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Do you want to earn more money?
Of course you do. If you’re like many small business owners, there’s only one obstacle in your way–time.
We all have the same 24 hours in a day, but how we spend those hours has a direct bearing on how much money we earn.
Most freelance writers and other small business owners tackle the problem of not having enough time the wrong way–by trying to write faster.
As I’ve mentioned before, writing faster isn’t always a good idea. Writing faster is definitely not a good idea if it means skipping important steps like proofreading or cutting corners on research and other vital parts of the writing process.
Fortunately, you can get more done without compromising quality. In this post I give an overview of some basic productivity concepts that will ultimately help your small business.
And each concept can be applied to your writing and non-writing tasks.
In the coming weeks we’ll look at each productivity concept in more depth, so check back often.
What concepts do you need to understand to be more productive?
Here are six actionable concepts you need to integrate into your own work process as soon as possible:
- Concept 1. Planning. Planning is the single greatest thing you can do to get more done. If you don’t have a plan for success, you won’t succeed.
- Concept 2. Record-keeping/Organization. A good record-keeping system can save you hours of time and keep you from rework. (Note: Yes, I’m aware I tweaked this a little since I first wrote the overview, but you won’t have good records unless you are organized.)
- Concept 3. Getting Help. Most freelancers try to do it all themselves and it’s too much.
- Concept 4. Staying Current. In-demand skills are constantly changing. Small businesses that don’t keep up finish last.
- Concept 5. Diminishing Distractions. Many of us work from home, where distractions abound. Manage them and your business wins.
- Concept 6. Staying Healthy. If you’re healthy now you may be tempted to ignore your health. Don’t or your business will suffer too.
Each of these concepts is an important part of getting more done. Next week we’ll take a look a closer look at planning as a productivity technique.
Your Turn
What productivity tips and hacks do you use to get more done? Share your ideas in the comments.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Dava Stewart // May 29, 2015 at
This is timely for me. I’ve been fiddling around with my personal productivity for the last month, experimenting with various schedule configurations, list-making techniques, and using goals to determine what gets done.
Right now, I’m using three broad, monthly goals to determine five weekly goals. The five weekly goals then dictate what must get done on a daily basis. The hardest part is remembering to look at the monthly and weekly goals as I make the daily lists.
I’m looking forward to the rest of your series!
2 Laura Spencer // May 29, 2015 at
Thanks Dava,
It sounds like you are already ahead of a lot of other writers because you’re setting and tracking goals. 🙂
Whenever I set up a system, I always try to keep it as simple as possible to ensure that I stick to it.
I hope you find something useful in the series.
3 Lauren Tharp // Jun 2, 2015 at
“Concept 1. Planning.” – I have got this one DOWN. If anything, I have a tendency to OVER plan… But I’ve gotten better about that as I’ve gotten older. 🙂
“Concept 2. Record-keeping.” – Got this one down too! I’m great at keeping track of everything I need to, for myself and others.
“Concept 3. Getting Help.” – I’m not so great at this. I outsource the illustrations on my blog (when I first started, I was doing the writing AND the art), but that’s about it. But I enjoy everything else about running my business (so far, anyway!), so I don’t really see that as a problem.
“Concept 4. Staying Current.” – I try my very best to keep updating my skills!
“Concept 5. Diminishing Distractions.” – For me, working at night has taken care of MOST of the distractions. It’s nice and quiet at night. 🙂
“Concept 6. Staying Healthy.” – I’ve gotten fat again! lol. Oops. http://laurentharp.net/may-2015-good-bad-things/ But I’m working on getting back in shape again.
Great post, as usual, Laura!
4 Laura Spencer // Jun 2, 2015 at
Great comments Lauren.
I can relate to all of them. I think the weight thing especially can be a struggle for those of us who sit in our home offices for large chunks of the day. Fortunately there are things you can do (and I’ll discuss those when the time comes). I lost a huge chunk of weight over the past year and still have a little ways to go.
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8 Muhammad Mairaj // Jul 10, 2015 at
Hello Laura,
Once again you shared with us an epic post. No doubt proper planning and updating your skills play a very vital role. All the tips that you share with us are very useful.
Thanks for sharing 6 lucrative tips.
9 Laura Spencer // Jul 13, 2015 at
Thanks so much. I’m glad you enjoyed the post. It’s the start of a series, so when I’m done you can click through and find a complete post for each concept.
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