Business Success

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Top Time Management Hacks for Busy Entrepreneurs

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It is all too easy for the line between work and real-life to become something of a blur. This is especially the case when you are a busy entrepreneur. The pressure to try and do everything yet still have quality time for family can easily lead to burnout. Effective time management is not about trying to work more hours, it’s about prioritising tasks and working smarter in a way that helps your business grow. Let’s look at someessential hacks for time management that will help you take back control of your schedule, improve productivity and reduce burnout risk. 

The 80/20 rule

Sometimes referred to as the Pareto Principle, the 80/20 rule recommends that around 80% of results should come from 20% of your efforts. The important thing to do is identify this critical 20%. Consider which tasks generate more revenue, build the best relationships, or provide the most momentum to your business. For the majority of entrepreneurs, a focus on sales is most important, followed by strategic planning, and building your team, rather than “getting lost in administrative tasks”. Every day should start by identifying just one or two “high impact” tasks. These are where your focus should be, before you start anything else. 

Time blocking

Time blocking is a very powerful and effective technique. Split your day into blocks of time and assign specific tasks to each block. Do this rather than simply saying you will work on X and Y during the day. Dedicate a set block of time to X and another to Y. This approach can help avoid distractions and makes sure all the most important work is done. It will also help to give you a better idea of what you can accomplish in a set period. You can assign blocks for breaks and lunch as well which will give your day mor routine and make it less stressful. 

Batching similar tasks

When it comes to productivity, context switching – jumping between tasks that are unrelated – can be a killer. When you switch from one task to another your brain needs to re-engage with a new task, and this wastes mental energy and time. Task batching is the solution to this. When you group activities that are similar you can tackle them all at once, and this will ensure that you build efficiency and momentum which ensures you have more mental resources for difficult tasks. 

The two-minute rule

The two-minute rule (made popular by David Allen, a productivity expert) is a hack that helps reduce procrastination. Take any tasks that will take just two minutes, or less, and do them immediately. When you do this, you can prevent annoying small tasks from pilling up and causing you additional stress.

Set boundaries, delegate

You are not supposed to do everything yourself. Key to making the most of your time is learning what and when to delegate. Consider your daily tasks and ask yourself if any of them could be done by someone else. When you outsource things like bookkeeping, daily admin and even management of your social media you can free up significant chunks of time. This will help you to be more productive in other areas. 

Your most valuable asset is time. Implementing some of these hacks can help you become more proactive. This means you can shift from feeling overwhelmed to a position where you are more in control. You don’t need to be busy all the time, but you do need to use your time wisely. Essentially, this allows you to make the split between working hard and having some down time. 

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A No-Nonsense Guide to Building Effective Business Relationships

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In business, relationships are often talked about in soft terms, rapport, chemistry, networking. But scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find that building business relationships isn’t about charm or charisma. They’re built on something far more practical: clarity, consistency, and mutual value. Forget the small talk and the LinkedIn likes, effective business relationships are a strategic asset, and like any asset, they need to be earned, maintained, and sometimes recalibrated.

Whether you’re working with clients, partners, suppliers, or your own team, the principles of strong professional relationships remain remarkably consistent. They’re not about working the room or collecting contacts, they’re about building trust, delivering value, and showing up when it counts.

Start With Respect, Not Strategy

Too many people approach business relationships with a transactional mindset. What can this person do for me? How do I close this deal faster? It’s a short-sighted approach that often backfires. The most effective relationships start from a place of respect, respect for the other person’s time, expertise, challenges, and priorities.

This doesn’t mean you can’t be strategic. But it means recognising that long-term success rarely comes from squeezing quick wins out of people. Instead, it comes from being known as someone who delivers on promises, listens when it matters, and treats others like partners rather than stepping stones.

Make Communication a Discipline

Good communication is not a talent, it’s a discipline. In the early days of a business relationship, people are paying close attention. How quickly do you respond to emails? Are you clear and transparent? Do you follow through on what you say?

These little moments send big signals. If you’re vague, flaky, or slow to respond, it won’t matter how brilliant your pitch is, doubt has already crept in. The best professionals make responsiveness and clarity part of their brand. They don’t over-communicate, but they keep people in the loop. They say what they’ll do, and they do it. That alone sets them apart.

Value First, Always

Strong business relationships are built on value, not volume. It’s not about how often you talk, it’s about what you bring to the table. That might be insights, ideas, introductions, or simply the ability to make someone’s life easier. The key is to focus on the other person’s needs as much as, if not more than, your own.

Ask yourself regularly: What does this person care about? How can I help them succeed? That mindset flips the relationship from one of extraction to one of contribution. And when people feel supported, they tend to reciprocate.

Don’t Disappear After the Deal

It’s one of the oldest clichés in business, but still a common misstep: nurturing the relationship right up until the contract is signed, then vanishing until renewal time. The truth is, the real relationship begins after the deal. That’s when trust is tested, and when reliability matters most.

Check in when there’s no agenda. Offer help without a pitch. Celebrate their wins. Share something useful you’ve come across. These small gestures accumulate over time into something rare: a relationship that’s not just professional, but dependable.

Be Honest, Especially When It’s Hard

Trust isn’t built on perfection; it’s built on honesty. If you’ve made a mistake, own it. If there’s a delay, communicate it. If something isn’t working, raise it early and with empathy. People may not love hearing bad news, but they’ll respect you for being upfront.

In fact, some of the most resilient business relationships are forged not during the smooth times, but in how issues are handled. The way you communicate in difficult moments often matters more than the problem itself.

Invest for the Long Haul

Building business relationships takes time. They aren’t built in a single meeting or sealed with a handshake over drinks. They’re the result of repeated positive interactions, small moments that slowly build a foundation of trust and credibility.

That means playing the long game. Stay in touch with contacts even when there’s nothing to sell. Be generous with advice. Be reliable in small things. And don’t forget to say thank you, genuine appreciation goes a long way.

Consistency Beats Charm

At the end of the day, building business relationships isn’t about slick presentations or perfectly timed coffee chats. They’re built on showing up, following through, and proving, over and over again, that you’re someone people can count on.

So if you’re looking to grow your network, win loyalty, or simply become someone others want to work with, forget the gimmicks. Be useful. Be honest. Be present. That’s the no-nonsense formula for building relationships that last, and that work.

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How to Become More Productive

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Many extremely organised people cannot understand how disorganised people can actually manage to get any work done in a cluttered office. De-cluttering can increase productivity and efficiency as well as creating a calmer and more pleasant environment in your workplace or home office. When you clear the clutter and take control of your life you will be more productive – trust me.

With the rise of hybrid working and more people working from home, improving productivity is an even bigger issue than ever. Some corporations are now insisting on a full-time return to the workplace but others have established a hybrid approach that works for the well-being of employees and the vital productivity of the company. Nevertheless, there are still challenges to working and leading remotely so encouraging a calm uncluttered office could be of immense benefit.

No-Nonsense Guide to Measuring Productivity

Understand where value is created, where time is lost, and how to get the most out of lean teams and finite resources

Read More

Declutter Your Home Office and Become More Productive

When working from home, different people work in very different ways – some like to be extremely organised, with a filing place for everything and everything filed in its place. Others like to be surrounded by piles of work – maybe they think it makes them look busier when their partner arrives home from the daily commute. But more likely they work in a “mind-mapping” way with lots of connected pieces of information set out across their desk or even around the whole room.

The extremely organised types cannot understand how the seemingly disorganised types can actually manage to get anything done – and yet they do manage to, and often in a more creative way.

But if you are the “disorganised” type (or perhaps a better description is that you work in organised confusion) there will always be times when you lose that vital piece of paper: the important invoice, or details of the new contact you met at a networking event, or just a scrap of paper where you noted down that brilliant new idea! That’s the point when you might start to think there is some benefit to being more organised and consider decluttering your home office. Clearing space in your office can help create a less stressful environment that will lead to a more organised, clutter-free mind.

In order to embark on the arduous task of de-cluttering we need to feel motivated that a clutter-free office will be worth all the effort. If you cannot appreciate the advantages of de-cluttering then you will never do it. We also need to understand that de-cluttering is absolutely not about throwing away items that you actually need but it is about knowing the difference between the things you need and the clutter.

So avoid the excuses, aim for a less stressful working environment and just get started de-cluttering your home office. It really will improve all types of productivity, whether that is technical productivity in an IT environment or improving sales productivity in a sales and marketing team. Here are 7 top tips to help you:

  1. Categorise the paperwork and other items you need to store, for example: bank statements, invoices, receipts, insurance documents etc. Write all the categories down on a list – this will help you to get an overview of what you think you need and what you actually need. This list may not be complete at this stage but will give you a good starting point.
  2. Check the legal requirements for the retention of paperwork for tax or regulatory reasons. There is no point filing 10 years of bank statements and invoices if the Inland Revenue only require you to store information for the past 5 years. Add this information to your list of categories.
  3. Organise your filing cabinet(s) – as the experts at a technical SEO company have told me, if you have more than one filing cabinet then take one at a time and remove all the folders. Check their labels (if they have any) and match these labels to your list of categories. Make sure the title is exactly the same to avoid confusion and mis-filing later on.
  4. Organise your files – many people prefer to file their paperwork in ring-binder files that can be stored on a shelf and sub-divided more easily. Paperwork that is more frequently accessed is better stored this way. Make sure you have plenty of clear plastic pockets and dividers to organise the paperwork.
  5. Buy a stationery cupboard – so that all your office supplies such as printer paper, printer inks, envelopes, pens etc can be neatly stored in one place instead of on your desk. It will be much easier to find what you need and you will know when you are running out of something.
  6. Buy more storage – you can never have too much storage space so buy as many additional storage units, filing cabinets or shelves as you can reasonably fit in your home office. Having plenty of storage will make it easier to be organised.
  7. Consider renting a self-storage unit –  this can help you achieve this. It is simple to arrange and available in or near most major towns and is particularly useful for old documentation that you won’t have to access frequently. A storage unit at a self storage facility will help keep your home office de-cluttered when there simply is not space to store everything at home.

And, by the way, if you do work from home and are missing the camaraderie of the office, there’s some good evidence to suggest that going on a business trip with colleagues improves productivity too. Sounds like a very good reason to suggest a business trip somewhere interesting to your boss! Ooh – I don’t know – maybe Paris or London or Tokyo? You decide…

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home-office-couple Effective feedback

The Art of Effective Feedback

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Feedback that is constructive can often be difficult to receive, and is just as difficult to deliver. Whilst research indicates that we want feedback, it also shows that we are not comfortable or not willing to deliver it. However the better the feedback that people receive the more successful an organisation can become.

Effective feedback is something that we need to practice. It is little wonder that constructive feedback is something of an art. When done properly, constructive criticism can help to offer clear expectations, a fresh perspective and also improve employee performance and morale. It can also reduce any conflict and toxicity that may exist in a team.

Be direct

The most effective way of delivering good constructive feedback is to do so in person. It is best not to be given in the written form. Delivering feedback to a person directly shows a level of respect for team members. When this is not possible there are alternatives. For example, zoom could be used as a form of face to face feedback delivery. The key point is that both parties should be able to see each other during any feedback session,

Be specific

One of the hallmarks of constructive criticism is being specific and offering actionable insights. A good employee wants to know what they are doing well in their job and what they could do to make their performance better it is the responsibility of the person giving the feedback to provide them with the tools with which they can do this stop

It also matters how feedback is timed whilst many busy managers may prefer to wait for an annual review to offer feedback it is in fact better for it to be done in real time when issues almost irrelevant. The context of timing is also important, to be truthful and stick to facts, many unfortunately turn to jokes as a way of trying to make negative feedback easier.

Focus not on people but on actions

Too often people are uncomfortable giving feedback because they feel it is personal and do not want to hurt someone’s feelings however not offering constructive feedback is avoiding conflict and this can undermine your team.

Good constructive feedback focuses on the product and not the individual with criticism never being personal. An employee who misses the deadline is not necessarily lazy incorrect work does not signify incompetence. Focus your efforts on actions rather than perceptions use the “I” technique, “I recommend,” “I believe” to underline this.

Offer solutions

A good leader is someone who focuses on solutions and can get to the heart of any constructive feedback. It is important to offer specific problem solving recommendations or examples that will help to improve things. The feedback that you give is not a call to action but the solution that you offer could be

Make it a conversation 

Empathy is important to good feedback; it is not just about you are telling someone what has gone wrong and giving them feedback it is also about listening to their feedback to you. There should always be a conversation involved in good constructive feedback.

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How Many People Around the World Speak More Than 1 Language

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Speaking more than one language is highly beneficial. It helps you to keep your brain in good shape, helps you learn additional languages with more ease, helps broaden your job prospects and gives you better ability to communicate.

The positives of knowing more than one language are plenty, but just how many people across the world actually are bilingual or multilingual? Let’s take a closer look:

How Many People Can Speak More Than One Language Worldwide?

As it stands, at least 50% of the world is able to speak at least two languages with some estimates as high as 75%. This is more common in some countries than others. In the UK and America, Italy, Ireland, Hungary and Portugal, populations are less likely to speak an additional language. However, across Europe, certain countries have a really high chance of speaking an additional language. A high percentage of people (over 90%) in: Latvia, The Netherlands, Sweden, Malta, Slovenia, Lithuania and Luxembourg are able to speak more than one language. Across the world: Aruba, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Suriname, East Timor are well known for being bilingual or multilingual countries.

Does It All Come Down To Learning?

Although learning additional languages is a deliberate choice for many people, there are lots of countries where learning extra languages is simply expected, or necessary. Papua New Guinea, for example, uses over 840 languages. Of course every person doesn’t speak all those languages, but it’s common for people to be multilingual as par for the course.

Interestingly, a person who speaks a certain language, such as Ukrainian, may also have an understanding of a similar language, such as Russian. So, although they don’t speak the same languages, they, to some degree, can access materials that are in a Russian language.

Some communities may also understand a language conversationally and be bilingual in a sense, but more detailed versions of the language may not translate as well to them. They may also only communicate with that language in certain ways. So, if an area has a second language that many people speak, if you want to capitalise on that by adding that language to marketing content or learning content, it’s important to know how that additional language is generally used. Is it conversational? Is it written or read? This will help you to choose between adding useful layers like subtitles, voice overs or dubbing to content.

So, where it might seem like a good idea to utilise the country’s main language for a voice over, and perhaps a British voice over for business materials or marketing, in fact, there are usually multiple languages you could apply to any one video to further its reach.

Always Choose Professional Translation Services

Whichever languages you choose to use in your business project, always choose professional translation services. A professional translation and voice over agency such as Matinee will ensure that whichever languages end up in your international marketing strategy are correctly translated and localised. This ensures that your content has the best chance of representing your brand well, and communicating your marketing message for a positive impact on your target market.

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People Management Skills for the Small Business Owner

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As a small business owner, you can feel like there is a lot that you need to learn. It’s never-ending! However, while there are a lot of different technical and financial elements associated with running a business, you also need to master your people skills too. With that being said, let’s take a look at some of the best people management skills for small business owners. 

Integrity

There is only one place to begin, and this is with integrity. Being a person of integrity is important because it is the only way that your employees are going to trust you. If you are honest, ethical, and transparent, this really can make a massive difference to the performance of your workforce. It can be tempting to take the unethical shortcut when you face so many challenges per day, but it is important to avoid temptation. Even one slip could lead you to lose the trust of your staff.

Connectivity 

A good manager is someone who coaches and develops their workforce. Yes, delegating tasks is part of your job role, and being able to do this effectively is important. Assigning the right tasks to the right people can make a massive difference. However, you should not simply assign tasks and then leave people to it. Being a good coach and a mentor can make a massive difference when it comes to the success of your business. Opportunities to train, learn, and develop are what workers crave. You will find that a lot of people leave jobs whereby they feel like they are in a dead-end role and there is no opportunity to progress their learning. 

Empathy

Aside from the people management skills that we have mentioned so far, having empathy is important. It is vital that you can appreciate and understand how others feel. Empathy helps to generate trust. If your employees feel like they are genuinely seen and understood, they are going to be much more likely to trust you to make the correct decisions. In addition, you will be able to get the most potential from your employees if you are able to show empathy. When managers display that they care by showing their appreciation, employees will reciprocate this appreciation by putting more effort in.

Predictability 

Last but not least, another good skill to have is predictability. You may think that being predictable is boring, and this can be the case in some walks of life. But in business, it is a great quality to have. After all, employees prefer it when they know what to expect from their boss. It makes them feel comfortable in the working environment, and when this is the case, workers feel more confident when it comes to sharing their thoughts and ideas. They don’t feel like there is ambiguity regarding what they can and cannot do either, and this gives people the freedom they need to excel. 

Now, hopefully, you have a good idea some of the people management skills that you need to master as a small business owner. Do not underestimate the importance of having good people skills when it comes to the success of your business. 

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Small Business Success – NO MORE EXCUSES!

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Small Business Success – NO MORE EXCUSES!

As a digital marketing coach I have heard every possible excuse as to why people can’t start a small business or can’t improve the profitability of a small business.   With the power of internet marketing building a profitable business has never been easier!  Attraction marketing has completely revolutionized this industry and people still find excuses on why they can’t be successful in their industry.

One of the most common excuses that I hear is, “I don’t have the skills or knowledge to start a blog.”  If you know anything about online marketing it is critical to have a blog for you business.  Your blog is the engine that runs your marketing car and without a blog it will be very challenging to attract targeted leads to your small business.

Online Marketing Just Got Easier!

When someone drops the “I don’t have the skills or knowledge to start a blog” excuse on me I quickly respond with, “GREAT!  You don’t need to know how!”  The first thing I do is tell them about WordPress and show them some of the great blogs already online that don’t necessarily have great writers but do have an understanding of what interests online readers and that is everything and more that a newbie marketer needs to get started in the right direction.

Within minutes of setting up a WordPress blog you can be reaching people – and that is incredibly powerful.  There are currently millions of people using this platform to blog.  This is powerful because you can blog using specific keywords and these keywords will rank much, much faster than if you were trying to rank them with a blog on any other platform.

In addition to getting a complete blogging system you also get a website that can use a range of free themes to get a layout and design that suits your topics. 

A Blog Supplements Your Primary Business

You should not look at the blog as your primary business.  This blogging platform should be used to build your value and to position you as a leader in your industry. 

It is awesome having a resource such as WordPress available for the people that are really self-motivated and want to start blogging.  Again, there ARE NO MORE EXCUSES as to why you cannot blog daily and build an online business. 

Mark my words….if you start blogging seriously by the end of a year your business will be making serious amounts of money.

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Getting more value from Salesforce

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Are you still using Salesforce as just a contact manager and tracker instead of wholly a part of the sales process? Salesforce is an immensely powerful customer relationship management ecosystem that can completely revolutionise customer handling across your entire organisation leading to a more consistent customer experience and greater customer satisfaction. But it can’t do that unless you unlock its potential by populating it with data about your customers.

Get Trained

Probably the number one reason you aren’t using Salesforce as effectively as you could, is that you don’t know what it’s capable of. So instead of wasting money on features you don’t know existed and couldn’t use if you did get yourself some sales management training.

Connect, Integrate and Automate

Like keyword research for SEO, Salesforce gives back as much as you put into it. So, to maximise the value gained from your investment in the technology you need to start using it as the default application for any task. Many of the tasks that sales departments need to do on a daily basis are natively supported by Salesforce or you can directly link the application you need. No more copying and pasting customer data from database to email or cross-referencing to create a quotation. All that can be automated through Salesforce reducing the time spent creating sales documents and minimising the introduction of errors.

Customise the Interface…

Salesforce is extremely flexible and allows you to customise it to suit your particular business. Hide away the parts that don’t interest you and bring to the front the parts that are important. Salesforce users make the most of it when they can understand what it’s telling them so don’t be afraid to tailor the experience!

…And Expand Your Horizons

We mentioned above that Salesforce is a CRM ecosystem. There is a wealth of apps that plug into Salesforce and extend its capabilities even further. From Survey Monkey to SCOTSMAN tools there’s an app that can help you make the most of Salesforce.

Take It with You

In an increasingly connected world there is still a place for the sales visit to reassure prospective clients that you care about them and to demonstrate your product. Keep your Salesforce CRM data to hand by installing the Salesforce1 mobile app. Record the results of the meeting instantly, before you can forget what happened or confuse them with the next client and make a decision on what to do next before heading back to base.

Rich Analytics

The huge advantage of a CRM over, say keeping your records in a filing cabinet, is that you can mine your customer data to reveal interesting insights about how your customers are responding to you. Salesforce users who successfully harness this power can tailor their sales operations to focus on the most profitable areas where sales are most likely to come from. By reading and responding to the analytics you can increase customer satisfaction, improve customer loyalty and reduce time spent per sale on closing the deal. Doesn’t that sound like good value to you?

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Getting more value from Microsoft Dynamics CRM

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Unlike employing an SEO consultant, the decision to implement a CRM is not one to be taken lightly and even a small implementation of Microsoft Dynamics can be a considerable chunk of your annual IT budget.

Which is why it is important to be using it to the fullest extent. A CRM that is used as a glorified customer database is an extremely expensive white elephant but a CRM deployed across the whole company could increase productivity, decrease errors and improve customer satisfaction.

But how do you go about getting the most from Microsoft?

Get Up to Speed

Microsoft Dynamics is immensely powerful but that means you can’t expect to learn it by trial and error. It is essential that everyone in the sales process using the system is provided with sales training, both on the actual mechanics of “How do I do that?” and on the underlying methodology of “Why are we doing that?”

Tailor it to your needs

The only right way to run a business is the one that keeps the business alive. Whilst there are reams and reams of books and blogs telling you how to run your company you will no doubt have settled on a combination of techniques that you and your staff are happy with.

Which is why Microsoft Dynamics allows you to expand its capabilities by adding on apps. Do you use SCOTSMAN commitment measuring techniques? There’s an app for that . Do you use Social Media? Get the app to manage your social marketing. Need to monitor MailChimp? Guess what – there’s an app for that too.

Just like you’d be wasting your money buying an iPhone and only using it for phone calls you get the most out of Microsoft Dynamics when you add on apps to extend what it can offer.

Automate your sales pipeline

Microsoft Dynamics, naturally, integrates with Office so you can automate the creation of documents without needing to leave the CRM. This has two major benefits: firstly, you can keep all your interactions with a particular client together so you can see at a glance what stage of the sales cycle you’ve reached; and secondly, you minimise errors caused by transferring data from one system to another. This reduces the amount of time your sales people are spending on admin tasks whist improving the customer experience by speeding up responses and reducing errors.

Use mobile apps

Microsoft Dynamics has a mobile interface meaning your employees can access the CRM data wherever they are. Site visits – both sales and aftersales – can be logged immediately before the rep has a chance to forget what occurred and without the possibility of errors caused during transcription of paper records. It also allows them to be familiar with all interactions between the customer and your company – even if the customer rang in with an issue after your rep left the office. Attention to detail on this scale improves the customer experience which leads to greater customer satisfaction and better customer retention.

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