/,äntrəprə’nər/
noun
a person who
organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal
financial risks in order to do so.
I
think (or maybe at least I hope) that at one time or another, each of us has considered ourselves an
entrepreneur. Well, I proudly wear this badge of courage each and every day…
because I am self employed.
Business Insider is a great magazine for business minded people Have you seen it? It is a great tool for any business – large or small. I
try to read it on a regular basis but don’t quite get to it as much as I would like.
Well, the other day, I ran across this great article:
22 Successful Entrepreneurs Share Their Best Productivity Hacks
If you are an entrepreneur, or at least consider yourself one... I think you are going to enjoy the following.
Besides money, time is the greatest commodity an entrepreneur can have. It makes sense, then, that the most successful ones have figured out some handy productivity hacks to make the most of their days.
First: I love to devour advice from ‘successful’ business people (especially
entrepreneurs)
Second: I love to make note of this advice, have it on hand to easily reference and say, “I am going to try
this today."
See if you find any great advice in the following 'helpful' sharing:
Asana CEO Dustin
Moskovitz has No Meetings Wednesdays.
Moskovitz
is one of the cofounders of Facebook,
as well as one of the cofounders of software company Asana.
He
keeps his schedule free in the middle of every week to have one day of
uninterrupted work.
It's
"an invaluable tool for ensuring you have some contiguous space to do
project work," he writes.
Beth Doane,
founder of Raintees, lets all calls go to voicemail.
In
2008, Doane created Raintees, an apparel
line that plants a tree in an endangered rainforest for every shirt sold and
donates school supplies to a child in need for every tote bag sold.
Leading
a growing company requires her full focus. Doane lets all of her non-scheduled
calls go to voicemail, or else she would never get anything done, she says.
Eric Casaburi, founder and CEO of Retro Fitness multitasks by combining a "brainless" activity with a "brain-required" activity.
Casaburi
founded the first Retro
Fitness in 2004 as an affordable gym for fitness buffs of all intensity
levels. His franchise now has locations across the country and continues to
grow.
He
thinks multi-tasking is key for productivity, but only if it combines a
mindless task with one that requires focus.
"For
example, you could exercise on a treadmill while taking a conference call
(something that I do frequently)," he says. "Yes you will be winded,
but I assure you it won't affect your thinking and communication skills. In
fact, there are studies that show the brain neurons fire off at a higher rate
while active!"
"Shark
Tank" investor Barbara Corcoran keeps track of her investments with photos
on her wall.
Corcoran
made her fortune with the realty company she cofounded and later sold, the
Corcoran Group, but today she spends all of her time with her "Shark
Tank" portfolio. She has between 25 and 30 companies she's invested in,
but it's impossible to pay close attention to each one.
She's
developed a system to budget her time.
"After
I sign a deal, I have everybody send me a photo of themselves," she says.
"I frame it and I put it on my wall. After that four-month period — it
used to be six months, now it's four, and I think I'll make it shorter — the
minute I realize they're not a great entrepreneur, I flip the frame over. I
keep the frame on the wall, but this way every time I look up, it's my symbol:
Don't spend any time on this. I put all my focus on my good ones."
Jamie Wong,
founder and CEO of Vayable, schedules three non-work-related activities a week
that nothing can interfere with.
Vayable is a San Francisco-based travel
firm that connects travelers with locals who serve as tour guides. Its network
includes over 600 destinations around the world.
Wong
says that she's found schedules and daily plans regularly get broken, so she
started keeping three things in her life that she sticks to no matter what. She
commits to one activity in each of the categories "Create,"
"Love," and "Grow." Right now, for example, she's learning
how to play songs on her guitar (Create), keeping Thursday and Saturday nights
reserved for friends (Love), and taking boxing lessons (Grow).
"I’ve
discovered that few things are more powerful in personal growth than sports,"
she says. "I block off Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings now for
boxing training. Not only is it an amazing workout, but the mental and physical
discipline it requires is a great exercise and metaphor for achieving anything
outside of my comfort zone... I find that boxing, like many sports, is always a
powerful metaphor for life and business, and I am able to draw on its power
throughout the week."
"The Walking
Dead" creator Robert Kirkman creates a false sense of urgency.
Kirkman
is the cofounder of Skybound Entertainment,
the production company behind his international megahit "Walking
Dead" comic and AMC television series, among many other projects. He
constantly has a full plate of responsibilities, and so it's why he came up
with a trick, albeit one that's not very graceful, to keep the creative juices
flowing.
"I'll
be like, 'I want to write 12 pages today,' but I really only need to write like
four or five," he says. "But if I try to write 12, I might write six
or seven. What that does though, is it gives me a crushing sense of failure at
the end of every day.
"So
I'm like, 'Oh my God, I didn't get those 12 pages done. I suck! What is wrong
with me?' and the next day I work harder because I have to make up for that
unrealistic deadline I didn't make," he says, laughing.
Doug Quint,
cofounder of Big Gay Ice Cream, books his flights based on the availability of
WiFi.
Quint
and Bryan Petroff started selling gourmet ice cream from a rented truck in the
summer of 2009 as a fun side project. Big
Gay Ice Cream quickly gained a devoted following throughout New York US
To
make the most of his time spent traveling, Quint always makes sure he will have
access to a WiFi network.
"There's
usually no guarantee at the time of booking that I'll need internet access —
but if I can't sleep and there's work to be done that hinges on connectivity,
it seems like a week's worth of work can be done during those hours at 24,000
feet," he says.
Kate McKeon, founder of Prepwise and Prepwise Games, utilizes Fancy Hands' assistants-for-hire.
McKeon
was a longtime consultant who turned to the education world when she became an
instructor at Manhattan GMAT in 2008. In 2012, she founded her own test prep
company, Prepwise, for students taking
the SAT and GMAT.
As
the leader of two small startup teams, McKeon has to take care of a constant
stream of tasks. She turned to Fancy Hands' assistant services a year ago and has said
it's significantly boosted her productivity.
"In
some cases, I have them do preliminary research on market segments so I can
make a high-level decision very quickly," she says. "In other
cases, I break up a very complicated project into small enough pieces that can
be done with a series of tasks. I had them sort through a 15,000 word glossary
for wrong words, and it only took two days."
Joe Silverman, founder of New York Computer Help,
has a rewards system for achieving his goals throughout the day.
Joe
Silverman founder of New York Computer Help, has a
rewards system for achieving his goals throughout the day.
Silverman
founded New York Computer Help in 2000, and now his team of 25 repairs
computers, smartphones, and tablets. He places an emphasis on customer service
and personally follows up with as many customers as he can.
When
Silverman became his own boss, he wanted to find a way to motivate himself. The
answer was a simple reward system — with an emphasis on snacks.
"Complete
the blog and get a mini-chocolate," he says as an example. "Call up
all customers who would like additional IT services and buy coffee from Dunkin
Donuts. Reach my daily sales goal and eat a protein bar. The key for me is to
stick to these incentives. If I don't accomplish a goal, well, I don't get the
reward."
Ellevate Network
chair Sallie Krawcheck works while everyone's sleeping.
Krawcheck,
the former president of global wealth and investment management at Bank of
America, acquired the women's network 85 Broads
and reinvented it as Ellevate Network.
She
gets up before dawn to prepare for the day.
"I
am never more productive than at 4 a.m. I brew a cup of coffee, I keep the
lights pretty low, I sometimes light a fire in the fireplace, and I let my
daughter’s cat sleep next to my computer," she writes on LinkedIn.
"My mind is clear, not yet caught up in the multiple internal
conversations that we all conduct with ourselves once we gear up for our first
meeting of the day."
Roger J. Hamilton,
founder of the XL Group, categorizes every task as a "project" or a
"process" and then strictly manages them.
Tracy DiNunzio,
founder and CEO of Tradesy, works from home one day each week.
DiNunzio
operates the online clothes re-seller Tradesy.
It absorbed her previous venture, Recycled Bride, the largest online wedding
re-sale marketplace.
She
considers multitasking a myth and focuses on one task until it's complete. To
cut down on distractions, she tries to regularly work from home.
"I
try to work from home at least one day a week, and carve out time blocks
throughout the day in the office to focus on whatever is at the top of my to-do
list without interruption," she says. "It's better to do three things
well than try and do 10 things when your attention is divided."
Mona Bijoor,
founder of Joor, skips the gym and incorporates exercise into her daily routine.
In
2010, Bijoor started Joor as an online
global marketplace for wholesale buying for fashion retailers. It is based in New York City and now has offices in Los
Angeles and Milan ,
Italy
Bijoor
works fitness into her busy days, which start at 6:30 a.m. when her young
daughters wake her up.
"I
make my girls breakfast and while they are eating I generally do 100 sit ups or
100 push ups," she says. Then she takes the train into the city with her
husband. "I get off two subway stops earlier than my normal stop and walk
20 blocks to work so I can log some steps on my Fitbit.
This is all the exercise I get during the day, so I take full advantage of NYC
being such a great walking city."
The late Steve
Jobs figured out a way to keep Apple focused and lean.
On
the last day of Apple's "top 100" executive retreats, Jobs would stand
in front of his employees with a whiteboard, his biographer Walter
Isaacson writes in the Harvard Business Review.
Jobs
would write down suggestions from the audience for what Apple should be doing
during the next year. He would then cross off the ones he considered
"dumb," Isaacson says, and "after much jockeying" finally
come up with a list of 10. Then he'd cross out the bottom seven for the final
list.
Bobby Harris,
founder and president of BlueGrace Logistics, keeps meetings as short as
possible.
BlueGrace Logistics offers
transportation, technology, freight, and logistics services to companies. In
2011, it launched a program to sell franchises in all 50 states, and in 2012,
Inc. magazine named it the No. 1 logistics and transportation company in the
country.
Harris
hates meetings because he thinks they waste time, but he knows that sometimes
they're necessary. He's found a way to make the most of them.
"Never
accept a meeting without a clear agenda and then ask how long they need,"
he said. "Whatever amount of time is requested cut it in half! For
instance, if someone asks for 30 minutes, give them 15. Start and stop your
meeting on time, every time."
Priscila Barros, founder
of Babiekins Magazine, makes sure her desk is always clean.
When
Barros was a 22-year-old mom, she decided to start an online fashion magazine
for kids. Babiekins took off when Vogue
Kids Brasil covered it, and now it's advertised as the leading children's
fashion magazine in the US
Barros
thinks entrepreneurs should not underestimate the benefits of a clean desk.
"I
have made it a habit to put things away and keep folders for different tasks,"
she says. "And once a task is done, I check it off. It helps my mind keep
focused on that 'one thing' to do instead of looking at the long list of
must-dos."
Carlo Ruggiero,
cofounder of Kono Pizza, gets back to work once his family is asleep.
Ruggiero
founded Kono Pizza USA New Jersey , North Carolina , and Florida
Ruggiero
goes back to work at night as a way to focus and get extra work done.
"At
night when my family is asleep, I work uninterrupted for at least two to three
hours," he says. "These few extra hours have been extra productive
because I sleep better knowing I've done all I can that day, but more
importantly, it decreases my 'to do' list for the next morning."
Mark Slater, CEO
of Pingup, leaves the office for a half hour each day to get some fresh air.
Slater
is a Boston-based serial entrepreneur who started his latest project, Pingup, in 2012. It develops mobile booking apps
like BookNow for making reservations and TaxiNow for hailing cabs.
He
thinks that "too many people (especially in the cold Northeast) don't take
time away from work during the day, which actually increases
productivity."
Slater
spends a half hour each day out of the office to clear his mind and get some
exercise. He also often uses this time to pick up his daughter from school,
which is an added bonus.
Samira Far,
founder of Bellacures, uses Evernote to organize her life into lists.
Far
opened her first Bellacures nail salon
in 2006, and now the company has seven locations across California
Far
is obsessed with lists, which she organizes with the app Evernote.
"I
make a list of what I want to accomplish, then tie action items to them
quarterly, monthly, and then daily," she says. "I keep my daily list
fresh by re-determining the best use of my time the night before. Every now and
again I glance at my monthly and quarterly lists to see if I need to make any
adjustments in order to accomplish my goals."
James Borow,
cofounder and CEO of SHIFT, sets aside all emails that aren't related to his
to-do list.
SHIFT is a Los Angeles-based marketing
platform that works with brands to maximize their influence on social networks.
Since 2010, it has raised over $14 million in funding, works with 10 of the
world's top 20 brands, and has opened additional offices in Palo
Alto , Chicago , New
York , and London
Borow
uses the Mailbox app to isolate emails
that are relevant to tasks he must accomplish.
"The
key is to snooze all of the emails that are not part of weekly goals," he
says. "If you do this, you can start to treat your email as a to-do list
as opposed to just reacting all of the time. This has completely changed my
ability to get bigger tasks done."
Lucas Donat,
founder and CEO of Tiny Rebellion, gets his hardest work done before most
people wake up.
Donat
founded Tiny Rebellion as a small
ad agency dedicated to working exceptionally closely with its clients. It has
had significant success growing the brand awareness of eHarmony, LegalZoom, and
Hotwire, to name a few.
Donat's
now-favorite productivity trick fell into place after his infant daughter began
waking him up at 4 a.m. Now she's grown, but he still uses the "magical
time" from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. to get his hardest work done.
"That
uninterrupted, quiet time allows me to start my business day with a sense of
accomplishment," he says. "I have already done the hard work of
writing and thinking before breakfast. As a CEO, I am increasingly finding that
my highest contribution is to be there for others in a way that adds harmony
and clarity. Having that quiet time in the morning for reflection and
creativity is what keeps me firing on all cylinders during the chaos of my
day."
Rob Israel,
co-founder of Doc Popcorn, starts each morning with a two-word mantra.
Did you pick up any great advice... I know I did!
...and I know at least once tomorrow I am going to say,
"I am going to try this today."
How about you?
