Passive Income Digital Design Bootcamp - Effective Time Management
Welcome back to Passive Income Bootcamp. You’re probably thinking “Tanya when are we going to get to the good stuff?” Well, the fact is, you need to do a lot of research and prep before diving in if you want to be successful. So far we have covered the following:
- Choosing Your Market - This will get you honed in on a specific niche to work with
- Branding - Generating your brand so you can get recognized
- Goal Setting - What you’re working towards.
This next lesson is going to focus on Time Management so that you don’t need to overwhelm yourself. The next lessons after this are going to focus on more design concentric and promotional topics, but feel free to start designing now so when you’re ready to open you have some items to post.
Time Management alongside your goals will make you hyper focused on what needs to be done. I have my entire month laid out based on what I need to get done. Occasionally if I am feeling overwhelmed I will check and adjust what my workload is so I don’t get burnt out.
When I first got serious about my business, I was literally working towards it EVERY DAY on top of being a single mom and an engineer at a nuke plant. I quickly realized this wasn’t sustainable for me, so I made some changes.
Read More: My First Post on Time Management and my Schedule!
Here is what my base schedule looks like (many changes from the original schedule!)
Sunday - Design and create promo images and mockups (5-10 new designs)
Monday - Post Digital Designs on all Platforms
Tuesday - Blog Post creation
Wednesday - Free Day
Thursday - Promote on Social Media/Setup Mail campaigns
Friday - Free Day
Saturday - Free Day
My longest day is Sunday. I spend about 3-4 hours taking care of the design work. Monday generally takes me 1-2 hours. (I post on Etsy, Design Bundles, and this website) Tuesday about 2-3 hours depending on the post. Thursday 1-2 hours. In total I am working about 10-15 hours a week on the business. If you have more time to sink into it, do it! Just make sure you take the time you need, but need the time you take.
I often find people trying to tackle the entire world when they first start out. Don’t get me wrong, when there are important things to get done, you can adjust your schedule. For example, when I started my website I sunk a lot of time into the design and setup until I got to a place I liked. My Mom was in town and I was able to focus on the website. I approximated 40 full hours that week getting everything up and ready. The nice thing about it is that I only need to do minor tweaks and updates because everything is setup for SEO and easy editing.
Remember to plan your days around your goals, which is what was covered last post. Your goals will outline how much you need to get done and when. Ensure you have little to no distraction when trying to get something done.
I have to wait until my kids go to bed to get most of my work done. There is also a small window on Sunday for design work in the morning after breakfast. I have a small play area in my office and a TV to keep them occupied before we start our day. It allows them to play while I can mostly focus on design work.
I have a running list of items I want to design or topics I would like to go after. Generally I choose one topic and go from there. This helps me with efficiency. Don’t fall into the trap of shiny object syndrome where you see all of these things you WANT to make. This will make your mind muddled and unfocused, which is not what you want.
I could go on and on about how to manage your time but really just want to highlight the following:
- Create a basic schedule and STICK TO IT
- Focus your time slots on your GOALS
- Automate where you can
- Adjust as needed
Hopefully you learned something from this fourth bootcamp lesson. Stick around for Lesson 5 which is centered around Trademark and Copyright.
Again Join my Facebook Group for updates and also Subscribe to my YouTube channel for real time updates. Comment below for any assistance and enjoy getting your journey off of the ground. You can do this!
Cheers
Tanya
