assistant can organize your emails by levels of urgency or filter through your inbounds to get rid of the trolls. That way, you’ll only need to worry about dealing with the legitimate ones.
To a certain extent, having a virtual assistant is just like using SEO tools for your blog. Your VA takes care of all the tedious but important details that might otherwise take up too much of your time, much like SEO tools do for your website.
That way, it will be easier for you to focus on the things that need doing, thereby increasing your productivity.
Hiring a remote assistant may be a bit of a risk. But trust me when I say that the risk is worth it – especially when you get your hands on a skilled and efficient worker.
Before you go…
Work smarter, not harder. This has been my mantra since I started working from home. I believe it makes a huge difference in my efficiency and productivity.
Not everyone sets out to become an online entrepreneur. But I believe that, given the right kind of help, everyone can succeed in anything that they are passionate about.
Steer your passions in the right direction. Do everything you can to make things happen. In the process, you may need to sacrifice a few things. But always keep tip number 1 in mind: set your priorities straight.
Don’t miss the forest for the trees. Remember the reason/s for your passion and determination to succeed.
It could be your family. Or your dream house or car or any other goal that means so much to you.
No matter how busy and tired you get, never neglect what’s most important to you. That will be the foothold that will keep you standing even when things get shaky. And it will get you back on track when you start to lose focus.
How about you? What time-management tips and tricks work best for you? Feel free to drop them in the comments below. We’ll be happy to share ideas with you.
You may also like to read: 45+ Real Passive Income Ideas That Don’t Suck
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