I have a guest post today from my friend and colleague Lori Kennedy. You may
remember Lori Kennedy – she is the Registered Holistic Nutritionist from Toronto.
We co-hosted the Wellness Business Summit this past March.
She has a few techniques on how you can be more productive so you can make more
money. As a mom of 2 young kids and the CEO of WOW! Weight Loss she has had to
work hard to be more productive and wanted to share some techniques with you.
By the way… even though she is a mom and a holistic health practitioner she still
enjoys making money and knows a thing or two about how to achieve BIG goals so
make sure you read what she has to say.
Take it away Lori…
Hi all,
Thanks for having me back on Profitable Personal Trainer Cabel!
Let me ask you a question: How frustrating is it that you have all of these ideas on
how to grow your business but can’t ever seem to find time implement them?
Even when you do you find time to work on your business you feel like you are
never being productive enough and are always being distracted by one thing or
another.
Let’s face it, no matter who you are or how much money you may have, we all suffer
from the shiny object syndrome.
Maybe your shiny object is continuously taking courses so you can learn more about
a subject you probably already know a lot about or watching videos on how to
improve your social media funnel to get you more leads in 7 days or less or focusing
on getting more LIKES, more followers and more pins which typically does not equal
to more leads or money in your bank account.
My shiny object syndrome is rooted in reading too many tech marketing blogs
without really understanding the technology or even implementing it. I just like
reading about new tech platforms.
It’s like AA… Hi, my name is Lori Kennedy and I have shiny object syndrome that
prevents me from being productive.
I’ve implemented these 3 simple productivity techniques out of necessity. They have
become core principles around which I structure my day. Take my advice… choose 1
technique that resonates with you and implement it.
Work at it and stick by it come hell or high water. Then choose another and do the
same until you’ve cured yourself of the syndrome or at least have it lay dormant
most of the time.
Productivity Technique # 1 – Stop FINDING Time and Start Scheduling Time.
You will never find time… time will always escape you. Pick a platform that you
know you will use as a daily schedule.
I use Google calendar because I can share my calendar with my team. Use your
phone or even a paper calendar if that floats your boat.
Pick 2 – 60 minute time slots per week to work on customer service. Customer
service is the #1 thing that will drive your business forward.
What do you do during those 2 – 90 minute periods? CARE about your customers.
Write personal emails, Facebook notes, phone calls, hand written love letters or plan
customer service events.
Productivity Technique # 2 – Chunk Your Time.
Multi tasking robs you of time and creative flow. Stop doing three things at once.
Chunk or group like tasks together and schedule them for the same day.
For example, Fridays between 9am – 2pm are my filming days. I schedule my Skype
interviews, YouTube videos or webinars for Fridays.
I rarely make exceptions to this schedule except for webinars, which I also do
Wednesday evenings at 9pm EDT.
Think of the tasks you do on a daily basis and group them together. Answering
emails, posting on Facebook, doing research, writing fitness programs or filming
videos.
Set specific times to do each one of those activities. Take this one step further and
make sure that the chunks of activities are similar to each other so that you can flow
from one to the other.
An example of this is filming videos and having meetings in the same day instead
of having 1 meeting on Tuesday and another on Thursday and then filming Friday.
Both tasks require you to be on, up beat and more extroverted then you would be
when answering emails and posting on Facebook. So schedule them in the same day.
Chunk like tasks together and schedule them back-to-back to create a good flow.
Productivity Technique # 3 – Schedule CEO Time
Whether you own your own business or you are working for someone else you
MUST schedule CEO time and guard that time like a mama lion guards her cubs.
CEO time is when you focus on business development, networking with others
and reaching out to make new affiliate connections, nurture current business
relationships and work on product/program development.
This high level work that can and should only be done by you.
Go back to technique #1 and schedule CEO time. I have 2 – 90 minute blocks each
week where I work on business development and business outreach. Everyone on
my team knows when these two blocks are and they do not bother me.
You are the only one who can grow your business and if you don’t consistently focus
on business development you will always feel like you are running on a treadmill.
It’s time to pull out your schedule of choice and map out the next 30 days using
the techniques I just gave you. Let your team know when you are off limits to them.
Stick to your schedule no matter what… I meant it, no matter what. A schedule only
works if you follow it.
Leave a comment below and let Cabel and I know how we can better help you be
more productive. We’d love to help you out!