Sales and Marketing - Jen Jordan

A Small Business Owner’s Guide to Increase Productivity and Prevent Burnout

The burnout cycle is an all-too-familiar pattern: not enough sleep and doing too many things at once fuels increasing frustration and fatigue. Being a small business owner means finding a balance between work and self-care. Let’s explore productivity tips for small business owners, mixed with a few self-care insights.

Wellness: The Foundation for Productivity

Your mental and physical well-being are the top focus when it comes to productivity. Exploring the six areas of health and wellness will give you a solid foundation. Below are some ideas to help get started:

• Begin with the most challenging tasks. Take that big task you’ve been dreading and reduce it into actionable steps. Take short breaks between steps or using the Pomodoro technique to keep your focus strong.
• Creating an efficient workspace can do wonders for your mindset and workflow. Whether you opt for whiteboards, plants, or new organization strategies, finding ways to optimize your work environment can improve your productivity and mental wellbeing.
• "Reward" yourself for completing major tasks. This doesn’t have to be a monetary reward. It can be something like a short walk, a relaxing lunch break, or anything that might motivate continued productivity. Check out these ideas to find some reward ideas.
• Enjoy time off. When you have days off, be sure to detach from work as fully as possible to refresh yourself. Here are some helpful ideas and steps to help you take time off as a small business owner.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help, even before you need it. Shifting your mindset to acknowledge when help is crucial can be a big step. This might involve reframing perceived failure as part of the learning process and identifying specific scenarios when help can boost productivity.

Time Management Strategies

Time management steps can help you eliminate time wasters and streamline your workflow. These ideas will help you make the most of your time spent on tasks:

• Building your staff’s autonomy is an investment that will pay off by allowing you to focus on priority items, help your staff develop skillsets, and lead to increased success for everyone. While intimidating, this can be an important step for increased productivity. This allows you to delegate appropriate tasks, freeing you up for top priorities.
• Speaking of priorities, creating SMART goals, and setting a timed, prioritized schedule can streamline your workday. Once you have clear goals outlined, the POSEC or Eisenhower methods can help you work through them faster.
• Learn when you are most productive and capitalize on that time. Tackling larger tasks when you are at your peak performance can make your to-do list more manageable.
• Stop multitasking. With only 2.5% of people being able to multitask effectively, it is more likely to contribute to burnout and wasting time. Tucking away your phone and organizing your tasks are some key steps to breaking the multitasking habit.

Productivity Software

Consider saving time by automating some tasks with tools to help simplify your workload. Below are some programs to help your workload:

• CRM (customer relationship management) programs can tackle several task areas in one program. From sales funnels to emails, CRMs put all customer relations in one place. This link compares CRM options to fit all budgets.

• Whether you want to budget projects, manage timelines, create collaborative tasks for the entire team, or create your own to-do list, project management software can help you do just that. Check out this year’s top project management software for small businesses.
• Artificial intelligence can be a helpful tool for small business owners. If you find summarizing pages of content or writing takes up time, these tools can help you move through these tasks faster.

An entrepreneur’s time management is never easy. Finding the strategies and tools that work best can boost small business owner productivity while preventing burnout.