Proper time management is critical to any business, but it’s life or death for a small business, and yet many entrepreneurs just don’t know how to manage their time, so I’m going to be very blunt here.

Most of the people I work with want help organizing their time; It is the biggest problem for many entrepreneurs. Unless you manage your time, you won’t be able to focus on marketing, product development, customer development or your cash flow and your business will stagnate or shrink and you won’t have that free time we all enjoy. It really is that clear cut for most small businesses.

Some of the core areas to address:

1. Know what your business priorities are and write them down. Things like marketing, customer or development time, administration, research, training, etc.
2. Have clear goals and write them down
3. Have an elaborate weekly or monthly schedule – create a schedule to break your time into manageable chunks
4. Use to-do lists – prioritize your tasks and assign blocks of time
5. Integrate your to-do list into your schedule
6. Cross anything off your to-do list that isn’t likely to get done; don’t spend your energy on things you’re unlikely to do or procrastinate.
7. Schedule a personal time to recharge

It is a fact that if you have a problem with your time management, it is very unlikely that you will solve it yourself, or you would not have a problem in the first place. Good questions to ask:

1. How much is it costing me now?
2. If I don’t change, how much will it cost me in the future?
3. What am I missing out on in my business and personal life?

If you work for yourself or have a small business, you need a system to know what you’re doing and when you’re doing it. You’re an expert at delivering your product, but you can’t be an expert at everything, so get help before it gets worse.