With the increase in businesses and people using Facebook for marketing it follows that using Google Analytics on your Facebook business page is a must. There is no reason to treat your website any differently to your Facebook pages. To get the most from your investment in them, you need to know what your visitors are doing so you can make appropriate changes if necessary.

Facebook provides ‘Insights’ for your business page, these are useful but limiting. Statistics provided are limited to active users, daily likes, daily post views and daily post feedback.

Google Analytics provides a far more comprehensive set of information. Statistics will show specific page views, bounce rate and time spent on your site. You will learn where your visitors are located and which browser they use to find you. With all this knowledge you can optimise your pages and use to improve your marketing strategies. With all this knowledge you can change your website and Facebook pages to increase conversions and make more money online.

Google Analytics has built in automation so you can receive reports however often you like, direct into your Inbox. Then you can see where your visitors are spending there time and whether you need to alter pages to benefit from this information.

One of the limitations of Facebook fan pages is they can only run limited JavaScript. Google Analytics needs JavaScript code included on a page to correctly track visitors in the traditional way.  However, there is a new solution.  Using free and opensource FBGAT (Facebook Google Analytics Tracker), you can get Google Analytics working on your Facebook fan page. You may be able to install the solution yourself if you know HTML/FBML and have some experience with using Google Analytics.

Would you like to have Google Analytics added to your Facebook Business page? If so, please contact us and we can help.

Why? Because it’s a title (like an accountant or a coach) and doesn’treally tell them anything about what I do and how I add value to my clients’ businesses.

So what would I tell them instead?

My answer is that I’m a business problem solver (or a productivity expert specialising in online marketing depending on who I’m talking to). Because that’s exactly what I do. Let’s look at a few examples of problems that you could have and how we here at TJConsulting can provide you with a solution.

Your Problem:You wish you had time to create an e-book from your blog content, articles or other original content, but you don’t even know where to start.
Our Solution: Send us your material and we can create that e-book for you,complete with images, links, exquisite formatting and proofreading. We will then set it up a product in your shopping cart along with a 3D product image to promote the ebook on your site.

Your Problem: You wish you didn’t have to run to your web developer every time you needed a special event or announcement added to your website. Or maybe you wish you could just give the entire site a facelift: for example, you’d love your WordPress site to have a more customised look, or at least a customised header and colours.
Our Solution: Let us help you move your website to WordPress, and make it super easy to add those special announcements and little tweaks. We can give it a fresh new look, with all the benefits of great SEO and social media integration.

Your Problem: You have a blog that’s been doing nothing since after the first 2 posts you managed to publish. You feel that you just don’t have time to blog!
Our Solution: You would be pleasantly surprised how much easier it will become when you send your draft content and let us complete it with links, keywords, images and proofread.

Your Problem: You are aware that using email marketing helps keep your business visible to clients, but you are not sure how to actually get started.
Our Solution: We can help you choose the perfect service for your email marketing campaigns, design a user friendly template, set up integration with your website and social media, create and implement an email marketing strategy to get your offers out to your clients on a regular basis.

Your Problem:You need to create a presentation for a conference you are speaking at but slideshows take forever to create.
Our Solution: Send us the material (Word document, hand-written or drawn slides, notes, links to online resources etc.) to be included along with your desired branding and we can create a PowerPoint template and slides for you. You will save time, stop feeling all frustrated with new technology and will get a fabulous looking, all singing and dancing, PowerPoint presentation.

Your Problem: You’ve managed to get a big report completed but don’t have time to format it.
Our Solution: We can help with formatting, styles, layouts, proofreading and creating a table of contents. You will get a consistency formatted and professionally looking document back saving you time and effort.

Your problem’s not listed? We are confident we’ve got the solution though.

Send us your problems by commenting on this blog, e-mailing directly or tweeting to find out how we can solve them (or enhance your personal productivity and business revenues by strategically implementing relevant online tools and an effective online marketing strategy – depending on how many clever long words I’m using when talking to someone!).

Without a business plan, how can you, or any one else involved with your business, judge where you are? You can have the best business coach in the world, be motivated and have a fantastic idea but a plan makes the difference between disappearing into the darkness or becoming a shining light in your niche. With business plan in hand, you and others involved with your business can time-line and measure your progress. You can tell when you are ahead in your game or dreadfully out of alignment and therefore need to alter your website to regain your audience and customers.

Business plan:
There are several different ways to create a marketing plan to promote your online presence. Your local Chamber of Commerce may offer free or discounted business planning and development resources to members and non-members or you can try the do-it-yourself way with Marketing Plan Pro by John Jantsch ,powered by Duct Tape Marketing.( It is a simple, practical marketing plan software that makes it easy to plan and carry out the marketing activities you need to grow your business.) Another approach is to find a coach or consultant that specialises in creating marketing plans.

Marketing:
With a business plan in place, now is the time to activate your marketing. If you find yourself without the resources to put the plan into action, use Duct Tape Marketing principles to get things moving until you can hire additional resources. A virtual assistant or online business manager may be an alternative. Paying per hour reduces the costs but gains you experienced help for putting your business plan into action. With a business plan in place, all those involved in moving your business forward are aware of your goals.

Steady as you go:
Now you have a plan in place, you have identified the resources to implement; now it’s time to set off. If you have limited resources, aim for a slow, steady approach and find a rhythm that works with your available resources.

Measure:
The results of your marketing plan and strategies need to be measured and assessed for effectiveness on a regular basis. Do you have an e-newsletter or e-mail signup on your site? How many are subscribed? Or unsubscribe? Aweber and other e-mail/e-newsletter programs generally have reports so you can tell how well different campaigns have worked. Google analytics tracks site visits, page visits and time spent on your site so you can analyse how well each page is working. In the beginning, don’t try and track everything but be aware that the information is there when you are ready. With your reports and knowledge gained from these, you can develop consistency in your marketing to build and grow your business.

That’s why many small business owners use one of the 3 types of business calls delegation: call answering, call handling or call managing.

Call answering is the simplest and the cheapest form of virtual reception. Usually it’s handled by teams of people so that there is always someone available to answer incoming calls. Call centres have advanced IT systems installed, that tell them in an instant which company the call is for, how they need to answer it and how to pick up a message. The conversation will go something like this:

Virtual Receptionist: [your company name], good morning! [their name] speaking. How may I help you?
Caller: Good morning. I’d like to speak to [your name] please.
VR: [your name] is not available right now / out of the office / away in a meeting. Would you like to leave a message?
Caller: Yes please. [introduce themselves, leave a message and a phone number]
VR: I will pass the message straight to [your name] once he/she gets back to the office. Thank you very much for your call!

What’s the benefit of this service? You don’t rely on the voicemail machine any more. Your phone is answered quicker. Callers are more inclined to leave a message, rather than listen to a voicemail recording. You will receive the message via email and/or a text message and can decide if it is so urgent that you have to stop what you are doing and return the call as soon as possible. This service is usually used by businesses that only need to divert their phones on rare occasions and/or have a small calls volume.

Next level is call handling. A professional call handler knows as much as possible about the business or the person they are answering the call for. In this case they can not only take a message but are able to assist the caller with simple tasks, that won’t require your attention. For example, call handlers can provide information about the business (address, opening hours, how to contact the business, how to request a refund, how to make a purchase, where to find certain information on the website). They can deal with enquiries such as booking an appointment in your diary, taking a new order/payment, chasing a delivery, sending promotional materials. Finally, they can take a more detailed messages, pre-qualify new leads, prioritise urgent matters and in some cases connect those calls directly to your private mobile.

The main benefit of call handling, above those of call answering, is that you usually have the same person(s) dealing with your calls. You can train them how the calls need to be answered, they learn more about your business, your systems and operations. Efficient call handlers save you time by dealing with simple matters that you don’t have to be involved with yourself. This service works best for someone who needs their business phones to be manned most of the time, who would like to offer a better customer service without wasting their own precious time to deal with mundane enquiries.

Finally, there is call management. It can work instead or alongside call answering/handling. The key difference is that you, as a business owner, will hardly ever answer any of the calls or messages yourself. Instead, your business manager will. A business manager is someone who works alongside you on all key projects, who know the business inside out, who has access to most systems, documents and information. Typically, a virtual assistant who is heavily involved in supporting your business, could act as your business manager. In this scenario, once the message is taken by one of the two call diversion services, it will be sent to your business manager. The business manager will then either deal with the message or pass it on to you. If you delegated down enough of your responsibilities you will find that most of the messages can be dealt with by your business manager, rather than you.

Some virtual call answering or call handling businesses promote themselves as virtual PAs or virtual assistants. This has been causing a lot of confusion amongst small business owners. But you can see clearly now that it’s not the same. Not all virtual assistants will be available to answer your phones throughout the business hours. And not all virtual receptionists will have enough knowledge and understanding about your business to be able to handle the messages.

So next time you are switching on the voicemail to get some work done or to attend a meeting, think about using a professional call diversion service.

You should definitely consider outsourcing vs do-it-yourself when:

There are many advantages to outsourcing. Most of those start with “you don’t”:

What “you do” get is quite important to any small business:

So how do you go about outsourcing your workload to other business professionals?

1. List all the tasks in your business that you are currently doing yourself or would like to get done, but never have the time or skills to complete
2. Work methodically through your list, asking yourself “If I don’t do this myself, regardless of how experienced/intelligent/well-trained my partner is, will my business grow?” Move the task into the YES column (it can be outsourced) or NO column (you will still have to do it yourself for now).
3. If you are honest with yourself you will be surprised how many items on your list will move into the YES column!
4. Next you need to group them into business areas: finance, administration, HR, production, research, sales, IT, etc.
5. Finally you will need to find suitable partners who can assist you with one or more areas from your list. You may find it easier to manage less suppliers each dealing with a large number of tasks, or find a business manager who will manage as many smaller suppliers as you need to complete each individual task.

What next? Repeat the process with your NO list every 3-6 months. The more you outsource, the more liberating it will feel. The more you will be able to let go next time you are going through the process.

To gain the most advantage from outsourcing you will need to manage the relationship with your suppliers by having regular reviews of the tasks you outsourced, results they have achieved, processes you asked them to follow, your goals and expectations.

Our final piece of advice: No matter how good your supplier is, don’t expect them to get everything right 100% from the beginning. They don’t know your business like you do. They will have questions and will need your guidance around your expectations, processes and systems. And they certainly are not mind-readers! So clear and concise communication is the key to a successful outsourcing relationship.

A way around this is to ‘outsource’ where possible your office and business requirements. So let’s look at the different areas of Outsourcing.

Secretarial and Administration Services

• Secretarial and Administration services can be found in a variety of companies, from a firm that simply takes your phone messages, to a company that will deal with all your daily requirements, from diary management to online marketing. Draw up a list of your requirements and expectations before you start your research to make it easier to find the right provider.
• You may find that you will need to hire more than 1 virtual assistant to cover all your needs: someone can be answering your phones while another VA could specialise in copy writing.
• Prices for virtual assistant services vary greatly based on location and skills. The cheapest doesn’t mean the worst quality though – take into account the location and cost of running a business there/living, experience, the complexity of the task, any special equipment or software a virtual assistant needs to have in place in order to complete jobs like yours.
• Not all virtual assistants answer phones, same as not all virtual assistants can create an email marketing campaign. If you have to have an all-in-one provider it may take you longer to find someone who can do it all for you.
• Outsourcing abroad is generally cheaper, but you will need to spend much more time finding the right virtual assistant. Someone who not only can do the job, but can understand your instructions, can communicate well in English and can deliver work within the deadlines of your timezone.
• You may not have work required every day, and some months are busier than others, so by using an outsourced company, you will only be paying for the hours worked.

Accounts, book-keeping and payroll requirements.

• Employing a book-keeper in the office may suit you, but for many businesses the amount of work may vary from month to month or not be sufficient for someone working full or part-time.
• There are many accounting services out there to choose from. The trick is to find one that will tailor the work around you and only charge a sensible fee.
• For Year End accounts, tax returns etc., agree a set fee prior to the commencement of work, rather than working on an hourly rate, that way if there are any ‘complications’ you will not be incurring any additional costs. Fees charged may vary widely from £600 to £1500 for the same work, so it’s always good to shop around and ask for recommendations.

Human Resources

• If you employ staff  - you need to be aware of the HR regulations, covering staff contracts, grievances, dismissal procedures, wages, whether PAYE or Self employed etc.
• This can be a real minefield, especially with new legislation coming out all the time. But using a HR manager may not be feasible or necessary. Once you have a system set up, then you may only need to use the company again on occasion.

Consultants

• Management consultants promise to make your business more efficient. A good Management Consultant will look at your business and what you already have in place and advise on areas they feel can be changed or added to, in order to benefit the business and the cash flow. Their initial basic advice can often be free of charge until you request a more in-depth review.
• A Business Consultant may offer the services as above, but generally they would be there to advise on the general running of a business, the rules and regulations, government legislation and to make sure that your company is running as legally as required for staffing, insurance, health & safety etc.
• Finally, you will find consultants specialising in one specific area of running the business: Tax, Marketing, PR, Sales, Training, IT, Telecoms, Web, SEO and many more. When choosing someone to do work for you it’s usually the best place to start by asking others for recommendations of consultants they’ve used in the past. Compare the rates, what’s included, and don’t forget the all important personality and values.

All in all, outsourcing and delegation can be of great benefit to the smaller business. If you can find one company to undertake all the tasks of accounting, administration and consultancy, then that can prove more efficient and cost less. It’s a case of finding the services and the providers that suit you and your business. And apart from using recommendations you can search online directories for relevant professions or advertise your requirements on sites like elance, peopleperhour, LinkedIn and Twitter.

So how can we keep our businesses profitable in tough economic times?

Sell more to your existing customers – you have already created rapport, trust and proved your credibility to them. Use bundles when selling: as your customers decide to buy one product you can offer them another. You can also add low cost bonuses to your offer that have high perceived value – ebooks, member-only sites, consulting, e-reports, etc. And never forget about viral marketing on the Internet!

Create joint venture deals with other businesses and cross promote your products or services. You will reach a wider audience at less cost. Trade advertising with other businesses, find complementary products or services through networking. Start an affiliate program for your business. Less money on advertising, yet more guaranteed sales!

Outsource part of your workload. Outsourcing to a freelancer can be a great alternative compared with hiring someone full or part time. This will save on employee costs, taxes, equipment and office space, expansion, recruitment. Furthermore you will get the flexibility of only using as much or as little of the service as you need – catering for idle periods over holidays and busy times when you have a lot of orders. Why do you need someone helping in your business? Well we can’t all be equally good at everything or equally love all parts of the business. Tasks like book-keeping, call handling, setting up sales pages, marketing, telesales – can all be handled by experienced and able professionals.

Follow up with all prospects. You will need a good Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to enter any leads as you find them and keep track of any communications between you by phone, email, fax or in person. Set yourself reminders to chase leads regularly and see if their needs change thus creating you an opportunity to offer your products or services.

Traditionally, company phone systems have been a costly, but necessary means of keeping in touch with employees and customers. PBX phone systems were originally credited with helping to lower overhead costs as they eliminated the need for separate phone lines. Yet, costs for maintaining these systems have remained high. Much like the Internet telephony systems available to consumers in their homes, business VoIP services are springing up to serve small and medium sized businesses everywhere. Business VoIP calls are routed through Internet wiring for a much cheaper alternative than the traditional phone system. Gone is the need for a receptionist to screen and redirect calls, the VoIP PBX system can be set up to do that for you. You can implement a VoIP system as little as one line and as large as a call centre. Some can work with your existing equipment and phone/broadband. And many will offer extra benefits like call diversion rules, custom greetings, group pickup for many agents, e-fax and e-conference centre, call waiting, voice mail forwarding to email account, etc. Our Pro-iPBX VoIP system has been a lifesaver here in TJConsulting on many occasions! And you can always use your favourite call answering service with your VoIP system too.

Work out what you’re best at and express it clearly on all marketing material – niche marketing is a simpler and more profitable way to grow your business, rather than trying to be everything for everyone. The more detailed your customer avatar is – the simpler it will be for you to find them, connect with them and offer something of value. To start creating your customer avatar think of the following questions:

• Who is my ideal customer? Who would I like to work with?
• Are they able to pay my fees? Will they be willing to pay my fees?
• What problem do they have in life, that my offering will help them solve?
• Why is it important to get it solved?
• How many of those customers are out there in the marketplace?
• WHERE… (do they work? Where do they study? Where do they live?)
• WHAT… (do they eat, drink, read, listen to, are interested in?)
• HOW… (do they look for new products or services, do they choose their suppliers, do they pay the bills?)

Talk to current and former clients to understand if they want the services you offer - there is no better way to find out if people want what you set out to deliver than actually asking them!  Talk to your ex-colleagues, people you know in business, create a survey and email it to your contacts. At the end you will have a statistics to hand to show whether your business proposition is viable.

Keep marketing even when you’re snowed under with work – many solopreneurs go through the same business cycle of  ”no work – marketing – lots of work – no marketing – no work”. It may be hard to find time when you are already busy. But by carefully managing your time and finding a few chunks of 60-90min per week to do your marketing will help you smooth the flow of work and ensure that you don’t end up with too many of those “no work” periods. Many marketing strategies are designed for ongoing marketing based on building relationships. Such strategies work best when you regularly commit to doing something over and over again, regardless of the amount of time/work you have at the moment: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, other social media, networking, blogging, etc.

Invoice promptly and chase for payment as soon as its due – if you have done your job well you should get paid for it. And being late with your invoice can show your business as unorganised. Plus it means you are giving your customers a free credit, instead of earning interest on their payment in your own bank account. If you are really late with your invoice – the customer may forget about the benefits of your product or service, may ask for changes or extra work before the invoice gets paid or simply go out of business in the current climate. Can you really afford to lose your income like that?

Keep careful records of expenses for tax purposes – trying to do a year’s worth of accounts actually at the end of the year is more expensive, more stressful and there is a deadline which you can’t miss. Much better way is to keep track of your income and expenses throughout the year and keep your book-keeping system up-to-date. Losing claimable business expenses (especially if paid by cash) could mean that you will have to pay more tax than you should. So speak now to your accountant to see if they offer a book-keeping service, set up your system to do it yourself and get your virtual assistant to help with book-keeping on the regular basis (TJConsulting can offer great deals for our book-keeping customers using Xero or KashFlow systems).

Always use a contract or send clients your terms and conditions, however small the job – make sure your contract has been checked by a solicitor before you start using it. Not sending your contract through for a “small job” can potentially leave you open to payment disputes, invalidation of your business and/or professional indemnity insurance, claims against your business. Better being safe in the knowledge and both parties have clear expectations and know the rules – so spend that 15-30min to draft your contract and get it signed before starting any assignment. Finally, if the client wants you to sign their own agreement – get it checked first by a solicitor to ensure that there will be no unpleasant surprises later.

Put at least 30% of what you earn aside to cover tax and unexpected gaps in income – August and Christmas time are traditionally quiet in the UK. In any country there will be periods when a lot of people take time off to go on holidays. So cover yourself for such gaps you need to ensure there is enough cash in the business. Another issue to consider is tax. Unlike being employed, when your tax is taken off the salary before it’s transferred to your bank account, when you are running a business you need to remember that taxes are due quarterly or yearly in most cases and prepare for it. Your accountant can give you an estimate of how much tax will be due to ensure that you have enough cash set aside to cover those bills when the time comes.

BONUS TIP: Being a solopreneur doesn’t mean you are alone – although you won’t have a water cooler where you can chat to your colleagues, you can find people in similar position to buddy up with. LinkedIn has a large number of groups specific for industries, interests or locations where you can talk to other professionals, exchange tips and experience. Online and offline networking can offer a sense of community and interaction. Finally, having a business coach or a mentor can offer guidance, support and a sounding board for your ideas. Some of our clients regularly have a business briefing sessions when we help them to sort out their ideas and projects, create a structured system of what needs to get done when, offer a sympathetic ear for their business problems – one of the reasons to hire a virtual assistant.

What’s your top business tip? Please share with other readers!

The answer is simple. Would you use a typewriter to prepare a proposal for your customer? Probably not. Same reasoning applies to managing your customer data. The business database is one of the most important assets in your business and, if used properly, it can generate a steady stream of income each time you turn to it.

A database is essentially a collection of information about something, in this case – about your customers and prospects. The main benefits over collecting paper cards are:

Why would you need one? There isn’t a business type out there now that doesn’t need a database! If you do any networking, it’s a pointless waste of time and money without a proper follow up on leads and new contacts. If you are trying to drive traffic to your website it’s a waste of resources if you don’t capture details of your visitors. If you invest in advertising your shop you have to get everyone’s details in order to get them through the door again.

There are plenty of tools out there now, all aiming to make it easier for business owners to manage their data effectively. For example:

The principle is the same across all tools: you import your data from any email program’s contacts or business cards. Sort it and arrange it into categories, tags, groups etc.

We recommend using Capsule CRM to our customers. It’s very easy to use, you can share access with many users and you don’t have to be a techie in order to use it effectively. The benefits however are very important:

For those who have lots of paper cards that need to be converted into electronic format we have a special offer: up to 100 cards entered into Capsule, system setup and training – all for £85+VAT. Find out more about the offer here.

Or, if you would like to find out more and get your questions answered, join us together with Oma Edoja (client attraction coach from GetClearGetKnownGETCLIENTS.com) for a free webinar on Thursday, 22 July at 8pm BST. Recording will later be available for sale (so don’t miss out to learn it first-hand while it’s free). To secure your place while the last few are still available click here to register.

How do you rate your time management skills? Do you feel you get a lot done every day? Do you plan your day to the last detail or just “go with the flow” and deal with whatever landed on your desk/in your inbox? Whichever category you are in, it’s important that you take time to analyse what’s working for you and make adjustments where necessary.

I’m someone who’s fond of written to-do lists. I’ve got my hardcover diary where I scribble every day my lists and feel great emotional empowerment once all items on my to-do list have been ticked off. I add my meetings there too, any trivial household tasks like getting the shopping or doing the school run. In this way I know exactly how much time I’ve got between “fixed” commitments and can schedule and organise the rest of the tasks in between those.

Here are some tips from the born organisers (aka “virtual PAs”) for organising your day:

1. Write it down.
Make a list and write everything down – on paper, on computer, in Excel, on iPhone or Blackberry. It doesn’t matter where but it’s got to be written! You may be shocked, surprised and overwhelmed looking at your list of ‘to do’s’. But don’t despair – as they will all get done, if you follow the steps below. Also, don’t forget to schedule lunch in your diary, especially if you find yourself often working through your lunch break!

Another tip I’ve picked up from Nigel Botterill (UK top entrepreneur) – “this day isn’t over until tomorrow is planned”. Don’t stop the work until you’ve done the list. In this way you won’t waste time in the morning and you will be more likely to stick to your list/plan rather than changing everything because of an email that landed in the Inbox overnight.

2. Prioritise.

The next step is to number each item on your to-do list in importance of completion starting at 1 for most important and so on. Think strategically – where do you want your business to be in the next 3-6 months? Will this activity help you to get there quicker? If something just has to be done today and there is no excuse for not getting it done put it at number one.
Next estimate how long each task will take. Beware of time sappers – emails, social networking, browsing… It may seem that checking emails will only take 5 minutes but before you know it you could spend 3 hours of your day just reading and responding to messages! Be realistic about what you can get done in a day.

3. Delegate.

Go through your list and delegate things that don’t specifically need your attention. There are so many tasks that could actually be done by others: book-keeping, email marketing, arranging travel, posting a blog article, research, chasing invoices to name a few. Why not use your VA for those things? Or if you feel that a particular area of your business takes too much time because you are not an expert (sales, marketing, IT, HR, etc.) – why not hire a professional consultant? It may look expensive from the outset but a good professional adviser will save you money and time in the long run.

4. Use your list!

There is not point in writing your list and then never looking at it again. Your list is one of the most important tools that help you manage your business and your time. Therefore once you’ve arrived at work – open your list and get on with it from Priority 1 down. Try to use concentrated effort to get things done quicker (e.g. a short period of time when you have no distractions from the task in hand). Take short breaks between tasks to answer calls or read emails. Then go back to your list.

5. Things happen… Be cool!

We wish we could be in control of everything but we are not. A delivery may be late, a project could go pear-shaped, a subcontractor can let you down. Your list will have to be put on hold to solve an issue that’s threatening your business right now. In this situation don’t stress: getting frustrated and upset about this interruption is only a waste of your time. Deal with an issue as soon as you can and go back to your list.

6. Plans for Short and Long.

Ideally you need to have 2 separate lists. One – short-term actions, items that need doing today/tomorrow. You will be re-arranging and re-planning this list every day. Your second list is the list of your long-term business goals. For example, you would like to launch an email training course for your customers in 4 months. It’s a long-term goal. But then you need to start working backwards and figure out small, manageable steps to take today and tomorrow to achieve this big goal.

There is no point just adding the big goal to your today’s list as you won’t be able to do it. But referring to the goal and the list of actions required to achieve it – you can add those along with other items and complete everything in time.

7. Analyse and review.

At the end of the day look at your your list. Have you managed to achieve everything? If not, what went wrong? What can you do next time to prevent it? Can you delegate even more? Review what’s left to do, plan your list for tomorrow and the check your long-term plan.

Finally, if you have never made lists before it may seem time consuming and limiting. Try it though and give it some time! Very quickly it will become a habit – something that you will do without thinking. You will find yourself more productive, achieving more every day.

You will master the time… so how will you use it?

So what works for you? I’d love to hear your comments.