10 Online Experts Share Their Top Time-Management Tips

As an entrepreneur, it’s essential that you know how to manage your time efficiently. Good time management skills will help you to avoid burnout, increase your productivity, stay motivated, and allow you to focus on what really needs to be done. But practicing good time management can be easier said than done. One of the benefits of being an entrepreneur is the freedom that comes with working for yourself, without having a boss breathing down your neck. But often, the more freedom we have with our time, the less productive we are. So as an entrepreneur, how do you manage your time efficiently? I posed the question to 10 successful online entrepreneurs, and they were kind enough to share some awesome tips on how they manage their time. These people are killing it online, so I’m really excited to share their best time-management tips for online entrepreneurs.

Time-Management Tips for Online Entrepreneurs

Gina Horkey from Horkey Handbook

Work will take up as much time as we give it – it’s not about how many hours there are in a day, but how much we get out of each hour. Blows your mind when you read that, right? But it’s completely true, which is why we need to hone in on our MITs (most important tasks) and crosscheck that they’re also our highest ROI (return on investment) activities – especially if we’re limited on time! For many entrepreneurs, that should include some sort of marketing, but their schedules don’t reflect that.

Corinne Kerston from CorinneKerston.com

To be honest, I’ve never been great at time management. But as an entrepreneur and a mom, time management is essential. The biggest thing that has helped me is knowing when I’m most productive, and making the most of that time. So for me, it’s morning time after the kids have gone to school and the caffeine has kicked in. I also batch things during my productive time. So if I’m working on blog posts,  I’m doing a couple posts that day. If I’m working on course lessons or an email sequence,  I’ll do it all together so I don’t lose that momentum I’ve built up.

*For other time management and maximizing ideas, you can take Corinne’s free 6-day Maximize Your Time challenge.

David Carlson from Young Adult Money

As someone who has a couple of online businesses but also works a full-time job, I’ve learned just how important time management is.

My first tip is to keep a calendar.  Schedule as much of your time as possible, including setting aside specific time to work on your business.  Life happens and your schedule will change unexpectedly from time-to-time, but making your best effort to schedule your time is going to go a long way in managing your business.  It will also force you to make the most of your limited time each day and week.

My second tip is to not let the urgent get in the way of the important.  The best way to do this is to keep a to-do list to identify exactly what needs to get done.  Besides getting in the habit of keeping a to-do list you will also want to continually prioritize your to-do list.  You can’t get to everything so it’s important to ask yourself questions like what’s the most important items on my list?  What will contribute most to the long-term success of my business?  It’s natural to prioritize urgent items, but they may not be adding the most long-term value to your business.

Alexa Mason from Single Moms Income

My best tip for time management as an online entrepreneur is to stop doing all of the unnecessary tasks! When I first got started building my blog and freelance writing business I would spend countless hours doing tasks that weren’t getting me anywhere. Now I can easily identify what gets me closer to my goals and what I’m doing that’s just a waste of time. I think it’s a good idea for online entrepreneurs, especially those strapped for time, to take a good look at their to-do list, be brutally honest with themselves and focus only on the things that really move the needle.

Brian from Debt Discipline

It sounds simple, but I always try and plan ahead. Brainstorming topic and post ideas at least one month ahead. This way it gives me time to research and complete all of the writing, editing, photos, etc. It gives me a buffer too if something unexpected occurs at home or in my regular nine to five. This way my online venture does not suffer.

Gee Nonterah from My Online Biz Journey

I feel like you will never have the time to do ALL the things you want to do in your business because there are so many great things you could be doing. However, I find that choosing a single focus and then working on that until it is done ends up being a better use of my time rather than trying to manage what little time I have when there are just so many great things I could be doing.

Kayla Sloan from Shoeaholic No More

I’d say the best things to do to manage your time as an online entrepreneur is to manage your energy levels. Know when you work best and do you most difficult tasks then. When your energy level is lower, you can focus on easier tasks. You don’t have to work 9-5 anymore, so figure out a schedule that works best for you.

Kecia Hambrick from Online Income Mom

Create a to-do list at the end of every day. You will start work each morning knowing what needs to get done. Also, do things in batches. For example, write 3 blog posts, then find/edit all photos for them, schedule them to post, then schedule their social media shares. Batch work keeps you focused on the task at hand so you aren’t moving from one thing to another and having to refocus your attention — and it keeps you from getting distracted!

Chonce from My Debt Epiphany

Work during the hours you are most productive. Most people aren’t at their highest productivity level during a typical work day but when you focus and work during the time you feel most productive you can get a lot done. For example, I’m a morning person, so I try to knock out all my heavy work early in the day.

One of the hardest parts of being an entrepreneur is that if you don’t do billable work, you don’t get paid. Unless you have admin tasks already built into your contract with clients, put some type of schedule in place so you can have time for unpaid work like going through your email, promoting yourself, sending invoices etc. so you’re not spending too much time on it.

Also another thing I do is set fake deadlines since I tend to work well under a little pressure. If I really need to get something done, I will pretend like it’s due by lunch or the end of my work day so that I focus and get it done and out the way. Nothing is worse for an online entrepreneur than work piling up.

Kristin from Believe in a Budget

I’ve really learned how to work smarter, not harder.  I think it’s really important to find your golden hour, which is the period of time during the day you are the most productive. I’ve found that I’m most productive early in the morning from 5am to noon, especially between 5-7am. While it’s tempting to check my emails first thing in the morning and work on trivial tasks, I try to focus on projects that will benefit my blog and business first when I have the most energy!

Do you have any other tips for time management?

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