manage your time Archives

My 3 Favorite Business Tools to Help with Productivity

January 24, 2017 by Tanya Brody Leave a Comment

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome when running your own business is finding the time to do all the stuff that it takes to run your business. The day-to-day work can be overwhelming.

Fortunately, there are a lot of companies that create business tools to make it easier for us small business owners to do what we love.

Here are three of the business tools I use every day.

Timely

Keeping track of how much time I spend on any given project has always been an issue for me. I’d vaguely observe what time it was when I started and vaguely estimate how much time I’d spent when I was done. Not terribly efficient.

Enter Timely.

I looked at, and tried, a few different time tracking apps before I settled on Timely as one of my regular business tools. I like it because it is sleek, easy to use and gives me exactly what I need to keep track of time spent on each project, but doesn’t pile on a bunch of extra stuff I’ll never use, or that I already have through other apps and programs.

Timely lets me track my working hours by project and client. I can bill different projects at different rates, if I need to. I can also set a certain amount of money or a specific amount of time for a project, and Timely will tell me when I’ve gone over that amount, and by how much.

Because I typically bill by the project, this helps me determine how much I ‘really’ made per hour when I go over my allotted time or budget. It’s good for helping me estimate future projects and noting if the number of hours for the project need to change.

I can also look at reports on what I’ve done. This helps me keep track of the project and what I need to do next. I can also export the report in Excel or as a PDF, to send to clients.

Timely integrates with several apps, including Google Calendar, Trello, GitHub, Asana and Office 365. Timely will automatically enter the time I spent on work appointments. This is great if I forget to start the timer once I’m on a call, or at a meeting.

Timely also has great customer support. Any time I have an issue or I’m confused by something, they’re always quick to respond with useful information or to help me fix the problem.

Timely offers a free plan, but it limits the number of projects you can have running at a given time. It also allows for multiple users, depending on the plan you choose.

Timely is keeping me on track, by tracking the amount of time I spend on each project. It’s fantastic. Learn more about Timely here.

Calendly

Setting appointments is one of my least favorite time-wasters. I hate sending emails back and forth with, “Can you meet at 2:30 on Thursday?” Only to hear back that Thursday won’t work, but how about next Monday.

To avoid all of this, I use Calendly. It’s a fantastic scheduling app that integrates with my Google Calendar. I just send someone a Calendly link for the appropriate type of appointment, they go to the app, choose a time we’re both available, and book the appointment.

We’re both sent a calendar invite, which goes right into my calendar, so I don’t forget. I can schedule reminder emails to go to the person who booked the appointment, so they don’t forget either. They can cancel the appointment from the reminder emails if something comes up, and Calendly prompts them to reschedule immediately.

On my end, I can send different appointment types of varying lengths, with buffer times on either end to make sure I don’t overlap appointments. I can control the times clients can schedule appointments, and I can block off certain days if I know I’ll be unavailable.

It’s a pretty slick system.

Calendly integrates with several apps and programs, including Drip, Salesforce and Zapier. They also have an API key and webhooks available for those who are more proficient at programming than I am.

Calendly does offer a free account, but your appointments will have Calendly branding on them. It’s not terribly intrusive. If you only have one event type (one type and length of appointment you need scheduled) it’s a great free scheduling solution.

If you have multiple event types, like I do, want to send appointment reminders and integrate with other apps, you’ll have to go with a paid account. The Premium account is $10 a month or $96 a year, per user.

Calendly has made my life a lot easier when it comes to scheduling appointments with clients and I recommend it highly. Learn more about Calendly here.

Quickbooks Online

I’ve used Quickbooks to handle my billing for years. Before that, (back in the dark ages) I used Excel spreadsheets. Not a fun game, I don’t recommend it unless you’re really good at Excel spreadsheets. I’m not.

Life in general has moved online. So has Quickbooks. It’s a fairly simple system to use, especially if you’ve used Quickbooks in the past.

I can create and email invoices to clients from the desktop interface. I enter a client’s contact information and Quickbooks sets up the email for me, then sends it when I’m ready. I can create recurring invoices and send them monthly to my retainer clients. They go out automatically, so I don’t have to think about them.

I have control over how the invoices look, including adding my logo, changing colors and specifying which columns and fields appear on the invoice. It’s very similar to designing an invoice in the desktop version of Quickbooks.

I can also accept payment via Quickbooks. I had to sign up for this service, and there are fees. It’s 50 cents per direct deposit and 3.5% of a credit card payment. But it’s worth it to have clients pay directly from their invoices.

All of my business bank account transactions are downloaded into Quickbooks, so I can manage everything in one place. The download interface is easy to use, though it took me a few times to get used to using it. Quickbooks automatically enters any payments made through its system into my checking register, as well as the fees it takes for letting me use that system.

Quickbooks offers a free 30-day trial. I pay about $16 a month for the version I use. There are several different versions, depending on the size of your business, number of users, etc.

Using Quickbooks online has made my billing and accounting much easier. Learn more about Quickbooks here.

What Productivity Business Tools Do You Recommend?

I hope this round-up of business tools to increase your productivity helps. I’ll keep doing these posts as I have more tools to pass along. Meanwhile, what business tools do you use? I’d love to hear about them. Perhaps I’ll end up adopting them myself, and mentioning them in one of my future posts.

How to Stay Focused When You’re Having a Distracted Work Day

August 30, 2016 by Tanya Brody Leave a Comment

A distracted work day. You know the kind of day I mean. You sit down to get some work done, but the mojo just isn’t flowing. You can’t produce whatever it is you’re supposed to be producing. (In my case, it’s writing.) It’s not that you’re blocked or you don’t know what you’re doing. You just can’t stay focused.

So you sit there staring at whatever it is you should be doing. (In my case, a blank page in Word.) And since that doesn’t help, you decide to go putter around on Facebook. Where you waste half an hour of your precious time.

Still nothing. (Grrrrr)

So you get up to do something, and promptly forget what it was you were going to do. You end up staring out the window at the squirrels chasing each other around the yard, or something similar. Until you snap out of it and realize you’re supposed to be working.

When you’re a small business owner, this can be a serious problem. You have to stay focused to stay in business. You know you have to get your work done. But the only person to keep you on task is… well… you.

If you can’t buckle down and get your work done, you’ll have some very disappointed customers and an empty bank account. Not a good combination.

So how do you get yourself back on track?

Here are 4 ideas on how to stay focused when you work for yourself and you’re just not able to concentrate on your work.

Walk Away for a While

Yes, this sounds counter intuitive. But it works. If you’re unable to concentrate on what you’re doing, get up and do something totally unrelated to what you’re trying to accomplish.

Here are the things I tend to do when I can’t stay focused:

Go for a walk: I find that getting out of my house and clearing my head helps me get back on track when I get back to my computer (or whatever it is I’m doing).

Do a couple of chores or errands: I spend a few minutes tidying the kitchen or putting in a load of laundry. If I can run a short errand, I’ll do that to get myself out of the house and out of my own head.

Do something in the same general field, but not directly related to your current project: For example, I sit down and read books or articles on marketing. I usually find something that inspires me and helps me to continue with the project I should really be working on.

Work on a Different Project

I know that as a freelancer, I like to have several projects I’m working on at once, so if I get stuck on one of them, I can pick up another and stay productive.

I do this when it comes to my own work for marketing my business as well. You’re reading this blog post because I was having a terrible time writing the post I’d started on this week, about using social proof in your marketing. You’ll probably see that one next week, when I’ve had more time to ponder.

Do More Research

Sometimes you can’t figure out what you’re doing because you don’t have all the information you need. Yes, this can even happen when you’re making something you’ve made hundreds of times before.

I used to have this issue when I was building period costumes for Renaissance Festival performers. Sometimes I’d have to stop sewing and go back to look at my original reference material. Or I’d have to look up period methods of construction so I got the look of whatever I was making “right,” even if I was using modern materials.

I do this today when I’m writing. I may sit down with an idea of what I want to write, but once I’m faced with an empty page, I realize I’m missing information I need to get my point across to you. So I spend some time searching the Internet or my own library. That way I do a better job of writing and you get a more useful resource.

Plunge in and Do It Anyway

This may be more effective for those of us who have the opportunity to revise than for people who are manufacturing the same product over and over. But it can still apply.

When I write, I know I’m writing a first draft. So I sit down and put something “on paper.” (Okay, on the screen.) When I’m having a distracted day, this can take a while. And it usually doesn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. But it’s a start.

Even if I end up trashing the whole thing, writing that first draft has gotten the juices flowing. The next time around, I end up with something I can use. And with some careful editing, it becomes a finished product that I can present to my client for review. Or to you as a blog post, like this one.

Ultimately, You’re the One in Charge

One of the lovely things about being your own boss is you get to make the decisions. So if you decide to work late to make up for lost time, you can. By the same token, you’re also the one responsible for getting the work done.

There will be days when your brain just can’t or won’t focus on the project at hand. On those days, be gentle with yourself and coax that brain back to work. Yelling at it (and yourself) rarely helps you stay focused.

Once you get back in that groove, enjoy it and get as much of it done as you can. And hold on to that groove as long as possible. Until the next time your brain gets distracted. Then try the tactics in this blog post again.

How do You Stay Focused?

Do you have certain things you do to get yourself in the work groove? How do you break the distracted cycle? Tell me about it in the comments.

Why You, as a Business Owner, Need to Take a Vacation

July 6, 2016 by Tanya Brody Leave a Comment

This is both an apology for not having a post last week and an advice post.

You see, I spent most of last week running around a hotel in Bloomington, MN with 6,000 of my closest personal friends at a fan-run science fiction/fantasy convention called CONvergence.

I help run the Guests of Honor department at CONvergence. I get to invite really cool people who work in the science fiction and fantasy scene to come talk to our attendees about the amazing projects they’re working on and share fun stories about what they do for a living.

I also spend hundreds of volunteer hours (along with about 300 other people who organize the convention) on making this convention happen every year. Then I spend the convention itself taking care of our Guests of Honor and supervising some of the most awesome people ever, the liaisons who work directly with the Guests of Honor.

Most of my days are spent running errands, tracking down people or things for panels and checking in to make sure everyone has what they need, when they need it.

Yes, this is what I do for fun.

I offer my apologies to all of my friends who I waved at as I went running by, but never got to see this year. It was a crazy, wonderful, fun convention and I had a great time! I hope you did too.

Do I recommend you take a vacation like this? Not unless you’re a workaholic like me. I actually love what I do for the convention and it’s my yearly, guaranteed break from “real life.”

Do I recommend that you take a vacation at least once a year?

Absolutely!

I try to take at least two. CONvergence and one other, usually around the holidays.

You need to get away from your work so you can think clearly when you come back to it. It’s the same reason you need to take weekends to yourself and limit the number of hours you work every day.

If you can’t step away from your work, you can’t step back to see the big picture. You get mired in all of the little day-to-day details. Everything starts to feel overwhelming. You won’t be able to see how you’re progressing because you’ll get caught up in the craziness of running a business.

If you take time away from your business, you’ll be able to come back to it with fresh eyes. You’ll see the things that need to be fixed. You’ll also see ways to improve what you’re doing, or new ideas for products or services.

After finishing CONvergence, I was absolutely exhausted. But when I got back to work on Tuesday morning, I had lots of fresh ideas for my current client project, and for my own business.

Your brain needs a chance to relax every once in a while. (Or at least be distracted by some other problem or activity.)

So I’m giving you permission to take time away from your business to go have fun.

Take the family to the beach. Go on that cross-country road trip you’ve been talking about. Go see the Eiffel Tower. You started your own business so you’d have the freedom to do the things you wanted to.

So go do them. Seriously. Your brain and your business will thank you for it.

How to Manage Your Time as a Freelancer or Business Owner

March 30, 2016 by Tanya Brody 1 Comment

One of the many joys about working for yourself is being in charge of your own schedule. Yes, you have more time to spend with your kids, friends, family, or whatever other impetus caused you to quit your “day job.”

But being in charge of your own schedule means just that; you’re in charge. No one is going to yell at you for not getting your work done, except you.

There are lots and lots of websites/articles/books out there that will tell you how to manage your time, especially when working for yourself. If that’s what you’re looking for, please go read those. I’m not going to reference those here.

I’m going to talk about what I do, and what I’ve found to be true as a freelance copywriter, a full-time musician and a professional costumer (all businesses I currently own or have owned in the past.)

So, if you want a dose of what being your own boss is really like, please read on…

If Nobody Does the Work, It Doesn’t Get Done

This is the first rule of working for yourself. Especially when you are the Chief Cook and Bottle-washer. If you aren’t there to do the work you’ve promised to clients or to create the products you’re planning on selling, no one else will do it.

This means you need to build free time, sick time and vacation time into your schedule if you plan on taking them.

We all know that being sick never comes at a “good” time. But if you allow yourself a little extra time within your schedule to do a given project, you give yourself a cushion for being sick, just in case. And more importantly, clients love it when you finish their projects early.

Be like Scotty from Star Trek. Over estimate your time and look like a miracle worker.

Want to go have lunch with your mom or take a day off to get a personal project done? Great! Go for it. But make that time up somewhere else during the week.

“But I’m master of my own destiny!” I hear you cry. “I should be able to do what I want.” Yes, you should. But working for yourself means working for your clients/customers. You’re still accountable to someone, regardless of who writes your paycheck.

So yes. Work four 10-hour days so you can take that extra day off. Work into the evening so you can enjoy Mom’s company at lunch. Working for yourself doesn’t mean having all the free time in the world. It means having the freedom to manage your time to suit yourself. That includes how much you work and when you work.

Want to take that vacation in the Bahamas or go see a friend for the weekend? Awesome. Do it. But again, build that time into your schedule, or be willing to bring your work with you and get some of it done while you’re away.

One of the many things I love about being a freelance copywriter, as opposed to some of the other businesses I’ve owned, is all I need to do my job is a computer and an Internet connection. That’s it.

Music ties me to specific places at specific times, even though I choose where and when I perform. Costuming meant a lot of equipment and materials, which are really hard to haul around with you. (So are instruments and CDs, for that matter.)

Compared to my previous businesses, working as a freelance copywriter while traveling is a delight!

Manage Your Day to Stay Sane

I will be the first to admit that I used to work crazy hours, especially when I was costuming. I would go downstairs to my basement workshop (most costume shops are in the basement, we costumers are notorious for this,) around 10:00 am and start working.

Sometime around 4:00 pm I’d look up and say, “Oh, I should eat something.” I’d go upstairs to the kitchen, make something to eat, bring it back down with me and eat while I worked. Then I’d keep working until 10:00 pm.

Don’t do this. Seriously. It’s bad for you.

I’ve altered my habits considerably since my youthful freelance costuming days. Here are a few simple steps I now follow to stay sane during my work day:

Get up and move around – Doctors, ergonomic professionals and pretty much everyone else agrees that this is absolutely necessary during the day for physical and mental health.This can be something as simple as getting up and stretching for a couple of minutes to getting away from a frustrating project to take a walk and clear your head. Do it. Your body and mind with both thank you.

Eat – Yes, this seems obvious, but if you read the first paragraph in this section, you’ll see how easy it is to forget to do this during the day, especially when you are deeply focused on a project.

Give yourself permission to stop – As a business owner, and the person responsible for, well, everything, it can be hard to do this. But you must. Sleep, relationships with other humans and time away from your business are incredibly important. Sometimes they can be crucial to solving whatever problem is at hand.So yeah. Give yourself a firm stop time every day and go do something else. (And yes, this time will change from day to day. See managing your time above.)

Figure Out How You Stay Focused

Everyone has their own way of getting into the zone.

Legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz would set a timer for 33.33 minutes and concentrate solely on the project at hand. (Okay, he also drank coffee.) Then he got up and did something else for 10-15 minutes. He’d do this over and over, every day.

Other folks can multi-task, absorbing information from several sources at once, all while finishing whatever they’re working on, on time.

Me, I like to buckle down and work on something for a couple of hours, then take a 20-minute break. (Okay, I take some very short social media breaks in there, and I certainly research whatever I’m working on, but that’s how I roll.)

You will have to figure out what works best for you. Once you find it, keep doing it. Trust me, it will help.

Figure Out What Makes You the Least Distracted.

There are so many fabulous distractions to grab your attention, whether you work from home, a workshop or a coworking office space.

Your kids, your neighbors, your phone, your email, other folks using the same space, the construction work across the street. You name it, it is out to suck up your time.

At my house, it’s the cat, the laundry, the dishes, the birds at my bird feeders, or during the summer, all of the fabulous wildlife that visit me while I’m writing on the patio.

How can you not be distracted by that adorable face?

You need to figure out what will help you focus the most and distract you the least. Please notice I don’t say “will keep you laser focused all day, every day” because that’s unrealistic and unhealthy. But do find what lets you be the most productive.

For me, I need music. I love music. I don’t remember a time I didn’t sing and I’ve been musical in one way or another for most of my life.

However, it’s really hard for me to listen to music with words while writing. (And I don’t think my clients appreciate having weird lyrics sprinkled throughout their copy.) So I tend toward classical, electronica, jazz and music in languages I don’t speak.

I also have certain places I work in the house (or on the patio) that seem to keep me the most focused. No idea why, they just do.

When I was costuming, I listened to books on tape. They gave my mind something to focus on while my hands were busy.

Figure Out What Helps You to Stay On Task

I like having a list of things I have to do every day, or for every project. I use my calendar, Reminders on my computer or phone, and Trello to keep track of these.

Other folks use Post-It Notes, note books, alarms, or any number of other triggers to help them remember what they’re doing and when they’re doing it.

Feel Free to Throw All of This (and Any Other Advice) Out the Window.

Really, this is all about what works best for you. Everyone will give you their own tips, tricks, studies or whatever in an effort to be helpful. But ultimately, this is about building your ideal work situation. So feel free to experiment.

If the dog running to the window every 10 minutes to bark at the squirrels distracts you, send the dog off to daycare a few days a week.

If your family refuses to let you have a moment’s peace, commandeer a room with a door and say “You are not allowed to knock on, open this door or come into this room unless you are dying or the house is on fire.” Then hold to that. (They’ll never learn otherwise. Trust me.)

Most importantly, have fun! This is your life and your business. You chose this over working a “real job” because you wanted to enjoy what you do. So do it.

What has helped you the most when figuring out how to manage your time? Tell me about it in the comments.