Processes

Claire Productivity, Social media February 5, 2020February 5, 2020 0 Comment

Just like making a cup of tea or coffee, or doing the laundry, you carry out those tasks with a process. It is the same in business, every job that we carry out has a purpose and a process, it the steps we take to complete whatever task that needs to be done.

Sometimes those processes can be long-winded and detrimental to our energy and passion, certain tasks with either no process or a process that isn’t working for your business can make that task undesirable, and give you that dreaded feeling when it comes to carrying out that task.

If it is a task that needs to be done, and then having that sinking feeling when the time comes to carrying it out, can make you put it off, drop it to the bottom of your to-do list as well as a spot of procrastination, and we all know procrastination is the thief of time!

How do they work?

It is very simple, basically, every task we do has a process, from opening our emails to sending out newsletters they all have steps to take, and it’s finding the right steps to get you from A to B without visiting C, D, E…… creating a process is looking at how you do something currently, and tweaking it to make it smarter and more streamlined.

Be honest with yourself

When looking at the process that you currently take, be honest and ask yourself is that step really necessary or do you do it because it’s just the way you have always done it? Try to avoid resisting change!

If its that latter then that could be your sticking point, if steps need to be removed because they are causing you to get stuck, then we need to find a workaround. Is that particular step 100% necessary? Can it be broken down into 2 steps?

Time yourself!

This one can often freak people out, they can get a panic on when they know they are being timed, but the thing is you need to get an idea of how long something is taking you. But when timing becomes a regular part of the process, remember you are not being timed to see how well or how quick you are doing something, you are using a timer so you don’t overrun on something, as that is a common reason for a task taking longer than it should.

There are just some tasks that can take you on the scenic route, and that is what we need to avoid, things like social media in general, you know what it’s like, one moment you are online to check your stuff and to get content up, and then before you know it, you have come across a video of a dog eating or running away from a kitten, or you have found a video of a cat stuck up a tree you know where I am coming from, and Shelia your mother-in-law posted one of the OMG games ‘what flower are you?’ these are all the things that drive you away from the task in hand, so setting a timer will help you stay on track.

Turn off

This is another tip that many do not seem to do, if you are not working on a certain program but you find it’s a distraction TURN IT OFF, or mute your notifications! It will help I promise you.

These are just a couple of steps you can add into your process, so if you know you will be image sourcing then in your process you could put:

Turn off unnecessary programs and notifications
Set a timer for 20mins
Do not open all stock photo sites, only one at a time
Only pick 5 -10 per sitting
Have a dedicated drive with sub-folders for images

It could be that simple, we are here to create a simplistic, effective, streamlined process to help you through your tasks.

How do you create your processes?

Download my Taming your Social Media e-book, it has a 6 step process on creating content, images, and scheduling your content – get your copy HERE

Monkey Around with Memes

Claire Productivity, Social media, Virtual help October 20, 2017October 19, 2017Outsourcing, Productivity, Small Business, Virtual Assistant 0 Comment

So memes! Most people love a good meme, and frankly, anything visual on the social networks works wonders for your reach. But surprisingly it’s a task that can suck up so much vital time in your working day, you start with all good intentions but before you know it 2 hrs later and you are still no further forward! Yet I was able to create these easily for clients, yet my own was like pulling teeth.

I found that when I started doing these, I felt like I was bobbing up and down in a sea of quotes and images, I would spend a few hours on this task, and by the time my eyes were watering and frankly bored to death of them, I hadn’t really made a dent. It became frustrating and an annoyance, which then made the task a less important one, and one that I did as and when a meme was required.

So, what changed? I re-visited my process (which was non-existent) and pinpointed my stumbling blocks, and believe it or not there were a few. So I went through what frustrates me, what was the need for them, why it wasn’t working and so on.

And now I have a whole new process that seems to be working, remember like with any process, it’s a work in progress, if you need to tweak then do so, don’t wait for it to stop working again, if you find one thing isn’t working then change that one thing, instead of letting it manifest into a bigger problem.

So what did I change?

Themes

I found giving myself themes for each day of the week has given me some clarity, I use these themes to create memes and posts with ease, some days I will use them for motivation other days maybe things that can make your business work better for you.

If you want to work with themes write down the days of the week, and pick a subject that you want to talk about for each day, so for example only, you could say Motivation Monday, Top tips Tuesday and so on, a fantastic way to find ideas is via Twitter, you will find under trending theme days.

Imagery

Ok, so this one is quite possibly my biggest time sucker, I am slightly partial to a good business image, now for me I work alongside my branding, I had my branding done this year by the ever so talented Vicki Nicholson of Branding Therapy, once she completed it all she gave me my guidelines, which consists of my brand colours, fonts etc, I also know that my business, in general, is designed to support mums in business, so that helps me narrow my images, so based on branding, colour and ideal customer it makes that a little quicker, my problem is there are so many lovely images, and at the moment I am still only on the free stock option!

My tips for imagery sourcing

Colours, go with your branding colours, if you have not had your brand done, then go with logo colours, and what you feel makes your business stand out
Go for images that reflect your ideal customer
You don’t have to go with people in images all the time, backdrops, scenery are also very good, and could work better if you chose certain themes
Choose 5-10 at any one time, more than that and you are not really picking because you like them, it’s because you have gone into click overdrive!

Block time

Set yourself 30 minutes a week, I know that doesn’t sound much but It’s enough once you are all set up, now when you first start a new process you might find that you will be spending a few hours a week on this, to perfect your process it will take time. But once it’s how you want it, try to only do 30 mins a week sourcing images and thinking of content.

Concentrate on 4

Ok so my biggest problem when I first started doing these was working on the basis that I had to have one for each day of the month, so was sat down trying to create 30 of these things and was meant to still be in love with them when I finished, when in reality by the 15^th I was sick of them.

So now, I’ve simplified it more, as an example, in October there were 5 Mondays, so at the end of September I created in Canva 5 of my Monday themed memes, transferred them to my other system Trello where I create the content and they were done, so within less than 15 mins all my Monday memes were ready for October, the following day 15 mins set aside and I done 5 Tuesday memes, and so on. I have managed to drop the length of time now as I am into the process, but at the start, I had to set a timer, and this will be the same for you.

Schedule

So once I have done my creating, I start to schedule my memes, I currently only schedule on Facebook, Pinterest and LinkedIn as I feel these are my most relevant platforms, I schedule direct on Facebook by use ContentCal for the rest of my scheduling (love it, it’s so visual), again because you have batched them into themes, you could on a Friday at the end of each month schedule in all Monday and Tuesday posts in one sitting, and so on.

These are some of the slight changes I have made to my meme and general posts to my social media, each of these small changes has given me back more time, and frankly, I find the whole
process less stressful, boring or monotonous.

Give is a go and let me know. Have you got any processes that save you time that you want to share with us?

Don’t forget I can help you with creating these, if you just find that this is something you desperately want to do, but no matter what process you have you just don’t have the time, then get in contact, I am happy to have a chat with you to see if I can I help you move forward from being stuck!

Getting the most out of your day

Claire Benefit, Blogging, Logging Off, New boundaries, Office Hours, Outside your comfort zone, Push yourself, Social media, Uncategorized, Virtual help, Work life balance, Working hours April 26, 2017April 26, 2017Be Kind to yourself, blogging, Boss your business, Business Owner, Distractions, Help, home office, Lack of knowledge, Office hours, Outsourcing, Overworked, Productivity, Self Discipline, Small Business, Time Management, Virtual Assistant, Work Life Balance, Working Hours 1 Comment

Being a business owner is great, I love it, it is so rewarding, I work around my little family, get to do the school engagements, homework and make memories with them.

So, hands up all those that have fun trying to fit everything into their working day! Yep ME, I sometimes open my diary on Monday and think ‘What the heck’ and I can feel myself going into overdrive, but we need to remember we are human! We can only do what we can with the time we have.

National Stationery Week (honest)

I have found some useful hacks to get me through those hectic weeks. See I am a tech loving gal, but I do adore my stationary, a little apt as its National Stationary week this week, (it really is a thing check it out HERE), I do love writing things down, and trust me I have written down notes, keywords for this blog that you are reading now, before I drafted it and posted it to my website. No matter how much I try to move everything to electronic, my inner child just loves going into a stationary shop and buying lush books, pens and other amazing bits and bobs for my desk.

So here are a few hacks that I use to stay in control and get the most out of my work day:

I plan my week on Friday before, or latest on Sunday
Block out any long-standing commitments, I have 2 of these in my working week, and they are blocked out on my electronic diary and my desk diary every week, so I know that Tuesday 9.30-11.00 and Thursday 9.30-11.30 each week are blocked out regardless, I know I cannot book anything in during those times. So I work my other tasks around those times. I also know that I have the school run to do so that is blocked out.
Highlight ‘DFT’ Distraction Free Time, this is the time when all pings, dings and notifications are banished, use this time for when you NEED to have your head down with NO distractions, so turn off your phone, don’t open certain apps and programs. Imagine you are heading into a cave lol – I wrote about it HERE in a previous blog.
Colour coding, for me each of my clients has a colour code, this way it’s easy to see in my diary, who is blocked in where and when, but equally my business has a colour too, and I make sure that I give myself equal time to market and promote my business, as well as my own admin/finances etc.
Use systems to optimise your productivity, I use Trello and Canva, both are incredible in their own right, Trello is my go to program that holds all my social media content past and future, ideas, helpful information like Hashtags, advertising rules for Facebook groups etc, and Canva helps me create amazing images and Memes in a heartbeat.
Find tools that will aid you in progressing your business but not suck up all your time. Social Media alone is one of the biggest time suckers out there, we have all been there, nip on for 2 mins and bang 1hr gone, so use tools like Hootsuite etc to schedule in your daily/weekly posts, I do this every Friday for my content and my clients work, that way I don’t have to worry about it each day, and I haven’t lost stupid amounts of time on social media
Timer, I work with a timer, not only for my client work but for me too, I have noticed that as soon as I click on that go button, my procrastination waivers a little and find I am more productive knowing my timer is going. Before I used this I would happily waste time on what I thought was useful but turns out I was unproductive to my business.
Visible clock, again I have mentioned this before, you need to have a visible clock in your office, you need to be aware of the time you have left on that particular day, and if a task is taking too long, then schedule it for first thing the following day, give yourself a break from it. I have noticed since having a clock in my office I am more aware of my day, crazy I know but for me, it has really worked.
Set an alarm, remember you are not a 24/7 business, you have to eat, sleep, relax and do things you enjoy, you need to remember those office hours, if you do not have office/working hours in place, I urge you to set some this week. And make sure you stick to it. Can you imagine being in your old employed job and your boss tells you that you never log off!!!

These are just a few small hacks I have found very useful to my business, I hope they help you if you have any of your own do share them with us.

Get in touch

If it is becoming apparent that you are struggling to stay on top of your day to day tasks, and you are finding you are having less time to do those things that pull in the money, then why not get in touch, would love to have a chat and see if I can help you. You can connect here

Chat soon,

Are you a habit creature?

Claire Benefit, Blogging, E-Marketing, Learn, New boundaries, New skill, Newsletter, Office Hours, Outside your comfort zone, Push yourself, Social media, Virtual help, Work life balance, Working hours April 11, 2017April 11, 2017Be Kind to yourself, blogging, Boss your business, Business Owner, e-marketing, focus, Help, home office, Lack of knowledge, Outsourcing, Overworked, Productivity, Self Discipline, Working Hours 0 Comment

Habits

We have all read those articles where they tell you ‘wake up at 5 am to become a millionaire’ or ‘drink a green smoothie to become successful’ – I think I have at least one of these articles in my inbox each week, telling me what I need to be doing to become a successful business owner.

Now I can tell you I DO NOT get up at 5 am, that to me is still the middle of the night, and I personally don’t like anything green to eat or drink so a green smoothie will never pass my lips. Ok I can tell you now I am not a millionaire nor would I say I was hugely successful (yet!). What I can tell you, is, my business is producing a wage and I am comfortable.

pinch of salt

I personally don’t think these lists of what you should do, will benefit you in that way, I think you need to read them with a pinch of salt and to use them to perfect your routines, to make you more productive and focused. I think it is great to read these articles and ones alike to see if anything they do could fit into your lifestyle and business routine if it doesn’t then move on.

I believe in normal ‘Sleep and Food’ – I feel eating and sleeping better does improve your productivity levels, whether this will, in turn, you into a millionaire who knows! We all know that when you was based in an office that Friday afternoon slump would kick in about an hour after you and your work colleagues got back from the pub, you know after that massive burger and chips you ate! I know from experience that massive lunch would turn me into the most UNPRODUCTIVE person ever.

Pub burger and chips = unproductive

I also feel that a healthy balance of exercise will help you towards a more productive week. Mixing that with your sleep and food, you should see a massive difference to your attention span during the week.

But none of these things I don’t feel will make you more successful nor do I think will make you a millionaire, these will help you to move forward and become the best you can be, and if that means it helps you create more business, then great, but I do wish these gurus would stop telling us these quick and sure-fire habits will fast track you to success.

You are the reason you are successful, you are the reason your clients what to work with you, not because you have a green smoothie on your desk!

To be honest, if you eat healthily, you exercise regularly, and sleep well you should see huge results in your productivity, use that to your advantage if you find you have more umpfh then use it to benefit you and the business.

So don’t be fooled with all the habits and routines that famous business owners are doing, as that works for them, remember running a business is not a one size fits all. You need to find the routine and habit that works for you and your business.

Right I am off to munch on some random piece of food that has become fashionable

Chat soon folks

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