by Linda
The Best Tools for Time Tracking
Time tracking is a great way to ensure that projects stay on track while giving your clients peace of mind. But manually tracking it yourself can be difficult. It’s hard to remember to do it every time you start working on a project leading to inaccurate time estimates.
The solution is simple: stop tracking your time yourself. Instead, use a tool that monitors your time use for you. Then you can simply review it at the end of each day and make sure it’s accurate.
Here are a few of the best apps and software for your time tracking needs…
Account Sight
Account Sight allows you to track time for 5 clients and 5 projects. The great thing about this site is that it integrates with PayPal and QuickBooks. This means that you can easily track your time, invoice your clients, and update your earnings with just a few clicks. There’s both a free version and a paid upgrade that unlocks additional features that you may want to use.
Toggl
Toggl makes it easy to see where your time is going at a glance. You can color code clients and projects, which turn into colorful charts and graphs. It also integrates with other productivity tools like Asana, Trello, Basecamp, and more.
Toggl has a free version that you can use for as long as you want. If you choose to upgrade, you’ll probably do it for access to the accounting features so you easily invoice clients and track your profits.
And a couple more:
Rescue Time
Rescue Time is another app for your time tracking. It works differently than most tools. With Rescue Time, the program tracks what websites and apps you use throughout the day. It then gives you a productivity score each evening.
The cool thing about Rescue Time is that you can set specific activities to be categorized as “productive” or “distracting”. This can be helpful if you’re frequently on Facebook to update a client’s group or page. You can simply set Facebook to “productive” so your daily score is accurate. The app has both a free and a premium option if you want more in-depth tracking.
Trigger
Trigger is an app that combines the power of time tracking with project management, resulting in robust software that lets you see at a glance what you need to do each day to stay on track with your projects.
Along with time sheets, you can use Trigger for online reports and automated invoices. It also integrates with Freshbooks, Zapier, Basecamp, Slack and more. You can get started with a free account but it’s limited to just 5 projects, so you may need to upgrade to a premium account later on.
Don’t get discouraged if the first app or software doesn’t seem to fit your needs. It can take a few weeks of testing out different apps until you find the one that works best for you and your business.
Find out how to track your time easily when you download your free workbook!
If you’re looking for help, just contact me using the form below:
by Linda
Evaluating How You Use Your Time
Tracking your time for clients is a good practice for service providers. But don’t stop by just tracking it for clients. You should also be evaluating and tracking time for your own personal use, too. When you do this, you’ll discover important insights about your business that you wouldn’t have seen otherwise.
Here are a few questions you’ll want to ask after you’ve been tracking your time for a week or two…
Where Is My Time Really Going?
You’ve been working on launching your e-course for two months and you’re still nowhere near ready. But when you open up your time tracking app, you can quickly see that you spent 14 hours on Facebook or 9 hours tweaking the design of your website.
It’s easy to procrastinate when you don’t have any form of accountability. But a time tracker forces you to look at how you’ve been spending your time. This isn’t about shaming yourself. It’s about evaluating how you’re spending your time.
Instead, focus on being positive. You might say, “I spent ten hours on Facebook last week. What projects would I like to invest those ten hours into this week?”
Are These Tasks Giving Me a BIG Return?
You had a business coach tell you to make 10 Instagram posts each day and you’ve been following that advice faithfully. But when you stop and look at how you’ve spent this time, ask yourself, “Is this task giving me a BIG return?”
If you aren’t getting a good return on the time you’re investing, consider moving your attention to a project that will grow your business, like launching a course or hosting a webinar.
Do These Tasks Have to Be Done by Me?
Some digital business owners get bogged down in doing non-essential tasks that keep them from their important work. For example, if you’re a best-selling author then your most important work is writing that next book. But instead, you’re spending hours every week managing your Facebook group.
But what if you could outsource your community management? You could still pop in daily to stay connected to the group but you could focus all of your energy on that one thing you do well—writing your book. This is the right way you should be evaluating your time.
Is This Task Draining Me?
As you’re reviewing your time tracking, think about how you feel after you’ve completed each task. Did you feel energized and motivated after filming that Facebook Live broadcast? Did you feel frustrated and drained after working on your sales copy?
Pay special attention to tasks that take your energy. Try to find a way to avoid doing them. For example, you could hire a copywriter to handle your sales page or if your budget is tight, consider bartering with another service provider. Then you’ll both get to work in areas where you shine!
If you want to create more of what you want in your business and your life, tracking your time is important. The more you track your time, the better you’ll be able to manage it.
Find out which tools are the best for tracking your time when you download your free workbook!
Stay tuned for “The Best Tool for Time Tracking” on the next blog post.
Need help with Time Tracking? Contact me below for some FREE TIPS:
by Linda
Do you Need a Mentor?
Are you feeling stuck in YOUR business? That’s ok, I think everyone feels stuck at some point. I’ve also felt stuck before in my business growth journey and I can tell you that there were one of the following things involved. Feelings are real, they affect your business because they affect YOU! Read up about what a feeling really is all about in this definition.
Not enough information
If I was inspired to do something, and I didn’t know where to get started, it was an easy way to feel stuck. The good thing is that this didn’t keep me stuck long once I learned to be resourceful – to find answers/solutions. You know that GOOGLE is MY best friend and it should be yours too!
This one is pretty easy to resolve considering there is so much information available at your fingertips, right?
The only challenge is…
Too much information…wha…wha…yes, you heard that right!
Early on in my business journey, I received some great advice from a mentor. She said; “Free information is great to solve simple problems”. “But if you want to really have a transformation – it means investing in a FULL solution/system with someone who already has solved what you want to solve”. Hummhumm…
And to take it a step further – find ONE mentor in that area to avoid the overwhelm of too much advice in the same area. It’s like asking directions from a bunch of different people. You only need one path/blueprint and begin taking action to get there. Don’t let your own personal feelings get in the way of making sound business decisions.
The only thing that will stop you here is…
Fear – yup – it’s a feeling!
Everyone has felt fear at some point, but the only difference is what do you do with it at that moment? You either can shrink to listen to the “False, Evidence, Appearing, Real” or you can face it using tools and techniques. This way the fear is transformed into something helpful or exciting. Imagining the best case scenario (as opposed to imagining the worst-case scenario, which is usually what the fear brings up). Whatever you do, don’t catastrophize because this is the worst thing you can do. There’s nothing worse than beginning with the “fear” and ending with “I quit because I’ll never make it! STOP ALREADY WITH THAT!
If you feel any fear or just plain stuck in your business, I’d like to invite you to help you transform your “stuckness” with me. I offer group mentoring as well as individual mentoring to other Virtual Service Providers (VSP’s). Yup, that is my magical super-power!
Let me help…contact me and let’s set up a chat so you can move forward with your business and get out of being stuck.
by Linda
Top Tips to Cultivate a Positive Attitude
In life, there is a time and place for both negative and positive thoughts. A negative thought process will become a habit or begin to have adverse effects on you.
Believe me when I tell you that is NOT a good thing to have in your life.
You know what? It’s time for you to make an attitude change and cultivate a positive mindset.
Here are the top tips to help you cultivate a positive attitude:
1. Do NOT complain. Complaining is a very negative response to any situation that drains you of energy.
2. Express gratitude every day, even for the small things. Eventually, you will become grateful for everything.
3. Keep a list of things you have accomplished.
4. Let go of the people around you who are negative, critical, and abusive of you. They drain your energy, surround yourself with supportive, positive people.
5. Help others. You can become a volunteer occasionally.
6. Learn to meditate daily. Even a 10-minute meditation first thing in the morning will help you start your day on in the right direction.
7. Let go of envy. Envy is a very negative emotion. It eats at you, pointing to the faults we see in ourselves.
8. Be kind and smile at others.
9. Choose to be happy. Happiness is a choice. If a negative thought enters your mind, push it out quickly. Substitute a happy thought.
10. Have faith in yourself. Believe the Universe will help you.
11. Read inspiring stories and watch inspirational movies or television shows.
12. Repeat inspiring and motivating affirmations.
13. Practice mastering your thoughts. Access your subconscious mind.
Visualize what you want to happen. Release the thoughts you don’t want to happen. Cultivating a positive outlook takes conscious thought.
Be aware of your thoughts and the attitudes of those around you.
Become aware of the negative thoughts in your environment, and you’ll be able to counteract them more quickly.
Contact me if you need help with more ideas to create a positive attitude in your life.
by Linda
5 Ways to Go Deeper
Now that you’ve learned how to rid yourself of the negative thoughts and build a positive outlook, you are ready to go deeper into the subconscious mind. Sounds a little like sci-fi doesn’t it?
The subconscious mind is the storehouse that holds your memories, past experiences, your deepest beliefs, and everything that has ever happened to you. It’s where automatic functions take place, like driving a car and carrying on a conversation at the same time.
You instinctively know how to drive so you can focus on your conversation.
The subconscious mind:
- Is much more powerful than your conscious mind. It makes everything you say and do a part of your self-concept. That’s why it’s important what goes into it.
- To change your outlook you have to go deeper than your conscious thoughts.
- The good news is that the subconscious mind learns through repetition. Just like learning your ABC’s when you were a child.
There are several ways you can go deeper into your subconscious.
Here are 5 different ways you can do this:
Repeat your new beliefs or thought patterns every day. Repeat inspiring words. Choose affirmations like, “I love and respect myself.” or “I attract good things into my life.” Feed your subconscious mind only with what you desire.
Meditate. Meditation allows you to go deeper into your consciousness, slowing the brain pattern down to release stress, anger, anxiety, and even alertness. With practice, you can become an observer of your thoughts. Simply allow your thoughts to flow, not reacting to any of them in any way.
Let your creative side loose. Get creative and take up some form of artistic expression like painting or drawing, sculpture or decorating. Nurturing your creativity helps you to become more authentic and tune in to your subconscious self.
Trust your instincts. Your intuition is your connection to your subconscious mind. This is your gut feeling. Positive people have a strong sense of intuition.
Reprogram your subconscious mind using hypnosis. Hypnosis is the process of relaxing your brain waves so you are open to suggestions or reprogramming. Hypnosis can help you release negative thoughts that may have been instilled into your subconscious by society, yourself or your upbringing.
Let ME get into your mind:
There are other ways to access your subconscious mind as well such as energy psychology and brainwave entrainment.
In the end, I hope you have come to the realization that despite your own efforts at changing your thoughts, you might need to access your subconscious mind and take steps to dig deeper into those negative thoughts holding you back.
So, what is holding YOU back? Are you ready to take action?
I’d be happy to help you figure out how you can stop the negativity that happens in your business so you can move forward.
Just fill out the form below and let’s set up a call so you can get off the roller coaster and move on.
