As a small business owner/solopreneur, you welcome the ‎opportunity to collaborate with other professionals. However, sometimes you might be overwhelmed ‎by project deliverables. The more you take on, the more time seems to escape you. Proper planning ‎and time management will help alleviate a lot of that stress. Here are a few tips to gain control of your ‎projects – and your time.

1. Look at the project in its entirety. Plan your timeline from the end ‎date to the beginning. What materials and information will you need? When will you need it? What ‎resources do you need?

2. Calendar everything. What do you need to do and when? Add ‎tasks to your calendar reminding you to get the materials, information, and resources you need for the ‎project. Don’t get caught saying “I forgot to get/do that.”

3. Allow people enough time to ‎provide you what you need. Don’t catch someone at the last minute with an urgent request. ‎‎

4. Allow for the “25% rule.” If you think it will take you an hour to write something or ‎compile data, allow 1 hour and 15 minutes on your calendar.

5. Excel is a great tool to keep a ‎project on task. You can create a nice Gantt chart in Excel. Alternatively, you can outsource it to a ‎Virtual Assistant!

As administrative experts, we can get things done quickly and efficiently – ‎allowing you to focus on your clients on a level that will amaze and delight them. Are you ready to ‎‎“wow” your clients?

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