Whenever I talk to a friend or new person about running my own business out of my home the reply is most often something about how they just couldn’t do the same because the wouldn’t be productive.
Well let me tell you, I suck at to-do lists, weekly planning, schedules or anything to help me run my business productively. Really, I do. Yet, I’m on track to double my income again this year (did it last year).
That’s not to say I’m not working on learning how to write a productive to-do list that gets me organized and in total control of my business.
So, when I saw Nicole Dean’s post and challenge over on her blog it was just the push I needed to invest the time to create a plan to organize my tasks, for real.
Nicole challenged her readers to post their to-do lists for the day and that’s just what I intend to do today.
First, see that picture over there to the right? That’s what I did after reading Nicole’s post. I decided to print out a couple of calendars:
- Monthly Calendar for September through December
- Weekly Calendar for September to October
I also created agendas:
- A Daily Task Agenda
- A Weekly Task Agenda
- A Monthly Task Agenda
Here’s what they included:
DAILY TASKS:
- Respond to Website Design Mojo students (30-60Minutes).
- Respond to General Emails (30-60 Minutes).
- Review & Schedule Client Work (15 Minutes).
- Review/Create Daily Schedule (30 Minutes).
- Link Building (30 Minutes).
WEEKLY TASKS
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| __ Email Affiliates __ Email Lists |
__ Blog Post | __ Email List __ Email Customers |
__ Video | __ Email List |
MONTHLY AGENDA
- Release New Product
- Release Two Marketers Toolkit Packs
It’s a start. It’s likely to change but it’s already got me motivated to do more. You see, I’m writing this blog post on Saturday and I intend to post it on Monday (not my scheduled day) so I’m already thinking ahead and being productive with my to-do list – yay!
So – here’s my to-do list for Monday:
- Get kiddo up and ready for school, have breakfast.
- Go for a walk with the puppy.
- Answer Website Design Mojo coaching emails.
- Email Website Design Mojo students re: new Module & Videos.
- Email final reminder for Email List Mojo – starting tomorrow.
- Email my affiliates about Email List Mojo for last-minute promos.
- Attend Solo Mastermind’s Internet Marketing Certification Info Session.
- Work on Blog Site Mojo client website design.
- Work on EasyPLR.com content (I’m Nicole’s Content Manager).
- Call potential website design client.
- Create schedule for Tuesday.
- Make dinner.
- Go to school council meeting.
Whoa! Kinda scary putting my goals out there for everyone to see. I’ll be checking back in throughout the day and posting in the comments (like Nicole did) how I’m progressing on the list.
How about you? How are you with lists and productivity with your business? Why don’t you keep the challenge going and go post your own daily to-dos on your blog (make sure you link to them in the comment!).
To having more productive to-do lists and days…
(talk to you soon)
Angela
Twitter: suefleckenstein
says:
Thanks for this Angela. I have been creating a to do list as well and find that it keeps me on track and for being more productive.
I make sure I take at least 15 minutes a day and write up what needs to be done the next day. This can include answering emails, posting helpful content to my blog and paying my affiliates.
I have been using Evernote to create my to do list along with my Google Calendar. I find that getting email reminders is very helpful to.
Twitter: AngelaWills
says:
Thanks for the comment Sue.
Really it doesn’t take that long to make a list does it? Like you said about 15 minutes or so and you can save yourself a ton of wasted time.
I’ve heard of Evernote being great but I haven’t really gotten to into using it, thanks for the reminder!
Sounds very cool, I didn’t have time to post when Nicole sent hers out, so will do it here on yours.
It’s funny, today I actually started planning my day
This was my day today:
8am Emails
8.30am Emails/Facebook
9.00am WIBWA (client work)
9.30am Crescendo (client work)
10.00am Crescendo (client work)
10.30am Phone calls/Emails
11.00am Ezra/House (my son’s name is Ezra)
11.30am Read a book
12.00pm EQ Strategist
12.30pm Talking with business partner
1.00pm Talking with business partner
1.30pm Lunch
2.00pm Replying to prospective client emails
2.30pm Made a new promotional video
3.00pm Talking with prospective joint venture partner
3.30pm Answering questions in my Facebook group
4.00pm Answering questions in other Facebook groups
4.30pm Emails
5.00pm Fiance home, stop working
5.30pm Supermarket
6.00pm Stopped in at Target to buy new clothes
6.30pm Dinner
7.00pm Bathed son
7.30pm Chatted on Facebook
8.00pm Read blog posts
8.30pm Reply to client emails
9.00pm Chat on Facebook
9.30pm Read this blog post and then Nicole’s blog post + comments
10.00pm Commenting now
And then I will add a new blog post to each of my 3 websites, share them on Facebook and Twitter and then go check if Nicole or Melissa Ingold has any new PLR
Twitter: AngelaWills
says:
That was neat to see a peek into your day, thanks for posting it Phillipa!
I hope you have a productive day tomorrow, too.
Twitter: AngelaWills
says:
Checking back in to report:
Get kiddo up and ready for school, have breakfast. – DONE
Go for a walk with the puppy. – DONE
Answer Website Design Mojo coaching emails. – DONE
Email final reminder for Email List Mojo – starting tomorrow. – DONE
Email my affiliates about Email List Mojo for last-minute promos. – DONE
Attend Solo Mastermind’s Internet Marketing Certification Info Session. – DONE
Not bad, a few hours left to the day.
Twitter: AngelaWills
says:
Second check in…
Email Website Design Mojo students re: new Module & Videos. -DONE
Work on EasyPLR.com content (I’m Nicole’s Content Manager). – DONE
Make dinner. – DONE
So I didn’t get the full list done but I was pretty productive today!
How about you, how did your day go?
Twitter: grandmamarilyn
says:
Boy, I can’t seem to wrap my mind around a whole list. My main list consists of reading my email, getting lost in the websites of my mentors and then getting lost in the links on them. I might get some of my bead patterns done and posted. LOL I am trying to work on my new plr site also. Not getting far there. Hubby coming up with too many come with me and help me do that chores. Oh well, hopefully things will get better for me.
So glad to see that you got so much of your list done, Angela.
Wow! That is some to do list, Phillipa.
Twitter: AngelaWills
says:
Yes I have those days too. I think the schedule might help me with that.
Another thing that’s helped me focus in the past is going to a coffee shop or local library with a job to do and not leaving until it’s done. That was a nice way to get out of the house and get something accomplished.
Keep trying stuff and I’m sure you’ll figure out something that works for you!