1 month down, 11 to go.

Sunday, January 31, 2016

1 month down, 11 to go.

Time to review how I've done with my business goals after 1 month.

1. So far I have been able to review my progress weekly, although not always on Monday morning. When you're in a business like mine, things come at you without warning. Clients call, email. Referrals come in. Business contacts call and want to meet. Unexpected meetings arise. And of course, there are things like blizzards that change everything! I'm realizing that it's less important to me to pick specific dates/times for tasks and more important that I make sure I get it done weekly. Being an insurance agent is a balancing act. There are current clients, new clients, networking, co-workers, and possible clients. On a weekly basis, I am making sure that I spend the right amount of time on each of these to get things done. 
2. Calendar system. This is still not working for me. I haven't had the extra time to figure out how to make this work so I've been doing what I've been doing for years - making sure I put events in my phone and on my outlook (desktop). Any advice would be awesome!
3. Reading.... I just received two of the books I want to read from Amazon. I bought the books instead of my usual Kindle, thinking that would help. We shall see. One thing I like about Kindle is I can make the letters bigger and not need to wear my glasses.
4. Take effective breaks through the day. I think I'm doing 50/50 on this. I will need to add it to my weekly progress report to remind myself.
5. I'm doing OK on this. I write everything on my spiral note book that is always with me. I'm making lists of things I need to do in the office when I'm working at home and vice-versa. It's a huge help with not forgetting to do things since I'm not always in one place. As for setting time limits on my tasks, that hasn't happened. I basically just know how long I need to be in one place and make it happen. For example, our office hours are 9-4:30. I knew I had to leave the office at 11:45 for a meeting and planned on working at home after the meeting, so I went into the office at 7:30 to give me just over 4 hours to get office items done. It works for me to be flexible. However, this is still a work in progress.
6. Business cards. Not so much. I've worked on this two days since I made the goal. I basically put it off to last and it doesn't get done. I will keep working on it. Eventually when I'm caught up it won't be so hard to keep up.
7. Keeping all my notes in once place hasn't happened yet. While I carry my spiral everywhere, it's almost always in the car when I'm in a meeting and I'm not using it for notes during my meetings. I may need to consider using a second spiral. I'm not sure. For now, I still have notes in folders. Any suggestions on what you do with notes you take at meetings? 
8. My calendar of outfits. This one I've completed all month! It's pretty easy and I don't do it daily. I can remember what I wore for a day or two, so every couple days I fill it out. I write down what I wore, and where I was. For example: Black pants, blue top, short black jacket, Chamber meeting, office, lunch with client. 

I've come up with two more items that I need to add to my goals. 

9. Setting a block of time to attend to my networking duties. I'm the president for one group, vice president for another, I'm an ambassador for the chamber and I'm a member of toastmasters. All of these roles require that I handle responsibilities. I need to set a time each week that I spend only working on these responsibilities as they differ by group and by week. 

10. Setting blocks of time to work on my online presence. That includes this blog, but also my professional FB page, my office's FB page, one of my networking group's page, and my professional twitter page. I do these things now, but not on any sort of schedule, so they need to be specially added to my list on a daily basis. 

Time to work on these lists again for another month. It's a work in progress. That's why they're my 2016 goals and not my January 2016 goals. The main goal is to have this all down pat by the end of the year, so that my business runs smoother and to save myself time. I have friends who work 18 hours a day, 7 days a week because they haven't gotten their tasks organized. If I can figure out how to do this for myself, I hope to be able to help others do the same.

How is everyone else doing on their 2016 business goals? Are you keeping track of your progress? This is a good time for review, update, see what's working and what's not and make adjustments. Let me know what's working for you.

MW

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