Six Ways to Make More Money by Wasting Less Time

Books like The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris tell us the modern Internet businessman can work less hours than ever before. This is a dream for most people and whilst it may be beyond the reach of most of us, there are tools, tips and tricks which can ensure we get more work done in a shorter space of time. This means more free time away from the Internet.

If you are finding yourself almost enslaved to your desktop and working more hours per day for yourself than would be legal at a “proper job”, then take a look at the following methods which can give you more spare time than Santa Claus.

Don’t just read and forget them. Actually implement them. Then use them for at least three weeks until they have become habits for you. Use them every day, no excuses and watch your free time increase.

1. Get Focused!

It’s amazing how much of the work we do is simply wasting our time and not leading us towards our goals. Do you think every email crossing your inbox is going to make you money? Then why check your email every minute? Or even every hour?

I learnt this from Les Hewitt and it’s helped me focus on what I really need to get done in my business every day. First, write down everything you do each day in your business. Write down everything from opening the mail to creating your latest products.

Once you have a nice long list, choose the three things that will make your business grow. You should be able to isolate three things that are absolutely critical to your business growth. Then simple make sure you are focusing on these tasks everyday.

Set yourself a goal of working on these three priorities for 80% of your time and watch your results skyrocket.

2. Eliminate Distractions

Why do we waste so much time? Distractions. Phones, email, other people and sudden ideas all contribute to us Internet marketer’s losing time everyday. It is time to get rid of them.

We live in a culture of interruptions. You can’t go anywhere without someone’s mobile phone going off and now everyone is checking their emails on the run as well. Ask yourself, do you really need to be available every second of the day?

When you are working you should be focused on what you’re doing. So when you are working on the important stuff, shut everything else out. Turn off your email, turn off your phone. They have these incredible features built in where they’ll actually store who called or emailed until the next time you look at the device.

Worried about missing something important? Put an autoresponder on your email saying you only read and reply during specific times so customers aren not expecting a reply instantly. Do the same with your phone answering message. Actually schedule the times when you are available for contact with the outside world and use the majority of your time to grow your business.

Unfortunately, online technology such as email, Skype, instant messaging and social networking websites mean we live in a culture where customers expect us to be available 24/7. However, why not try something radical and go against the grain?

If you ensure you are NOT available to your customer’s every beck and call you are actually communicating to them your time is highly valuable and subconsciously they will respect you more for it.

3. Capture Those Ideas

We all have thoughts and ideas all the time, this is what makes us Internet marketing types so good at what we do. At this very moment I am thinking about Denise van Outen and a bottle of ketchup… The trick is to not get distracted. Suddenly it pops into your head that you need to buy milk. Then you remember you should reply to an email from a new lead. Next you have a great idea for a new article to post on your blog.

You need to capture these ideas and not leave them rolling around in your head. Once you know you have them in a reliable system you can go back to what you were supposed to be doing.

So when you have a thought or idea, capture it. It can be with pen and paper or somewhere on your computer. You might need different systems for different places… like the idea factory of your shower. But as long as they all get fed into the same place so you can take action on them the system will work.

Milk will get captured and later transferred to this week’s grocery list. Emails you need to write will get captured and added to the customer contact list. New article ideas will be added to the new article to-do list. Once they are there you can decide when you need to do them by and then tick them off your list or schedule them accordingly.

4. Work Smarter

Now we’ve decided to focus on the critical work, we are going to use your ability to “work better under pressure” to get more done. Think back to your college days. How good were you at getting that essay written with just hours before the deadline to hand it in, or how much you managed to learn about a particular subject the night before a big exam?

You can adopt the same approach with your business and this will help you avoid your mental procrastination blocks and just finish the task at hand.

When working on your critical aspects, set aside 50 minutes to do it. Turn off all your distractions and just get stuck into it. Use a timer to measure the 50 minutes and when it goes off you stop and take a 10 minute break.

This gives you a goal to work for and you can pit yourself against the clock, creating a deadline. Just make sure it’s a task that you can actually do inside 50 minutes or break it down until you can.

For tasks where you’re lacking motivation, set up a reward for completing it. Maybe you have a new movie you want to see or a favourite restaurant to go to. Rewards could be smaller like a chocolate bar as well (see other articles for weight loss tips!)

5. Avoid a Slow Email Death

Email is worth a second look here because it’s obviously a killer for Internet business. I have already mentioned setting aside a specific time to check and respond to emails, now let’s take it a step further.

Do something with the email when you open it. If it’s unimportant, move it to another folder to read later. If it’s from a customer, either reply now or mark it for when you have the necessary information. Once you’ve replied, store it in another folder. Out of sight… out of mind.

The goal is to keep your email inbox as clear as possible. You shouldn’t be wading through the same emails twice when you could have already dealt with it.

You also don’t want to be wasting your time reading every email newsletter you’ve signed up for. Set aside some other time to skim through them and investigate what looks valuable.

Another idea is to get a Virtual Assistant to do this for you. By outsourcing your email you can have your assistant reply to the less important emails and only deal with the ones that need your personal attention. Plus, they’re a lot cheaper than you’d imagine!

Step 6: Keeping on Top of it All

Keeping on top of your industry can also be time consuming. Again, you should set aside a specific time for it and use some free tools to manage the information.

Use a free RSS reader like Google Reader to keep on top of industry news sources and blogs. Set up Google Email Alerts to see when people are talking about you and your business.

That’s right, you can turn Google into your very own personal assistant by getting it to inform you every time your name is mentioned anywhere on the Internet. Set this up for your name, your business name, and if you are extra-sneaky, use your competitor’s name as well.

The Google Reader is easy to setup, just create a free Google account and follow the on-screen instructions.

Summary - Do It Your Way

I can tell you a whole variety of strategies to improve your productivity and save you time and money, but it all comes down to what you do with the information.

Too long has ‘productivity’ been about forcing working styles on people that work for some, but not for others. If you’re a creative type you may shudder at some of the ideas above but they can be made to work for you if you want them to. All you have to do is find a way to merge the system and your personality.

Maybe you work better in a cluttered environment, but you always know where to find everything. That’s just your way so create your idea storage system around this with post it notes all over your walls.

Maybe you find yourself more creative in the morning but can’t do anything after lunch. Then make sure you’re doing your most critical activities in the morning and replying to your email and doing research after lunch.

You may even want to shorten your working hours if you’re getting all your critical work out of the way early. After all, being more productive is not about working more. It’s about getting more done in less time. So who’s to say that you can’t half your workday and double your productivity?

The ideas above work if you give them a try and create habits around them. Just tailor the habits to your personality and you’ll have a happier and more productive working environment.

Let me know your own working habits by leaving a comment below!