Time Management for Succe$$

Great exercise for any small business owner - especially helpful for the Zen Dog Trainer.

Try putting together a time-sheet of the things you work on every week. We have made interesting connections as to why I've been so successful as a trainer - versus hundreds of other dog trainers who finally quit the business or languish in the $30-40k/yr range.

Some of it are the systems I've put in place for dealing with incoming phone calls. How I triage new clients, pushing everyone to a 10minute phone call, saving my email/follow uptime for eople who are already paying clients or have already booked an appt. The importantance of timely follow up, systematic-persistence calling 3-4 times before giving up, expressing gratitude hand-written thank you notes....

The Exercise:
On a weekly basis determine how much time you are spending on these general categories. Guestimate - just to see how big the pie is (how much time a week do you actually working?) and as a tool to help you be more efficient with your time in the future.

Track these general categories:
-Any ZDT blog editing, PDF writing, social media stuff, etc (online promotion)

-Prospecting - visiting vets, groomers, businesses - you could even include how many tri-folds/business card holders you have placed

-Time working/visiting with clients - include driving time

-Office time - from talking to potential clients and going to staples, to answering emails and depositing checks.

-Personal time - I try to do yoga every day and give myself 2 hours to get ready in the AM

-Other Personal time during the week - stuff unique to yourself i for example track time I spend at the dojo, training, doing the books, volunteering for events etc...

If you see a missing 'bucket' add it. You are trying to figure out how much time is going into ZDT versus how much time you have in the week. This way you can be more strategic about where and how you spend your time - more for yourself then anything else.

In general, I think the weekly time commitment ZDT Trainers (work ethic so to speak) is the main difference between success and mediocrity. My feeling is that being successful, doesn't require a lot of time (maybe 30 hours a week) requires time spent on the right things at the right time.

-Gordon