It’s not officially 2017 yet, but if you’re anything like me, as soon as we reach the twenty-sixth of December, you’re in the new-year-mode (and if you’re a lot like me, you’ve got dismantling the tree and removing garlands on your list for today, too).
I purposefully launched in Office Hours in November with no real agenda and in a very reactive, open state. No, I was not ill-prepared, I was being realistic. Having spent my career in talent management, I know that the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years are very slow hiring weeks. Searches that are in progress will often be put on hold and candidates with first interviews will not be invited for a second-round until January. So, why in the world would I launch a recruiting company during these months? Because your first several weeks of running a business is not about making money, it’s about getting to know your company from the customers’ perspectives. More on this in a future post.
That being said, because I have been intentionally pursuing Office Hours from a reactive state, I hadn’t employed any time management strategies for growing the business. Instead, I’ve been responding to your emails (thank you!), networking with female entrepreneurs in similar business pursuits (Fairygodboss, The Prepary, 25N Coworking), and channeling all extra time working (from home!) in industry. But now, with 2017 just around the corner, I am excited to take what I’ve learned these past several weeks and develop a framework for how I will spend my time on Office Hours week to week. Here’s the 2017:
DAILY – before 7:30AM
- Answer emails
- Work on client projects
- Send contracts for any new assignments
- Manage social media
SUNDAY – blogging
- Write two blog posts
- Spend 5 minutes brainstorming new content
MONDAY – marketing
- Monthly newsletter
- 15 minutes brainstorming strategy
- 15 minutes brainstorming/writing content
TUESDAY – networking
- Active reach-out
- Write content for partnerships
- Spend 5 minutes brainstorming new networking opportunities
WEDNESDAY – admin
- Low priority email inquiries
- Accounting
THURSDAY/FRIDAY – creative
- Read books in the biz/creative/time management genres
- Work on free resource library
- Work on website
FRINGE HOURS – professional development
- Fringe hours are those little pockets of time throughout the day that often go underused or are wasted altogether. I will spend these hours reading books in the biz/creative/time management genres.
As a final thought, the disclaimer: scheduling your week like this while also loving on a busy toddler requires flexibility. It is the season of illnesses, late-night family gatherings, and start of new extracurriculars. All of these things mean the possibility for a day or week to be completely thrown off. When (not if) that happens, use your fringe hours for your daily tasks and early morning/late evening hours for the daily strategic initiatives.
Looking for help on how to schedule your work-from-home arrangement? Get in touch – I’d love to hear from you!
