Last Updated on January 19, 2018 by Carissa
Being your own boss can be really exciting – you can finally do what you want and be who you want to be, but at the same time it can be very stressful as you have to juggle so many different things at once! Here are some tips on how you can be more productive and successful running your own business coming from my own experience as I am currently working towards that goal too, so I try to incorporate the following things in my daily life:
1. Set a schedule:
It is so important to set a schedule and stick to it, and make each day a specific type of day. For example, Mondays could be meetings with clients, Tuesdays could be photoshoot day and Wednesdays could be editing day. This helps to structure your week and makes it easier to plan tasks.
2. Work smarter, not harder
If you also have another job or are at uni whilst you’re trying to start something new such as a blog or your own business, the key is not to work harder, but to work smarter. So on days when you have time to blog, make sure you prepare multiple blog posts and schedule them to post, so that you don’t have to keep writing blog posts everyday. If you’re having a photoshoot, make sure to plan ahead and take lots of photos in one go that you can store away on your computer and use for later, which may come in handy for a future blog post. This will help to avoid shooting photos last minute or on the day that you want to publish.
3. Plan ahead
For any business, you’ll make your life so much easier if you just plan ahead. It will save you the stress of doing or creating something last minute, and your potential clients will also thank you for it too.
4. Prioritise your work
It can help to write a to-do list of all the things you want to do, and then prioritise which are the most important tasks. It can be to do with work, up-coming trips, socials – this can ensure that you get everything done in the order that it needs to be done.
5. Wake up earlier
For many of you, you may be like me and feel more productive at night than in the mornings, and feel inclined to wake up around noon and work till 2am, especially if you’re working from home. But honestly, if you want to be professional, it’s best to wake up earlier and start work at the same time as a normal office person as most people will send you emails and call you during the day. So you don’t want to be replying to them 6 hours later as they might not take you seriously.
6. Go to sleep earlier
This goes without saying – as I mentioned above, if you’re going to wake up earlier, you’re going to need to go to bed earlier! Not only so that you can get up in the morning, but sleep is really important for your body and mind to rest and re-charge, so aim to get your 7-8 hours sleep every night.
7. Save money
Being your own boss comes with its own risks, and there may be times when you won’t get paid – so be prepared. A lot of companies don’t always pay on time, or if your business is experiencing a slump, then it definitely helps to save money along the way in case this ever happens, so you have something to fall back on and aren’t left in a frenzy. Don’t let this put you off from being your own boss though, as it does come with it’s own perks too!
8. It’s okay to say ‘No’
You might be at the stage where people are reaching out to work with you, but their goals might not align with yours, or may be unrealistic for you to achieve, or you don’t really have any interest in working with them, then it’s okay to reject them – remember you don’t have to please everyone! It’s better to be honest about it as you could actually let them down more if you said yes you’d do something but failed to deliver or come through on your promises.
So those are my 8 tips on how to be your own boss, I hope this helped you in some way, whether you’re thinking of starting your own business or have already started! These tips definitely helped me with starting my own blog, so if you enjoyed this post please subscribe to see more! 🙂 I’d also love to hear what you guys think, so feel free to leave a comment below!
Until next time,
Carissa xxx
