An Awesome Time Management Trick for Running Your Fashion Business

I know I’ve written about time management in the past because, honestly, it’s something that I am always looking to improve for myself with StartUp FASHION. So when I learn something new, I love to share it.

Well, a few weeks ago I learned something new. I’ve  been testing it, and am in love. It’s a pretty basic concept but it is seriously a time management trick I don’t think I’ll be able to do without from this point forward.

Assign Certain Sectors of Your Business to Certain Days of the Week.

Here’s how it works:

1. Decide on the parts of your business that are absolutely essential for you to handle. They probably are: Marketing, Public Relations, Sales (buyer outreach), Product Development, Operations
2. Then assign each of those sectors to a day of the week. Monday is Marketing, Tuesday is Operations, etc.
3. Stick to the schedule.

I know, I know, you’re not impressed. But even though it’s super simple, it really works. Here’s why:

When you’re a small business, you are handling almost everything. It’s incredibly easy to feel completely overwhelmed and find that your attention is split among several different needs.

So when you assign this various needs to a certain day each week, you start each day with a clear idea of what you plan to work on and don’t allow yourself to try and multi task. Each day has so much focus.

I don’t know about you, but I struggle with the “oh jeez, I must address this immediately, as in this very second” syndrome. So I’m going about my work day and I either have brilliant new idea or I realize that something can be improved and should be addressed. Instead of making a note, I allow myself to get distracted by this and lose focus on what I was doing. The next thing I know, I’m breathing into a brown paper bag (actually, I don’t think I’ve ever really done that) and freaking out about everything I have to do.

Well not anymore friends. Now, I say OK, that’s a marketing thing. Let me add it to my Marketing Task List and address it on Monday. The day I handle marketing.

I cannot tell you the sense of relief, organization, and calm I feel when I do this.

When I can wrap this task into a box and put it away, knowing without a doubt that I will take care of it on its assigned day, it’s not the same thing as “I’ll deal with it later.” It’s totally different. It lets me breath a sigh of relief.

You may be skeptical. That’s cool. I was too.  I assigned my business sectors to a day of the week and then printed it out and taped it to the wall in front of my desk. I challenge you to consider it.

The difference in the way I run this business is phenomenal. Try it.
Image via paval hadzinski