How Time Blocking Can Make You a More Efficient Small Business Owner

As a CRM coach, I talk to small business owners and solopreneurs every day. While the industries they work in vary wildly, nearly everyone I talk to mentions feeling busy. Almost everyone talks about struggles to stay on top of all of the work that comes with running a small business. Sometimes, it can feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done.  That’s where time blocking can come in handy.

Time blocking, if you haven’t heard of it before, is a time management strategy where you divide your day into blocks of time.

So, for example, you might find yourself distracted by a never ending stream of emails throughout the day about your business. These constant email pings pull you away from your most critical work. In this case, you could use time blocking to schedule a dedicated time every day to check and answer emails so they aren't a constant distraction.

I know most of the small business owners I speak to wear multiple hats - they are the sales team, marketing team, and CEO rolled into one. It can be challenging to balance all of those competing demands on your time. Time blocking helps you make sure you are choosing the tasks you want to compete with intention, rather than being distracted by less important aspects of your work.

LACRM makes it easy to try out time blocking and see if it’s a strategy you find helpful.

Simply create calendars for the different aspects of your work. (You can learn how to create a new calendar here.) For example, you could create broad categories based on different facets of your work as shown in the screenshot below:

Next, block off chunks of time on your calendar that you’ll devote to your weekly tasks. Use the different calendars you created to make sure you are maintaining a good balance of different facets of your business. Create any constants in your schedule as recurring events and leave some room to adjust and improve your new time blocked schedule as you test it out over time.

There are a few key benefits to time blocking as a strategy.

• See the big picture: Don’t get distracted by the inevitable day-to-day tasks that will come up as a small business owner. Make sure you always have a visual of what needs to be accomplished in a week. Time blocking lets you easily see what percentage of time you are spending with clients versus with leads, for example, and allows you to make adjustments if you realize you aren't spending enough time on the most vital aspects of your business.
• Don’t be ruled by notifications: Time blocking is a great strategy if you feel pulled in a million directions by email, text, and call notifications. Time blocking forces you to intentionally set your schedule, rather than being pulled in by the latest ping from your phone.
• Better work-life balance: While you can use time blocking to run your business, you can also use time blocking as a reminder to take intentional breaks. Throw a few hours on your calendar for family time every night, for example.

If you’re looking for a new way to manage your time, give time blocking in LACRM a try!