When you work for yourself, you will want to learn how to free up time by embracing systems because time management is still necessary when you work from home building an online business.
Many times the reason you want to build an online business to begin with is to make money, but it’s about more than making money just for the sake of making money.
It’s what that money can ultimately provide you, which is freedom.
Freedom to work your own schedule, etc.
It’s time freedom so that you can do what you want, when you want and with whom you want.
As a work at home entrepreneur, your ultimate goal is to work the least amount of time, with the maximum return possible.
This way, you are free to explore your passions and enjoy time with your family and friends.
What’s the point of escaping employer control just to become your own cubicle prisoner overworking yourself in your own online business?
This can happen easily because online entrepreneurs tend to be workaholics because they actually want to do the work on their online business and the lines get blurred when you work from home.
It’s easy to end up working all the time.
If you’re not careful, losing a good work-life balance is even easier than when you work for an employer.
Unfortunately, what often happens is that your task list piles up and leaves you feeling as if you are drowning in your duties.
Fortunately though, over time you will become faster at what you do.
You will master certain tasks and be able to slide through them compared to when you first started a task and had to learn the ropes.
Again, time management is still something that will need to be managed, even as you get better at production.
As time goes on, you will also find better and easier ways of doing things than you originally did them.
These developments will certainly help you free up more time and allow you to enjoy a sense of personal satisfaction from a better work-life balance.
But, if you want to go one step further when it comes to managing your time, then you can create systems and templates to assist you in cutting down on your task list and working fewer hours.
Start by developing templates for any area of your online business where it makes sense.
For instance, this might be a blog post, an email autoresponder, a social media post, a sales page, etc.
I have a template set up for various things, especially for blog posts.
I actually don’t even need to physically look at or use my templates much anymore because I have them memorized, from having used them so many times.
My fingers just know what to do now and what to click on, etc.
Practice doesn’t make perfect because nothing is ever perfect in this world, but practice creates habits and muscle memory.
Starting off, if you have a template to work off of, then it becomes a plug-in situation that moves much faster and more smoothly.
And then like I said, it becomes second nature after a while.
You will also want to create a systematic response for how you conduct your online business.
This could be anything from your daily routine, such as checking and responding to your email, texts, private messages, replying to blog comments or engaging on social media first thing in the morning or last thing at night.
You decide what time is best for you.
Everyone has their own way that they like to do things.
When you start looking at your routines and habits on paper, you can often spot ways to combine tasks, simplify them, or help them make more sense.
And when I say “on paper”…I also mean digital paper like Google Docs, Notepad, etc.
I don’t use a lot of physical paper to make notes.
I have switched most things to Google Docs because it autosaves and can be synced with any device and accessed from anywhere.
Working on a computer is already hard enough on my neck issues and so looking down to write physical notes is even worse.
I do have a physical daily planner for personal stuff that I have to keep track of, but those are just quick little entries once or twice a day.
My online business related stuff all stays online, except passwords …I do have them physically written down in a spiral notebook as well because you should always have a backup.
Sure, you can reset passwords, but you will still need to make note of the new password.
Another tip is you might want to reorganize the order in which things are done.
You’re the boss, so you can decide what your “SOP’s” are …
If you don’t know what that means, it’s corporate speak for Standard Operating Procedures and half the time they are made up by the head honchos that have ZERO clue how the job is done anyway …lol.
Well, you are the head honcho of your own online business and you can create your own standard operating procedures that actually work and make sense for what you need to accomplish.
Another thing you may want to do when creating systems for your online business is to see where it makes sense for you to delegate or outsource to another individual.
Whether you hire someone to be your administrative assistant (this is actually referred to as a VA or Virtual Assistant), or outsource to a freelance service provider for certain tasks, this can benefit you in many ways.
You will no longer have to spend time on certain things that you don’t like to do, don’t have the talent to do or don’t have time to do.
The more tasks you can hand over to someone else, the more free time you’ll have to enjoy everything you’ve worked so hard to achieve.
Hopefully you can take some or all of these tips and truly create the freedom and success that you seek as an online entrepreneur.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day 🙂
To Your Success,
P.S.- Grab your free gifts below as a “Thank You” for visiting my website 🙂
About
Nicole Lynn
from
Resources for Online Success
My Online Journey
You don’t know me.
I’m not some flashy internet marketing “guru” with my name and face all over the internet.
I’m just an ordinary person that had to figure out a way to make money online when I lost my job in 2008, due to health issues.
In the offline world, I gained several years experience in Customer Service, Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable and various other clerical type positions.
Much of it was drudgery, especially working in call centers.
I was good at my various jobs, but I did not enjoy being hostage to a cubicle and headset..lol 🙂
But, you do what soul sucking jobs you have to do, in order to make money to pay the bills.
As a free spirit, I always had the deep desire to break free from the cubicle-zombie-robot rat race world and have full control over my time, income and life, without having to have permission from a boss.
I was tired of being just another “number” that was expendable, no matter how dependable I was or how hard I worked (just to help build someone else’s wealth and make their dreams come true).
I wanted to create MY freedom…not just build it for someone else.
Unexpectedly in 2008, severe neck issues forced me out of the 9 to 5 corporate world rat race (before I was actually ready financially, which really sucked a lot and was pretty scary).
My neck issues got worse after years of being trapped at a computer, with little to no permission to get up and move around and stretch.
This is not good when you are suffering from old car accident injuries.
This was especially the case in call center jobs with low cubicle walls. They didn’t want you standing up, due to the noise while on calls.
And although losing my job and the paycheck was a less than pleasant experience, my goal was to be an online entrepreneur anyway.
But, I was forced to make it happen at that point…which was not ideal.
Wasted Time Dabbling
It’s better to have a 2nd income already coming in regularly before losing your main source of income, but I had no control over what happened.
I had already been “dabbling” in internet marketing, on the side, since 2004…basically wasting time.
I treated it as a hobby, instead of an online business.
I actually made a little bit of money with affiliate commissions and some advertising revenue, but it was nothing to write home about because I did not build it up.
If I had realized that my health was going to go sideways so badly in 2008, then I would’ve taken my online business “side gig” much more seriously.
I would’ve hustled, even while still working a full-time job, because 4 years would’ve been more than enough time to have built that online business into a full-time income.
Just an extra 1 hour per day consistently over that 4 year period…would have made all the difference.
So, after I lost my job in 2008, I was in a real bind for more than one reason.
I needed to get serious and stop dabbling and start hustling to make money online, but it takes time to build an online business that brings in consistent income.
I was out of time. My household went from two incomes to one and I needed to get moving.
The problem was my severe neck issues and the accompanying dizziness from nerve damage in my C1 Vertebrae, the Atlas.
So, this meant that I couldn’t exactly hustle like I needed to because being on a computer for hours each day at home is no different than doing it at a job.
I was no longer able to do this, if I wanted to not end up completely disabled or bed-ridden.
The years 2008-2011 were extremely tough in trying to heal, but with proper therapy, the worst of it got better, but it’s not 100%.
Even now in 2022, I still can only be on a computer so much each day, without causing flare-ups.
So again, if I had taken it all more seriously, then I wouldn’t have ended up with so many financial worries, when I lost my job.
I would’ve had something more substantial to fall back on during times that were difficult money-wise and health-wise.
Then, add in beating my head against the wall, jumping from one “program” to another and basically flushing more time and money down the toilet.
Losing my job made me act in desperation because I wanted to make something happen right now.
So, I ended up doing what a lot of people do, which is looking for a shortcut and something “quick” or “push button”…which is not realistic because it doesn’t really exist.
Then in 2012, I joined Wealthy Affiliate because it had the tools and resources I needed all in one place, to help me build an online business.
Fast forward to 2020, I joined The Home Business Academy to add even more great tools and resources to my online business arsenal.
I now use both of these resources to build my online business.
I talk more about this over on my Recommended Resources page listed under Resources #1 and #2.
I enjoy making money online because I can work from anywhere and on my own schedule, while still being able to take care of my health.
You Can Do It Too
So, why do I tell you all of this?
I share all of this with you, so you’ll know it’s possible to make money online and have total freedom from the 9-5 grind.
It takes time to build an online business, but it’s worth it to build either a side-income to supplement your full-time job or replace your job.
If you have found yourself in a similar situation to me or you simply want to get ahead of things and plan for the future, your goal going forward should be to not waste any more time.
Whether you love your job or hate your job, it’s always a good idea to have a Plan B to supplement your income or replace your income.
You never know what can happen with your job or even with your health.
Don’t waste time, like I did.
Just get started and keep going.
Do not dabble.
Take action now.
And most importantly, believe in yourself.
You can do it!
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