#123: Time Trap #3 – Continuing Education

Office Operations

The theme this month is Time Management Systems for Virtual Pros.

When you’re in business for yourself, you can’t afford to let your skills slide. You must work to continually increase your marketing knowledge, learn new ways to help your clients prosper, discover emerging technology, and a host of other information.

In fact, you could easily spend all your time learning and no time at all actually implementing what you learn. That’s a common time trap that many budding entrepreneurs fall into, much to the detriment of their businesses!

So how do you manage to both run your business, work with clients, and put in the necessary time to stay on top of the latest developments in your niche? With careful prioritization and planning, that’s how.

In this video, we solve Time Trap #3 – Continuing Education.

Welcome to a new Systems Sunday! The theme this month is Time Management Systems for Virtual Pros. I am Lisa Wells, your Virtual Assistant Trainer.

When you’re in business for yourself, you can’t afford to let your skills slide. You must work to continually increase your marketing knowledge, learn new ways to help your clients prosper, discover emerging technology, and a host of other information.

In fact, you could easily spend all your time learning and no time at all actually implementing what you learn. That’s a common time trap that many budding entrepreneurs fall into, much to the detriment of their businesses!

So how do you manage to both run your business, work with clients, and put in the necessary time to stay on top of the latest developments in your niche? With careful prioritization and planning, that’s how.

This week we are covering Time Trap #3: Continuing Education.

Step One: Schedule Your Study Time

You’ll hear me talk about calendars and their importance in your business over and over again. I believe that if something is important enough to do, then it’s important enough to put on your calendar. And that includes the time you’ll spend learning.
Take a look at your calendar and see:

  • How much time you truly have available (it’s probably less than you think).
  • What days and times you are less productive—this is the perfect time to watch a webinar or read a business book.
  • When you have other things scheduled that you can safely multi-task. For example, if you have to wait in the school pick-up line every day for 30 minutes or a couple of hours as your child is at soccer practice, that’s a perfect time to read or listen to a business podcast.

Then block out a few hours each week solely for continuing education.

Step Two: Plan Your Study

Every day we’re bombarded with offers to watch another webinar or register for another must-have course or sign up for yet one more social media tool. They all sound so enticing, and if your friends and colleagues are jumping in, it can be tough to resist signing up for everything.
But avoiding the time trap of endless learning requires ruthless prioritization.

Think about it this way: You cannot possibly use all of the tools and techniques you come across in a given day, no matter how low the price or how inviting the offer. And to spend time learning something you’re not ready to use is the very definition of a waste of time.

Instead, ask yourself:

• Do I have a need for this right now?
• Will it help me make more money, reach more people, or otherwise grow my business within the next month?

If the answer to those questions is no, then do not put this on your schedule. It’s of no real use to you at this point, and you can’t afford to let FOMO (fear of missing out) cause you to waste your time learning something you can’t use.

Pro tip: Product research can easily land you in a similar time trap. If you can’t immediately use the information, just file it away in your Evernote or other note-taking app for later. That way you’ll know where it is when you need it, but you won’t be wasting your time researching a product you’re not quite ready to create.

If you enjoyed this episode and want to take it further, grab my Business Building Action Kit – Time Management for Virtual Pros. These action kits contain a full done-for-you action plan to give you guidance, resources, and keep you on track with checklists and worksheets.
You can find a link to the product below or visit my VA Business Builder Boutique and click on Shop.

Join me next week when I’ll tell you how to solve Time Trap #4: Overthinking Service Offering / Package Creation.

See you then!

Did you enjoy this episode and want to put it into action? Grab this kit!

Time Management for Virtual Pros

$25.00

I know that many of you want to find ways to get more done so you can spend more time with your family while still managing a thriving business. That’s a struggle that all service providers face, and the most successful of you will find and embrace the strategies that help you be more productive and better manage your time.

So let’s talk about that for a minute. What happens when you don’t manage your time well? When you just kind of “go with the flow” or “fly by the seat of your pants”?

Well, first, your business won’t grow. You won’t be able to bring on the number of clients you want or need to maintain your income. You’ll probably be pretty stressed, trying to do too much in the time you have available. You may feel burned out or exhausted because you’re working long hours week after week without any downtime.

And you may even give up on your business dream altogether, thinking it’s just too hard or too much work.

Sound familiar? Well here’s the thing: You don’t have to work that many hours. You don’t have to be “on” 24 hours a day. You can—and definitely should—be taking time off to hang out with your kids / fur-kids and do fun stuff outside of work.

And your income does not have to suffer—not if you properly manage your time.

In this complete kit, I give you the step-by-steps as well as some tools, resources, and powerful strategies to put into practice today.

What you Get with Your Kit:

  • 13-Page Guide giving you the solutions to the most common time wasters
  • “21 Idea Blueprint” giving you twenty-one ideas
  • 4-week done-for-you calendar
  • Comprehensive action checklist
  • Resource Directory with links to tools and resources
  • Worksheet – Use this Worksheet to make sure you are taking consistent action to manage your time
#123: Time Trap #3 - Continuing Education
#123: Time Trap #3 - Continuing Education

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