One of the most productive time-management success secrets for spa owners is to learn to focus on income producing activities. As a spa business owner, everything you do does not produce income. It doesn’t mean that those tasks that do not produce income aren’t important, all spa business owners have tasks to do that aren’t related to billable hours that are absolutely essential to having a successful business. But, knowing the differences of these various tasks is important to the effective management of time, because it helps create a better schedule when you differentiate your tasks.

1. Keep your focus — Each time you start a task ask yourself the question: “Is this a money making activity?” If the answer is yes, continue. If the answer is no, it is important to make a choice about whether or not the task is essential or a time waster. If it’s a time waster, stop. Save time wasters for when you really have time to waste. During business hours, you don’t have time to waste if you want to be successful in both business and leisure. Focus fully on any activity to get the most out of it.

2. Get into the flow – Brain studies have shown that most humans sleep and think in 90 minute cycles. Focus on each task or group of tasks for at least 90  to 120 minutes without interruption. Allowing yourself uninterrupted time, free from social media, email, door knockers, and telephones will enable you to get much more accomplished faster due to the existence of “flow”. According to Wikipedia, “Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus.” The point is, a lot happens during flow — and it happens regardless of the activity you’re engaging in. Whether you’re wasting time on Facebook, creating a work of art, or whether you’re entering data into a spreadsheet flow is your friend when it comes to time management.

3. Choose your priorities — Aside from the obvious, deciding what it is you want out of “life” there is a smaller picture to look at, which is what you’re going to do today. What are you going to do today that advances your business, brings in money, and gets you closer to being a successful business owner? That’s what you need to know each day as you go to work. If you aren’t centered on what it is you want to accomplish, you can get bogged down with a task list of 30 things and be upset that you only crossed off five of them today. But if you know exactly what you’re working toward and making the money you want to make, you can also feel good about getting the five things done if you didn’t allow yourself to get sucked into time wasting activities. If you’ve scheduled uninterrupted working time, stick to it unless a true emergency arises.

4. Delegate and Automate — It can be very difficult for a spa owner to let go of non money making tasks to others. But, ultimately it is imperative that you find a way to automate, outsource, delegate or otherwise let someone else do tasks that aren’t a priority to earning money, but are nonetheless tasks that need to be accomplished. Whether it’s employing automation technology, hiring a bookkeeper, a receptionist, a Virtual Assistant, or a housekeeper it doesn’t matter. Any help will be a real time saving measure.

Love & Success,

Valarie Hurst

Valarie Hurst & Company