Four Ways to Save Time When Working From Home
Four Ways to Save Time When Working From Home
First, don’t answer the phone every time it rings. If your phone rings constantly while you are trying to work, let your answering machine act as your personal assistant. Check you Caller ID and if you don’t recognize the number or know that you can return the call at a later time, let the caller leave a message.
Schedule a time each day or every other day that you will set aside to return phone calls. Try to keep each phone call short if possible, so that you are able to return all calls. Whenever possible, offer to email the person any requested information to save time rifling through paperwork or searching your office.
Second, use your email program wisely. Set up a spam filter so that you won’t have to dredge through useless emails each day. Use the folders, labels and other tools provided to file your emails in a way that works for you. I set up a folder for each common type of email that comes through – payments, forms, correspondence, etc – and file each email that I receive. This keeps my inbox tidy and allows me to easily find emails when I am ready to handle it. Also, when I’m working on a project for my business I close my email program. This keeps me focused on the project at hand.
Another email shortcut that I use is to mark important emails with a flag or star depending on the email program. I use this only for emails that require a response. I read through my emails each morning and sort, flag and delete as necessary. When I go back through my email later in the day I go to the marked emails first and respond to as many as possible. I then move through the folders and take care of any emails that are awaiting.
Third, organize your office. Keep the top of your desk neat and take the time every few weeks to go through your drawers and files and clean them out. Throw away the paperwork that you no longer need and find a new home for any useless items that have collected there. I keep a business card holder on my desk to use as a quick reference when I need someone’s contact information. I also use a letter hold to keep track of bills and a set of bookends to keep my reference books handy.
If you are a sticky-note fanatic like me take a moment at the end of each day and transfer your notes to your calendar or planner. The more sticky notes you can eliminate each evening, the more time you’ll have to accomplish important tasks the next morning.
Finally, if your business has grown to a level where you can no longer handle all of the necessary tasks on your own, consider hiring a virtual assistant (VA). Most virtual assistants will allow you to hire them hourly per project, so that you are able to stay within your business’s budget. Virtual assistants can handle most any task – from updating your website to sending out press releases about your business. One of the best things that I have done for my business is to hire a VA. Her help gives me the freedom to work more efficiently and have time to spend on other things.
There are many ways to use your time for effectively when working from home. Use the tools that you have at your fingertips to help you get more work done in less time. Don’t get bogged down trying to do everything – know when you need assistance. By keeping yourself focused on the task at hand you’ll save more time than you can imagine.
Four Ways to Save Time When Working From Home - To learn more about this author, visit Jill Hart's Website.
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Do you ever feel like twenty-four hours in a day isn’t enough? I frequently find myself wishing that I had an extra hour or two each day to get done all of the things on my task list. With small children still at home, I am constantly getting distracted from my home-based business to attend to their needs. It has become imperative to use the time that I have to work efficiently. I have found a few ways to use my work time more effectively and I’m willing to share a few of my secrets with you.
First, don’t answer the phone every time it rings. If your phone rings constantly while you are trying to work, let your answering machine act as your personal assistant. Check you Caller ID and if you don’t recognize the number or know that you can return the call at a later time, let the caller leave a message.
Schedule a time each day or every other day that you will set aside to return phone calls. Try to keep each phone call short if possible, so that you are able to return all calls. Whenever possible, offer to email the person any requested information to save time rifling through paperwork or searching your office.
Second, use your email program wisely. Set up a spam filter so that you won’t have to dredge through useless emails each day. Use the folders, labels and other tools provided to file your emails in a way that works for you. I set up a folder for each common type of email that comes through – payments, forms, correspondence, etc – and file each email that I receive. This keeps my inbox tidy and allows me to easily find emails when I am ready to handle it. Also, when I’m working on a project for my business I close my email program. This keeps me focused on the project at hand.
Another email shortcut that I use is to mark important emails with a flag or star depending on the email program. I use this only for emails that require a response. I read through my emails each morning and sort, flag and delete as necessary. When I go back through my email later in the day I go to the marked emails first and respond to as many as possible. I then move through the folders and take care of any emails that are awaiting.
Third, organize your office. Keep the top of your desk neat and take the time every few weeks to go through your drawers and files and clean them out. Throw away the paperwork that you no longer need and find a new home for any useless items that have collected there. I keep a business card holder on my desk to use as a quick reference when I need someone’s contact information. I also use a letter hold to keep track of bills and a set of bookends to keep my reference books handy.
If you are a sticky-note fanatic like me take a moment at the end of each day and transfer your notes to your calendar or planner. The more sticky notes you can eliminate each evening, the more time you’ll have to accomplish important tasks the next morning.
Finally, if your business has grown to a level where you can no longer handle all of the necessary tasks on your own, consider hiring a virtual assistant (VA). Most virtual assistants will allow you to hire them hourly per project, so that you are able to stay within your business’s budget. Virtual assistants can handle most any task – from updating your website to sending out press releases about your business. One of the best things that I have done for my business is to hire a VA. Her help gives me the freedom to work more efficiently and have time to spend on other things.
There are many ways to use your time for effectively when working from home. Use the tools that you have at your fingertips to help you get more work done in less time. Don’t get bogged down trying to do everything – know when you need assistance. By keeping yourself focused on the task at hand you’ll save more time than you can imagine.
Four Ways to Save Time When Working From Home - To learn more about this author, visit Jill Hart's Website.
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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