Managing Your Daily Tasks

Let me ask you a question. How often has any of the following thoughts occurred to you?

“I seriously don’t have enough time!”

“Oh no, how could I forget that task?”

“How am I expected to manage SO many things at once?”

Roughly, atleast once a day huh? It used to happen to me, too. Being a part of a small business means that you will naturally have a hundred things on your mind. And when you can’t manage all your tasks and responsibilities, it’s guaranteed chaos.

So it was only recently that I discovered the value of a little something called ‘To-Do lists.’ It’s a simple enough concept, (and quite an obvious one, if you think about it) but so often, most of us fail to do it.

All you need to do is spend some time, as soon as you come to work/school (that’s right –  do not check email the first thing in the morning!) to think

about your day/week ahead. Trust me, you will realize soon enough that those 15 minutes are not a waste of time!

Use some  trusted system to jot down your notes and lists – something that you will keep looking at an ongoing basis. This way, you do not need to bother about losing out on doing any important tasks, because you will keep going back to that system regularly. A pencil and scratchpad would do just fine, as long as you’re comfortable with it. (P.S: I recently started using Microsoft’s One Note and I’ve become a huge fan ever since). This way you can also link it to your calendar to mark tasks that need to be delivered by a particular time. Tip: Use that system to also jot down ideas that occur to you while you are working.

Always write down ‘actionable items’ in your list. For instance lets say your task for the day is to “Finish project X”. What would be the first thing you would do to finish Project X that day? Call Bob? Go to Google? Run down to the library for a reference book? Whatever it is, write that Step 1 down. Makes your job a whole lot organized.

Do you have any special tips to manage your daily

routine? Do let us know!

Essential Tips for Starting a Small Business Blog

Blogging is serious business. Almost every small business owner realizes the significance of maintaining a regular, updated blog on his/her website. Not only does it help in search marketing, it is also a great way of connecting with your customers.

Lee Odden recently wrote a good post on AllBusiness.com about tips for starting a small business blog. The article explains what thought processes must take place before you start a blog for your website.

The article talks about how much important it is to identify your goals and target audience. Odden also gives useful tips about technicalities such as design, choice of blog hosting software, analytics, RSS Feeds etc. We also get to know various ways of linking your blog posts’ feed to status updates in Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social bookmarking and networking sites.

Odden mentions that it is a good idea to have specific ‘categories’ to segregate your blog posts, as this will help in managing your content better. He also suggests keyword research before deciding the categories, which I think is an excellent idea to

get relevant traffic as well as links.

You can read the entire article here. Please share your own tips about blogging in the comments section!

Networking – The Key to Unlock Small Business Growth

What is the mantra for success of your business? Introducing new products? Big ad campaigns? Networking? No. It’s relationships!

Networking sounds like wiring. And many people network like wiring – they make it messy

and they want to extract something out of it.

Networking is not exchanging business cards! It’s about connecting with people. That is how you can help them. Darcy Rezac (in the book “The frog and the prince”) defines it as “discovering what you can do for someone else.” (Source: Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of Schmoozing)

Relationships are about Caring for OthersNetworking – The Key to Unlock Small Business Growth

Just today, I heard this podcast (Jackie Speier, Former State Senator and Deborah Stephens, Center for Innovative Leadership at Stanford) where Deborah talked about relationships and she said, “I don’t think we have to network. We have to build Relationships. Relationships are about caring about someone.” And caring is reflected in how we listen to people, and how much we help others, how much you want to meet people, and how much time can you spare for others just to help. And you have a ton of such opportunities in business.

Wonders Relationships Do to Small Businesses

I cannot think of p2w2 without relationships. Every step we have taken until now was made possible because we had someone who helped us along the way.

Relationships are so important – they help you reach a higher orbit. You get new opportunities because someone knows you. They help you keep your business in a tough economy. They help you in hiring, financing your company (friends and family are the biggest and the first source of financing small businesses), in purchasing (you know deals before others!), and of course in selling (referrals). Relationships could be the essence of building a business.

If you have great relationships, you can survive the biggest challenges in the market, competition or otherwise.

So how would you network? err.. build relationships?

Networking – The Key to Unlock Small Business Growth

About the author: Chaitanya Sagar is the Co-Founder and CEO of p2w2, an online marketplace for services like writing, software, graphic design, virtual assistance, business consulting and research. He is fascinated by entrepreneurship and the difference technology can make in people’s lives. Chaitanya blogs at p2w2 blog (RSS) and tweets at www.twitter.com/Chaitanya.

Picture credits: Theeerin, techcocktail