The Benefit Of Theme Days On Your Time Management

There are some tasks that fit quite nicely into a theme day.

• Social media
• Writing articles
• Blogging
• Admin
• Updating accounts
• Invoicing clients

Pick a theme for each day of the week and set aside a suitable amount of time on that day (from 30 minutes to an hour) and focus on just that one topic in the time.  For instance - Monday = article writing day, Tuesday = blogging day ... Friday = invoice clients.

Rather than spreading it out across the week or doing these tasks as and when you think about them - it's a good way to say focused and keep on top of some of those regular tasks.

What's A Worthwhile ROI From Your Business Networking?

How effective (or not) do you find formal business networking groups?  Do you consider the return on your investment for being a member of such a group?

Many of these groups charge an initial joining fee, an annual membership fee and a weekly charge for the breakfast (often as a monthly standing order).

It's not just the cost of joining + weekly breakfasts (between £600-£1000 per year) you need to consider but also the cost of your time ... 2hrs+ a week, not including travel time.

If your average client/customer spends £500, you need at least two clients resulting from the meetings to cover your costs.  If their average spend is nearer £50 then you'll need twenty customers.  And that's just to cover the cost, not including your time for being there.  You really want to be making at least double your investment - otherwise it's not worth your time.

Quite often people will be members of several networking groups - formal, informal - social and business.  It makes sense to take stock every now and then to make sure that you're getting the most out of your investment of time and money.

There are other factors to take into account.  It does take time to see results and often there's more than just business you get from these meetings - advice, support and information can be just as valuable.

Are Women Bad Networkers?

According to a recent Times article, women are bad networkers.  While I might agree with some of what was said, it's unfair to apply such an assumption to ALL women and ALL networking.

In the corporate environment I'd agree.  There is also the possibility that women aren't in the sort of positions where networking happens as a means to get ahead.  After all, the percentage of women in senior positions is considerably less than men.  I often attended management meetings where in a room of twenty or so men, I was the only woman present.

In the world of the self-employed and small businesses, women play a greater part and therefore probably do  more networking.  There are more and more opportunities for them.

As part of Mums In Biz and the Mumpreneur Networking group and regularly receiving invites to many other  women's networking groups, women most certainly do network.

Women don't network in the same way that men do, this doesn't make them bad networkers, they just do it differently.  I'm sure most women wouldn't want to 'schmooze' their way to the top.  That smacks much more of the 'old boy's network'.

Women are less likely to attend the more traditional breakfast networking meetings, as they're busy getting the children off to school at that time.  They're also less likely to be able to leave the family in the early evening, when other networking takes place.  Morning and lunch are popular times for women to network and that's when women's networking tends to happen.

They're also just as likely to 'network' with friends over coffee or at the school gates.  They're more likely to be looking for collaboration and not see everyone else as competition.

Networking is (or should be) more about building and developing relationships not getting your sales pitch across and expecting a customer.  This is much more comfortable to most women, who aren't as confident, especially when starting out.  A few years ago I couldn't have imagined standing up in front of a room full of people and telling them what I do.

Women haven't been in the workplace for as long as men.  They haven't had the opportunity to run their own businesses for as long.  They're now finding ways to juggle being a full-time mum AND run their own businesses and they're embracing the world of networking.

March Newsletter: But I Don't Have Time ..

How often have I heard that? I'm sure it's something you also hear quite often in your daily conversations. Whether with clients or just talking to people at networking events, it's a common theme ...

When you have too much to do and not enough hours, if you end up working late and weekends to get it all done, here are a few things you can do to make life easier ...


Read the rest of the article in this month's newsletter, just register on my website or click here. Free tips, advice, information and news on how to improve your time management for your business and personal life direct to your inbox.

Turn Up The Volume

Adjust the volume to the audience you're addressing.  While I might not be the greatest speaker and have a natural tendency to speak quietly, I've noticed that in networking environments people often speak in a 'normal' voice without adjusting the volume to take into account the fact that they're addressing a room full of people.

I've been to many formal and informal networking meetings where you're given the opportunity to give a brief one minute, 'elevator pitch' for your business.  So often you can't hear what the person is saying.  Even being asked to speak up, they pause and carry on just the same (often down to nerves).

While it can be intimidating speaking to a room full of strangers:
- take a deep breath to help calm and centre you.
- speak from your diaphragm not from the top of your lungs
- imagine your voice needs to be heard by the person at the back of the room but don't shout
- speak, slowly and clearly - don't rush
- better to say too little and have them ask questions than too much and confuse.

Practice in the comfort and privacy of your own home.  Practice what you want to say and how you say it.  Practice turning up the volume.  Practice with your partner or a friend.  Adjust the volume for the space you're speaking in, who you're speaking to and for what you're saying.

100th International Women's Day

I wasn't expecting to celebrate it in quite this way but I ended up on an impromptu baby(toddler) sitting session this afternoon to give an exhausted, heavily pregnant Mum a break so she could snatch a few moments sleep.

Two things made it easy for me to do - having got my Blackberry internet connection working again (problem due to a really old sim card) I had the flexibility to quickly check emails and knowing that I had no meetings booked  for the rest of the day, I could adjust my plans for the day.

I was able to be around to not only help clear space in their flat for the new baby's cot (much easier decluttering someone else's space) but I could take her little girl off her hands for a couple of hours, give her a break and a few moments peace and quiet.

It's something I see often with many of the women I work with.  Always putting someone else first - especially the family and forgetting to take time out for themselves.  Either feeling guilty when they do or not even considering it because there's so much else to do and they're always bottom of the list.

Sometimes it's the little things that make the biggest difference - complete time out, putting their feet up for half an hour of total self-indulgence, being able to take a complete break from the family for a couple of hours.

Give a Mum a break - they deserve it.

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Working From Home And Being Productive

Working from home is great but it doesn't suit everyone.  You need to be reasonably disciplined when working from home to avoid the temptation of other things around you.  Morning TV suddenly seems enthralling, that DIY project needs finishing, just another cup of coffee before I get started ...

It's less of a problem when you're focused and know where you're going, as you're motivated to get on with it.  Organise your day to enjoy the flexibility of working from home and running your own business while still being productive.

If you thrive on having other people around you, you might find it more difficult and more isolating.  You may be better finding a shared workspace where you can feel as if you're in the office. Hot desking and co-working offer shared working environments with flexibility. Technology can give you the tools to be able to work from anywhere.

For home workers - I often recommend going somewhere else to work.  A change of environment can help to stimulate ideas and productivity.  I recently mentioned I'd travelled up to London for a meeting - I got soooo much work done on the train journey.  I also regularly go to a local hotel, where I can combine a meeting with spending a couple of hours working - away from the phone and email.  Again - it's a great way of getting things done and catching up.

For office based business, I also recommend finding somewhere else to work, so you can get away from the office distractions, find a quiet place to work. This could be a meeting room, an office on another floor, a local coffee shop (although Starbucks tends to be noisy - headphones helps) or even working from home for the day.

A change of environment can be good whether your usual working environment is at home or in an office.

For anyone running their own business you need to take 'time out'.  Setting aside time to catch-up or think more strategically about where you're going and reviewing progress and results.  I'd suggesting booking out at least a half-day a month for that important "me" business time.  Also regularly scheduling times in the week for catch-up, so that you keep on top of things and avoid a backlog - often easier said than done if you're busy, even worse when you're disorganised.

Avoid information overload by dealing with it at source.  Stop it arriving in the first place, manage it when it does and understand that not every single piece of information that passes across your desk or through your  computer needs to be read or actioned.

Plan on working five days, four days or even three days a week and then organise your work accordingly.