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I'm seven months into a home based business that I started out of necessity. I became unemployed in 2009, and haven't worked more than temporary jobs since then. What that means is that I have to maximize my earning potential every day. I don't get the luxury of earning an hourly wage while I'm surfing Facebook and waiting for something to do. When I'm not working, I'm not earning any money. Checking email, researching, drumming up clients, and marketing are all part of my new business, but those things are not immediate income producing activities. I get paid per project when I complete the project. So what I've realized is that I can research, email and look for clients, but I'm not making any money unless I'm finishing projects. If I have 10 projects on my desk and I complete none of them, I earned nothing. It doesn't matter what I thought I was doing, I wasn't earning money.
Time Management
Time management has become increasingly important the further along I go in my business. If I'm not working, I'm not getting paid. I also need to keep track of the things I need to do every day and check them off as I complete them. To help me with this task, I bought an 8 by 11 calendar and I write everything down in my calendar that I need to complete every day before I go to bed. Those items include projects I'm working on, waking up, eating, napping, gym time, and everything else I need to complete every day. The reason I include personal tasks is because those items take up valuable time, and I need to know how much time I'm spending on everything including work. I also write down the worth of each project as I complete them. This helps me keep track of how much money I'm earning every day.
Stop Watch
When I worked for a traditional company, I got up in the morning, got dressed, showered, ate breakfast, went to work, punched a time clock and got paid. When the day was over, I left and didn't think about work until the following day. I don't get that luxury anymore. I think about work 24 hours a day every day even when I'm not specifically working. That constant thinking tricks me into believing I'm working when I'm not working. My solution was to use I stop watch. I actually use the stop watch on my cell phone.
When I start working, and I am doing nothing but working and earning money, I start the stop watch. When I get up to eat, use the bathroom or do anything else I stop the stop watch. This helps me keep track of the actual hours I work and allows me to put a wage on those hours. If I work five hours and make $50, I make 10 dollars an hour. Running my own business means I need to know that wage. I need to know how productive I'm actually being and how long I'm actually working.
The results have surprised me. I thought I was working 12 hour days and still not earning enough money. What I found when I started using a stop watch was that I was actually working two hours a day and spending eight hours checking email, researching, corresponding with clients and surfing the internet. No wonder I was only making $20 a day! I kept getting lost between the kitchen and bathroom and my computer. Needless to say, clocking myself into work via a stop watch has made me more aware of how much I work and how much money I'm making when I'm working. The combined effort has increased my income by 75%.
More from this contributor:
First Person: Surviving On $16,000 a Year After Taxes
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