Ann Rusnak’s latest ‘Simple Time Management’ article titled “How the Time Management Industry Rips Off the Solo-preneur – #2” is reprinted here. [Article]


Ann Rusnak’s latest ‘Simple Time Management’ article is reprinted here.

How the Time Management Industry Rips Off the Solo-preneur – #2

The Time Management Industry Rips Off the Solo-Entrepreneur

This is the second in a series of “How the Time Management Industry Rips Off the Solo-preneur and Self Employeed Business Owner” an introduction to our new book – Thinking Outside the Clock – Why Time Mangement Doesn’t Work and What You Can Do About It.

It’s so easy for you and your business to get caught up in the “Multiplicity of Stuff.” Its all part of the natural life cycle of a business.

The solo-entrepreneur will feel really feel this impact. You run your business alone…juggling many hats. The CEO, the marketing department, sales department, customer service, product development, bookkeeper, secretary, and yes…the janitor!

You feel ecstatic about the good start of your business. You can taste financial freedom. You really believe in your dreams. Why not? You worked hard to achieve this level. You didn’t mind working longer hours to make it all happen.

The 3 Common Ways a Solo Entrepreneur Increases Their Sales

1. Acquire more customers
Remember… Each sale… each new customer brings more work, more detail, more bookkeeping and more tasks.

2. Work longer hours
Your business obligations take more hours to complete. You spend a longer day trying to catch up. You can only work so many hours before you begin to burn-out

3. Raise Prices
The market will only pay so much for your products and services.

You want to continue to grow your business. Your desired financial freedom requires more income. The three ways to increase profits no longer works like before.

The constraints of the clock hold you back. Time now works against you.

Your time commitment already exceeds the maximum level that can be handled comfortably…a result of Multiplicity of Stuff.

You buy books to learn how to increase customers and sales. They leave out a very critical factor. How do you accomplish the additional “stuff” they tell you to do in your already busy time demanding schedule!

Several things happen when you stay caught up in the “Multiplicity of Stuff”…

1.Walk away and close your doors

2.Work yourself into exhaustion and ruin your health

3.You try hiring somebody only to discover it takes more time to train them and you can do it quicker yourself.

4.Since your income hit the Business Success Hurdle, you start another business.

You’re probably wondering what you did wrong…

If you’re like me, you started your business coming from a corporate background. So your mindset is that of an employee. You work your business like an employee because of your employee mindset.

Unfortunately that mindset doesn’t work for an entrepreneur once their business starts showing success.

“Multiplicity of Stuff” will happen in every successful business. You can’t stop it if you want to achieve the financial vision of your business. You can’t stop it if you want your business to provide your desired lifestyle.

“Success is Messy”

Traditional Time Management does NOT deal with “Multiplicity of Stuff.” In fact the whole time management industry was invented to perfect the art of “cramming” more stuff into a specified time frame.

How the Traditional Time Management Structure Works Against You

Time management is an invention of the industrial age. A tool created to measure the productivity and efficiency of people at work. It now meant business could turn time into money.

It’s a rigid structure based with workdays divided into

* weekdays
* weekends
* vacations
* holiday.

Managers looked at how they could “save time” through measuring and controlling how long a worker took to complete any task. By the 1950’s, Time management became big business.

Speedy efficiency became the manager’s ideal in the workplace. Discovering ways to streamline both factory and office work to increase productivity and advocated time saving efficiencies. Workers soon found themselves performing under the pressured by the clock. Attempting to more and more done in an specified time frame

Time Management Mentality exploits the “Puritan Work Ethic” to guilt employees into working harder and longer hours.

The number of hours you give to the company determined your value as an employee

This pressure remains today to get more time out of every day. Schedule each hour in the day to take advantage of the every minute. Squeezing more and more activities into a jam packed day.

Personal organizer gained acceptance as the tool for very busy people. These organizers grew into a status symbol signifying the efficiency and productivity of the person carrying them.

Time Management fuels three counterproductive Time Myths that will keep you trapped and under the pile of stuff.

Myth #1 ““ The more hours I work the more productive I must be.

This is one of the biggest mistakes most entrepreneurs make and can cost them their business. You already reached the point where working mores produces the opposite effect. You see diminished results for your efforts.

You must work long hours and work hard at the beginning of your business. But when you hit the Business Success Hurdle, you need to flip everything you on its head. You reached the point where your success is no longer about time and effort.

Your business thrives on your creativity and imagination to turn your ideas into an income source. The ability to turn ideas into income becomes hindered when you keep work harder and longer.

Myth #2 – Time Off is a Reward

The hard work ethic conditioned us to see off time as something that must be earned through toil.

Look at the time management structure… work 351 days and you’ll get 14 days off.

Time off to do nothing but the things you enjoy… just being lazy… Rest and relax without guilt!

It’s hard to be creative when your brain is overworked. Exhaustion deprives you of the energy and creativity needed to see your ideas to the end result.

Myth #3 ““ Failure results because you didn’t work hard enough

The exact opposite is true…Drop the slogan… no pain… no gain… nothing worthwhile is easy… It’s not about working hard to get where you want to go, it’s about working easier the smart way.

Working harder longer hours doesn’t equal more money… it may temporarily but not in the long run.

The traditional time management structure of working harder… longer… and cramming more and more stuff causes crises, high levels of stress, exhaustion, diminishing results, and decrease creativity which are disastrous for today’s entrepreneur.

You, the entrepreneur, thrive on vision and creativity. This driving force motivates you to keep going. Your mind is often going a mile a minute and you are often working on many projects, tasks and ideas at one time.

That rigid structure of traditional time management doesn’t support your creative inspirations.

Creativity is the driving force behind successful entrepreneurs… It’s what you do best… take ideas and turns them into a revenue generating stream…

Are you ready to change your mindset from time management and put the clock on your side?

Open your mind…. Prepare Yourself…

…To a new success formula… More Time Off = More Money

Thinking Outside the Clock strategies goes against the grain of everything you did in the beginning of your business and flipping it… Flipping everything you learned about time management on its head.

But it will put you ahead of your competition and make giant leaps in your life and business with less effort.

Ann Rusnak “The Time Diva” developed a simple 10 step system that teaches busy solo-preneurs to increase their profits by 30% by taking time off. Receive the free report “How the Time Management Industry Rips Off the Solo Entrepreneur” when you sign up for Focus on Success Journal ezine at: www.SimpleTimeManagement.com

*IMNewswatch would like to thank Ann Rusnak for granting permission to reprint the latest articles.

Sharing is caring