by: John Jantsch
Most small businesses are started by people that know how to complete some aspect of the business very well. Generally speaking, it’s the primary thing that the business sells – a plumber does plumbing well and an accountant does the accounting work well.
About two weeks into the venture, however, they are faced with the fact that in order to thrive, or even survive, they must do things like generate leads, manage their day and mind their cash flow. These are all essential functions of the business and command attention on a daily basis.
In order to keep the focus on all the various departments you head, (yes, if you’re a small business owner you may very well be the head of marketing, operations and finance) you must carve out some part of the day to perform functions related to each.
The problem is without some way to keep your focus on all of the things you must do, including the things you don’t like to do, you often find something else steals your attention and sucks the time out of the day.
Below is a simple two
prong method for attacking each day with a multi-discipline view of the business.
Make the rounds
In order to get to marketing or finance issues you need to step into the marketing and finance departments each day, literally or figuratively.
The best way to make sure this gets done is to schedule an appointment on your calendar. It may seem odd to make an appointment with yourself to focus on marketing, but it’s a very powerful way to hold yourself accountable for the important work that needs to be done each day.
Slice it thinly
The second aspect of this form of time focus is to think of your day as lots of very small blocks of time and allocate them each day in tandem with your to do list. Many people find that if they break their days into 25 minute slices complemented with five minute rest (stretch, meditate, walk) breaks and then assign a number of those slices to each department – all the hats get worn in ways that keep them focused on the highest payoff work.
John Jantsch is a marketing consultant and author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine and the founder of the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network
Jantsch filed this post as part of his ongoing partnership with Xerox.
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