10 Essential Productivity Tips for Entrepreneurs and Small Biz Owners

When you're calling the shots as an entrepreneur, the success or failure of the company falls on your shoulders. While this can be a heavy burden to bear, allow this truth to be a motivator to your work ethic and productivity. If you haven't developed a fine-tuned process for productivity, consider the following tips.

1. Start Early

The early bird really does get the worm. When you start early, you'll completely avoid a lot of the most common distractions like social media updates and phone calls. Get up before the sun comes up. Then, work quietly on your most important tasks that require brainpower. Your mind becomes the most alert and focused at the top of the day. Use that time wisely.

2. Eat the Frog

This method essentially encourages readers to do the hardest task first. Typically, people will procrastinate on the most important responsibilities. This leads to uncertainty and instability within the company. By getting the harder tasks out of the way, you'll also empower yourself to keep going with all of the easier tasks.

3. Prioritize Income-Producing Activities

If you're running an e-commerce business, the aesthetics matter. However, they don't have to be perfect in order to begin making sales. You have to list the items on the website, and you'll need to start promoting the products. When you're looking to adopt productivity tips, one of the best ones is to avoid spending a ton of time on smaller details like business cards or fonts. Instead, focus on income-producing activities that will sustain the company's profitability.

4. Create Lists and Schedules

It's wise to plan the day before. Don't wait until the morning of your workday to begin planning. It's also helpful to create lists to keep track of what needs attention and more. Keep sticky notes, a planner, or a running list on an app. You can easily look at your list to see what your next task needs to be.

5. Find a Competitive Arsenal

Develop a secret stash of tools you use in order to maintain a competitive edge. Even when you don't feel disciplined, you can rely on systems to help you remain as productive as possible If you have to write a report and need to focus, put on your headphones and turn on some brown noise to help you remain in the zone. If you need an energy supplement to give you an extra boost in the morning, always keep it on hand. Use brain hack secrets like visualization and documentation to keep the vision clear and memorable.

6. Honor Your Physical Needs (Rest, Exercise, Nutrition)

Your physical needs include rest, exercise, and nutrition. If you're constantly burning the candle at both ends, you'll burn out. It's very difficult to run a company from a place of burnout. This means you need to consume healthy, nutrient-rich foods in order to fuel your body for energy and maximum productivity. Rest allows you to recharge and repair. Exercise helps with heart health, flexibility, and strength. It's also excellent for mental wellness.

7. Maintain Strict Hours of Operation

While many entrepreneurs believe that you'll need to work for 18 hours a day in order to achieve success, this is not true. Entrepreneurship is hard work. However, you don't have to bring your work into your private/personal life in order to achieve success. Plan and schedule your workday so that you can maintain and honor your hours of operation.

8. Outsource/Delegate Mundane Activities

Certain tasks like responding to customer service requests and answering telephones can be delegated to an assistant. Even if you're hiring a virtual assistant on a part-time basis, this is still an excellent investment because you need to spend more time on the activities that are within your zone of genius. You didn't start a company to push papers. Outsource or delegate the clerical tasks to maximize the impact you make in a day.

9. Don't Multitask

It's much better to focus on one task until it's complete. If you jump from task to task, you increase your chances of making mistakes. Plus, you're not able to give your best performance when you're spread thin. This includes scrolling on your smartphone, studies show that even just checking your phone while working will have an impact on your productivity. Even if you have to time yourself and hide your phone until it's done, focus on one task at a time.

10. Take Breaks

Schedule breaks throughout your workday. Whether those breaks last five minutes, ten minutes, or fifteen, take time to stretch, take a walk or do some deep-breathing exercises. Your lunch doesn't count as a break. Reserve your lunch period for refueling your body. As you take a breather from your work, you can also recharge yourself to keep going.

Conclusion

Being a small business owner can be a really exhilarating experience because you have to go out and hunt for business each day. You can't rely on a boss to do it for you since you are the boss. Thankfully, with these tips in place, you can strengthen your chances of being productive, profitable, and successful in business. You'll have to customize these tips to your needs, but it's worth the effort in the long run.