Your home-based business success is highly influenced by your efficiency. When you manage your own business from home and you’re a one-person team, you’ve got many tasks that you should perform yourself. At times, however, when you get to do those tasks is determined by the needs of your business. Thus, you’ll have instances when business is frantic, and you’ll have other occasions when business is slow. Any time business is slow, it’s vital that you utilize those downtimes efficiently.
Don’t switch on the television.
You might think you are going to merely catch a half-hour of news or relax and watch some mindless soap. You should be aware by now that tv is addictive. It is not too difficult to get totally hooked on a show and then want to watch yet another one. It’s a sure way to waste time. If you would like to loosen up, read a book instead, or take a stroll outside the house. Your body and mind can benefit from either of these pursuits.
Lists of tasks are great only if you mean to complete the tasks on the list.
Even though to-do lists can be very helpful in managing your time, you shouldn’t spend all your time making such lists. Instead, spend no more than a minute or two of your downtime to produce to-do lists. Spend the rest of the time actually completing the tasks on your list. There really isn’t any use for to-do lists if you are only going to be making excuses for not doing the tasks on your list. If you delay a few necessary tasks as you don’t like doing them, one way you can get them out of the way is to promise yourself some kind of reward after doing them.
Don’t spend your downtime on activities that do not have anything to do with your business.
You may be tempted to use your slow work times on family matters or doing non-business things, but you should have blocks of time for such activities put aside in the first place. Rather, when you have downtimes, devote those times to discovering ways to boost your business. Study journals and other periodicals relevant to your industry so you can stay informed. How else could you offer great service to your clients? All of these tasks are good options for filling your downtime.
Lay off the email.
You need to better manage your emails. Emails from consumers, prospective partners, and vendors are top priorities and should be responded to first. Strive to reply to business questions within 24 hours. Clients love it when they receive a response from a person quickly.
Whenever a business is slow, you could get the urge to do as many routine tasks as you can think of. Nonetheless, keep in mind that such tasks should be given to your assistant. Use your time for more analytical purposes, like how to increase efficiency or how to drive up sales.
Manage your time.
Keep these suggestions in mind the next time your business encounters downtime. It’s vital that you use your business downtime in a productive manner. By learning efficient time management, your business will have a much better chance to flourish.