Maximizing Your Calendar
To Maximize Profits (and Your Life)

Are you ruled by your calendar? Does life STOP when you have back to back meetings booked? How often do you find yourself wishing for a break (and maybe some time to focus on your own business while stuck at your 9-to-5)?

For so many of us, our calendars are our lifelines. It can feel exhausting just to look at it! Especially when you’re also trying to grow your business while still working the 9-5 life.

Let’s look at the ways to start maximizing your calendar to fit your life AND business goals to allow the magic to happen.

PLAN YOUR SCHEDULE AHEAD OF TIME

Make sure you block out time on your calendar for yourself and for your business around your work schedule. Consider carving out an hour or two in the evening each week and strictly focus on your business goals, allotting one night each week for business calls and marketing, or set aside one weekend day a month for content planning. Add these to your calendar so you don’t overbook yourself.

Tip: As entrepreneurs, we wear all the hats in our business (and then some with our full time jobs). Set one day aside each month to plan out your calendar. Block out days and times for when you’ll tackle your various business hats – your CEO hat, admin hat, marketing hat, bookkeeping hat, etc.

BLOCK OUT WORKING HOURS

If you block out a chunk of time on your calendar for your own business goals, treat it like an important meeting just like you would if your boss asked. This could be the evenings, during lunch, on the weekend. If it’s on your calendar, don’t just shrug it off or push it off until later. If you have put on your calendar that 6p-7p is set aside for building your business knowledge or scheduling this week’s posts, stick to it.

Tip: Speaking of meeting with clients, you know your time is already extremely limited when working a 9-5 job, so make sure you clearly articulate your working hours to your clients and then set boundaries. If you tell your clients you’re working until 9p, and they message you at 11p, don’t respond. Make sure you also relay response time to your clients as well – how soon can they expect to hear back from you? Remember, if you’re still working a full time job that requires you to be up by 6a, you’re eating into recharge time by responding to every message that comes in after hours.

SELF-CARE IS AN ESSENTIAL TOOL FOR SUCCESS

Just like you prioritize your meetings, make sure you prioritize self-care and refresh time as well. Add these self-care sessions to your calendar (including lunch!) and don’t push these off to go back to work sooner.

Tip: No self-care time means burnout is around the corner, which means you won’t be able to effectively function in your business OR in your full-time job. If you feel the burnout coming on (lack of motivation, always tired, feeling overwhelmed, can’t focus) then it’s time to reevaluate how much you’re taking on in your business or at your full-time job. This could be the sign you need to explore a potential part-time option at work (if they allow that) or you may need to reevaluate your clients (including how you’re pricing your services – higher prices mean you need fewer clients to hit your goals, we’ll be chatting all about pricing next week on Instagram, click here).

STICK TO YOUR WORKING HOURS AT YOUR JOB

If you’re slotted to end your work day by 6p, make sure you stick to it. Your personal time outside of working hours is just that, personal, so if you don’t need to be on call, then don’t answer the call and make sure you’re prioritizing yourself and your business.

Tip: I know how tempting it is to be ON all the time when working a full-time job and running your business. Leverage a third-party tool such as Voxer or Whatsapp for client communication (both of which can be accessed from a desktop). This way you’re able to separate from your 9-to-5 after working hours but still be in contact with clients, and when you end your working hours for your business, simply shut down your computer and walk away.

WHAT CAN YOU DO NEXT?

When you’re working the 9-to-5, you’re often ruled by someone else’s calendar. This can be a hard pill to swallow, however you can control your perspective, AND leverage the option to take control back by blocking out both personal and professional time, while creating boundaries around your 9-5. Just remember to grant yourself grace and space to breathe while you focus on your WHY and on the future goals you’ve mapped out.

And don’t forget to tune into my recent live where dive into how to juggle ALL THE THINGS while growing a biz! Click play on the video below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Steph Ritz, Claim Your Career (@claimyourcareer)

 About The Author

Stephanie Ritz is a business strategist and mindset coach who empowers women to tap into their strengths, skills, and desires to build a second income stream while in their full-time job. Her unique approach combines mindset coaching with business strategy to help professional women create a second income stream through building a coaching, consulting, or online-service business. 

Stephanie developed her coaching and mentoring skills through training as a Certified Coach and an NLP Master Practitioner and drawing on her own life experience. Starting as a single, teen mom, she put herself through school and went on to corporate leadership roles in multiple industries while starting two successful businesses.

For more information or to work with Stephanie, please visit www.ClaimYourCareer.com.