Have you ever written a “to do” list on a Monday and by Friday only two things on that list got done and you’re wondering how that happened? On Monday you were super excited to get your day started and to complete your list “to do” and then on Friday nothing got completed and you’re looking at yourself saying “how did this happen”? With every goal or system that you create, should also follow a deadline of when each step should be completed. Using both team members and applications such as Evernote, Productivee, and Google Documents their should not be a reason as to why your tasks should not be done on time and ready to be published or released.
When I came up with the idea of being an entrepreneur and creating a full time income from online. I had no idea about time management and setting deadlines for each goal. Yes, everyone tells you to set a deadline for specific goals or products that you’re trying to release but they don’t enforce the importance in keeping that deadline no matter what.
Personal Deadline Dilemma
In 2009, I wanted to save $2000 so I could have a new blog created and also pay off all of the design amount and hosting for the entire site in full. So, I had to set a specific deadline as to when all of the funds were going to be needed to finish the site and when the hosting was going to be paid off. I wrote down twenty different ways on how to save money over the next sixty days to reach this deadline. I wrote out different affiliate programs to be apart of and different freelance work I should be involved in to reach this deadline. Well, as things started to grow I started not finishing the freelance work on time and getting different clients mixed up.
More clients got upset and wanted their money back and the projects that did get completed weren’t to the level as I know they should have been. Now being thirty days into the deadline I only made $500 so far. I was not using any applications to help me complete any of these tasks that needed to be done and I was a one man team at the time with no help or mentor to tell me to get myself into gear.
I had thirty days to create $1500 or this deadline will be dead and I will have to go back to the drawing board because the designer that I had hired on was booked for the next three months with other designs. As I took on more clients to get complete this deadline the same results kept happening. Nothing was really getting done but only bits and pieces of work for each client. Instead of me focusing on one project at a time and completing that project entirely to make sure that client got my full attention I did the total opposite.
None of the deadlines for the clients got met and I lost $4000 of work to 13 different projects with refunds and missing out on potential clients. If I was to just focus on one project at a time I would of had enough money to pay the designer along with have money to put back into the site I wanted to develop or even into other ideas that I had.
The deadline was never met and the design was never created. I only made $600 and lost $4500 at the end of this entire process. If I was to create a deadline for each project I was working on and took rest periods in between. The money for the deadline would of been collected and I would of had my design.
Think About This
When you’re working by yourself or even in a team deadlines will be the most important part of the project. When will the project begin and when will it end? Will you create rest periods so you don’t drain yourself out as well? After that experience I learned to plan out each project using Google calendar and Google spreadsheets to follow my progress to make sure each project gets completed on time.
Don’t overwhelm yourself with projects and set yourself up applications such as Evernote which you can sync your notes between your smartphone and laptop.If you have team members that you’re working with set responsibilities to each person so they understand their roles in that project and how if they miss their deadline how it would effect the entire team.
Justice Wordlaw IV justicewordlaw.com is an Interactive Marketing consultant in Chicago, IL. He’s a speaker, author of two ebooks, and raving fan of Starbucks coffee.
