Time is money. This is an absolute truth in business. All of your time spent working on your business could be an investment into growing your business and bringing in more revenue. When you neglect to spend your time wisely, you are missing out on the opportunity to grow your business. Productivity is key to growing your business instead of spinning your wheels.
What does it mean to be productive?
Productivity is applying yourself to your business in the most efficient way possible to promote growth in your business. This could mean focusing on items that bring in more revenue or will develop into long term growth. If you are unproductive, you are wasting your time on busy work that doesn’t equate to growing your business.
Today we are focusing on the top 3 things that can crush productivity and hold you back from moving the needle in your business.
Distractions
Perhaps one of the biggest productivity killers of all is distractions. We live in a world full of distractions. They come at us from every angle constantly! Our phones, watches, email notifications, apps, social media….everything is designed to get our attention quickly which means a never ending stream of distractions.
When it comes to working on your business, this is a time to practice discipline in finding ways to focus and minimize distractions. Acknowledge the things that are your biggest distractions and eliminate them from your workspace when you are sitting down to work. This could be shutting down your internet browser, turning off email notifications, keeping your phone out of arm’s reach or even setting a timer for yourself to complete dedicated work time. It’s tougher than ever to overcome the distractions but the first step is acknowledging what they are and finding a system to work around them.
Disorganization
Up next is a serious roadblock for productivity… being disorganized. If you don’t have an organized system for running your business, you will spend more than you need trying to figure out what you need to do and getting started. This means having systems in place for how you run all the various parts of your business including email, client communication, editing, bookkeeping, marketing…etc. Create a plan for each of these that will allow you to accomplish the tasks in the most organized way. If you don’t have systems in place, you will spend so much of your time trying to recreate them over and over again.
Invest the time now in setting up all the systems you need. Find a way to keep your desktop and physical workspace clean and clear from distractions. All this will contribute to providing a clutter-free workspace where you can think and execute what you need to to run and grow your business.
Lack of Clarity in Goals
How can you be productive in your business if you don’t have a direction? Getting crystal clear in your goals will give you what you need to prioritize the most important things that will help you reach those goals. Take the time to do a goal-setting exercise so that you have clarity in where you want your business to be and what is most important for you. If you need some help doing so, check out this!
When you have clarity in where you need to be going, it’s easier to focus and find the things that will move the needle in your business towards that goal.
These are the top 3 productivity killers you might face in your photography business. Take the time to reflect on these in your business and find ways to overcome them so the time you spend working in your business helps move it forward.
This process is always fluid though and I’d love to hear what it is that holds you back from being productive in your business and unique ways you’ve found to overcome them. Please share in the comments to start the conversation!
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