Can I Get 25 Hours in a Day!?

Last week I attended a Women's Business Lunch through the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce. (and yes, if you've noticed from my last few posts—I've been getting around the town lately. I'm workin' it, baby! I'm enjoying meeting new people and businesses!) OK, so back to my story…

At the recent business lunch one key thing most of us wanted help with was better time management and increased productivity. Who doesn't want that, right?  I'm always searching for ways to better my time management skills—I hate that feeling of being so overwhelmed you don't even know where to start, it's the worst. SO, I was very interested to hear the advice of other successful businesswomen. Here's a few ideas I liked and will try to implement in my everyday tasks (business OR personal):

• For email productivity, one women suggests the "FAD" technique. A way to quickly sort through your email: F-file it, A-act on it, D-delete it. It seems simple enough, right?

• Create a work log to track all the large tasks you've completed. A few women did this and said that after reading through the tasks they actually had completed, they felt a great sense of accomplishment. It's a way to focus on the positive, celebrate the tasks you've completed instead of stressing about the ones you didn't.

• Throw in the towel! As women, we tend to want to do things on our own and have a hard time asking for help. One women's advice was to basically to get over ourselves and know when to ask for help. If someone in your business is better at a certain task than you are—ask them for help, so you can focus on the tasks that you are best at. It's more productive for everyone that way.

• Get the "ick" out of the way. Set an hour each day (preferably towards the beginning of the day) to take care of the tasks you don't want to do. You know, the ones you keep putting off but are still weighing on your mind because they need to get done. 

• Don't be so reactive. Work on distinguishing the things that need to be address immediately versus the ones that can wait. Don't immediate react to something, especially if you're already in the middle of another task.

• And last, but certainly not least: Learn to say "No". Along with most women, I constantly struggle with this one!

So, what do you do that helps you with your time management and/or productivity skills? Have you tried any of the suggestions above? How did they work for you?

911…Emergency Business Plan

So, last week I was hit with a very scary family disaster. Jimmy, my husband and avid motocross* rider, was in an accident at the track. He ended up getting rushed to shock trauma (in Baltimore, MD, almost an hour away) with a partial collapsed lung, lacerated liver and internal bleeding. Needless to say, as a wife, I was terrified out of my mind. And, after the first 24 hours of shock, various ER treatments (including a chest tube...um, yea), and with reassurance from both doctors and Jimmy, my mind turned to my business. As a microbusiness owner, I went into "Business Disaster" panic mode.

How was I going to get work completed (mind you, the week was jammed packed with multiple LARGE deadlines)? How was I going to communicate with clients? How would I mentor my brand-spankin new employee (who was originally scheduled to start working the Monday of our ER visit)? How could I balance being with my husband during recovery while still maintaining some sort of business presence? How was I going to "kill" my husband (after he recovered, of course) for crashing his stupid dirtbike…again. But, I digress.

Luckily, Jimmy recovered much faster than the doctors originally anticipated and his shock trauma stay only lasted about 3 days. And luckily I have some wonderful clients who were more than understanding. Plus, I had a few other things that helped out during this crisis:

The Kalico Makeshift Disaster Plan
1. iphone. Ironically, we had only gotten our iphones a week prior to "the incident". I definitely learned how to use that sucker quickly. I was able to group text jimmy's status updates to family and friends while emailing and responding to clients. Not to mention, the one and only night I didn't stay at the hospital, I was reassured with a few face chats with Jim as well.

2. G-RAID mini. Again, I had only just set up my new G-RAID portable mini backup drive a week or two prior. Boy, was I glad I had taken the recommendation from another designer/programmer friend! Just a simple unhook of a firewire cable and I had all my work with me. I was able to set-up a small makeshift office for two days: laptop, G-RAID and me!

3. Responsible Employee. Yet again, the timing seemed uncanny. As I mentioned, my new (and very first) employee started the week we were at the hospital. I was fortunate that my new hire, who had interned with me the previous summer, was already familiar with some of Kalico's clients. She was (and still is) also responsible, trustworthy, and someone I could rely on to work from home for a few hours per day until things got back to a normal schedule. How's that for a job crash course!

4. Support System. While I knew Jimmy and I had a wonderful personal support system (both coming from close families and a tight network of friends), I was also reminded of what an amazing business support system and network I have as well. Clients were understanding of late deadlines, and actually asking how they could help me! Colleagues from one of my organizations took care of my responsibilities, cards came from business contacts, and I even had another design firm offer to help with a job or two if needed! It was humbling and reassuring to know so many people were in my corner! I am one damn lucky business owner!

So, to conclude:
1. I'm am SO glad this incident is over and my husband is on the mend for a quick recovery.
2. As a graphic design business owner, invest in an iphone (or comparable smart phone) as well as a good, portable backup drive.
3. Work hard to surround yourself with other talented, supportive and caring business contacts—be it employees or fellow entreprenuers.
4. Don't let your husbands ride dirtbikes (I'm kidding...or am I?)

**To learn more about motocross, check out this article featuring my husband in the Spring Issue of Find It Frederick magazine!

Multitasking, Schmultitasking: Improving Your Productivity

I recently sat in on a teleforum by Design Coach On Call discussing how creative professionals can improve their productivity. Holla! As a micro-business owner who balances just about every part of running her business, I can say first hand that it can be overwhelming at times! I'm constantly looking for better ways to discipline myself to be more productive. Pam Bryan, the forum facilitator, had some great tips and advice. Here are my favorites, all of which I hope to start implementing within the next few weeks (seriously, can someone hold me to this?)

1. Multitasking is Worse Than a Lie: To sum it up, multitasking, or more appropriately called "switch-tasking" just isn't productive. Switching from one task to the next, back and forth, and so on can cause you to loose up to 28% of your time. So, try to discipline yourself to make changes in your work day that will deter you from switch-tasking as much as possible.

2. Gather Your Gathering Places: A "Gathering Place" is any place where unprocessed work items go. This can include your desk, your briefcase, your office, even your car…any and every place where you might do work. The key is to consolidate all gathering places so that you only have one physical "inbox". Then, set a time each week or day to sort through this inbox, usually 30-60 minutes. Obviously, sort through the more pressing items first…this way you won't be stressing about them throughout the day, so you're able to focus on other tasks throughout the day.

3. Conquer Your Digital Space: These days, your digital space can be a real time sucker throughout the day! Digital Space includes your email, social media accounts, voicemails, etc. Similar to your "Gathering Places", try to consolidate your digital space as well. For instance, direct all your emails (personal and business) to one account. You'll still have the separate accounts, but you'll only have to check one master email account, thus saving you time logging on and sorting through various accounts. In addition, Pam recommends turning off your email alarms and setting yourself a schedule. Check your email 2-3 days per day, answering all inquiries during your set timeframe. Use this time to check your social media accounts like facebook and twitter as well.

OK, so these are a few of the changes I'll be making here at Kalico World Headquarters in order to increase my productivity throughout the day. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. What changes would you like to make? Let me know!