As an agency founder, time management is essential. How do you manage your time?
When running an agency, especially if you are in the sub 20 staff stage, you tend to wear many hats. You might be looking after the new biz, the marketing, the delivery of projects as well as being the HR department, the finance department and the recruitment arm.
However, with so much to do and a finite number of hours in the day, how do you optimise your time management? Here’s our best practices to make sure you take control of your precious time to get more out of your day.
Time Management best practices
1. Do an audit of yourself and your time management
Which tasks are you responsible for? Which tasks do you pick up ad hoc during the week? How long does each task take?
You may surprise yourself finding out you are spending hours a week doing things that should be left to another member of the team.
2. Take some time out and look at how you are structuring your week
Book time in your calendar for certain agency tasks. Be strict with the time slots you set for yourself. Turn off notifications, mute your phone and let other matters wait.
3. Protect your work/life balance
This isn’t a one size fits all approach. It is whatever feels right for you and the way that you operate. Check in with yourself regularly and see how you are feeling. Are you managing, thriving, and enjoying the ride? Agency life is a rollercoaster – know when to ride it out but know when to take time out.
4. Hiring the right people
Hire capable, competent people who will tell you when to butt out of the day-to-day and will keep the ship on course. So you don’t have to be on call every second of every day. Delegation is key to successful time management. It can be hard to let go. However, you can’t cling on to every aspect of your business nor should you. It can be scary to hand the virtual keys over to your team, but trust them, let them fail, let them learn.
5. Can you outsource?
Have you hired someone to look after your accounts? Chase invoices? Sort of the admin? As a founder you are super valuable as a leader. So, lead! If your hourly rate is higher, hire someone in to take the more faffy jobs away from you. As you grow this goes for business development, account management and marketing too.
6. Utilise tools to optimise time management
Can you automate any tasks? Is there something on the market that can help you? These are some our community really rate:
Mark up for client feedback, Clockify to track time, Notion to create links and back links, Productive to time track and project budgets, and Active Collab for Project Management.
Time Management that works for you
Here are a few additional tips that will help you manage your time better.
1. Prioritise
What needs your urgent attention? Is there anything on your to do list that can be passed on to someone else. What are the tedious jobs that must be done but that you keep putting off? Crack on with them first.
There is nothing worse than seeing the same jobs on your to do list every day, because putting it off can just make you feel weighed down. Free yourself and your brain space by just cracking on with it.
2. Book some time off for your personal development
Founders tend to feel their way and learn by doing. Why not take some time out to increase your skills. Get some time in your calendar to learn from other agency founders, to attend talks, to learn management and leadership skills. It is time well spent.
3. Take breaks!
Book a holiday. Have some time away. Presenteesiism is an absolute killer. Don’t feel that you need to clock on for the sake of it. It waters down your efforts and effectiveness. Instead be confident in booking some time off, downing tools and stepping away. You will come back refreshed, energised and better able to make the most of your time.
Like the Michael Altschuler quote goes:
“The bad news is time flies. The good thing is you are the pilot”
Take control of your time, how you use it and the demands you put upon yourself. Just a couple of changes to the way you manage your time could have a massive impact on you, your agency and how you feel running it.