What are we talking about when we talk about time management? What are some signs of time management problems?

The question of time management often comes up when entrepreneurs are feeling rushed, exhausted or stressed or when the business is not performing as well as it should. If you are in a hurry, you tend to neglect less enjoyable tasks, such as invoicing, customer management, new customer acquisition and administrative tasks.

Time management problems can quickly be seen across all business operations. And of course, the entrepreneur’s personal life and family also suffer.

What are the potential consequences of poor time management?

Problems will pile up in the long run and even important tasks will be neglected as you try to rush through things. In a worst-case scenario, the problems will affect the profitability of the business and its finances will deteriorate.

If the entrepreneur forgets to look after their well-being and ability to cope, this will have fatal consequences for the business. The entrepreneur is often the most vital resource of their business, but this should not lead to a situation where they work 24/7. They also need to remember to rest and recover in order to be able to supervise others and run a successful business.

What tools or methods can be used to improve time management?

There are various ways to develop time management, but everything starts with the entrepreneur and their genuine desire to develop their behaviour. Improving time management requires getting accustomed to and committing to new habits. 

Start improving your time management by identifying all your tasks, routines and time thieves. The easiest way to do this is to record all the tasks you do over a few weeks. After this, you need to plan and arrange the tasks in their order of importance.

The key is to plan your use of time and also leave room for free time. When the less enjoyable tasks become routine, they almost get done by themselves. You do not have to do everything yourself, but you can delegate some of the tasks to an accountant, for example. If you calculate the hourly rate for your work, you may notice that it would be cheaper to use an external expert.

But the most important thing is to identify all the redundant tasks and perhaps even eliminate them. This will give you more time for other important things, such as family and hobbies.

How can Keuke help entrepreneurs with time management?

We at Keuke can help entrepreneurs with time management. We go through the activities and tasks together with the entrepreneur and help them identify redundancies. We also help entrepreneurs with more difficult tasks, such as customer acquisition and making plans for business operations and the future.

The website of Keuke also provides tips and templates for fine-tuning your work; the templates of Yritystulkki, for example, are worth using. The same goes for Keuke’s annual calendar tool and other guides.
 
 Do you need help with time management? Book a free appointment.