3 Mistakes Most Business Owners Make

Thinking They Can Manage Time

You can not manage time, you can only manage yourself around time by changing your mindset and habits. You can not add more time to your day nor stop the unending movement of time, you must manage yourself first by planning, having clear goals, taking daily actions steps and make a commitment to be conscious of your time daily.

Keeping a Traditional Rigid Schedule

You do not have to follow the traditional 9 to 5 schedule, work at your highest peak performance to reach your highest productivity. Be flexible. You didn’t go into business for yourself to work harder and longer as you did for your previous employer, “work smarter not harder.” Make time for yourself, block it on your calendar, take a brisk walk, get a pedicure, take a power nap, just do something to allow your creative energies to flow.

No Written Job Description or Mission Statement

Do you have a written job description? Do you know your core functions and work objectives? Even as a solo-entrepreneur, there is a need for a written job description. A job description is a written summary listing the elements of a particular job, purpose, duties and equipment needed. It provides an organized plan, determines work objectives, explains core functions and gives clarity to what is important to you and your business. It gives you a plan and direction of your work flow. Your job description is a good place to include your mission statement. Your mission statement outlines you and your organization’s vision, why the organization exist and what it hopes to achieve in the future. Also it serves as a resource to monitor your performance and measure if you are meeting your business objectives. Steven Covey, author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, states that a mission statement is a “connection with your own unique purpose and the profound satisfaction that comes in fulfilling it.”