If you’re a sole trader of small business you may benefit from these free resources
I developed them when I was learning the ropes, getting used to running my own business practically, emotionally and mentally. If you have any free resources to add to the list, please let me know!
The Time Budget
Since becoming self-employed, last September I have been interested in minimizing procrastination. A problem that it seems affects most of us in some way or other, but can be a particular problem when suddenly faced with so much autonomy.
I created a spreadsheet to help manage time, understand how much time I realistically had to get the things I needed done, in much the same way as one might create a budget when wanting to save. If you were saving for a motorbike you would want to know if you could afford that pair of shoes or if they would take you over your allowable expenses for your long-term goal – if you know you want to do well in your studies you need to know if you can afford an evening off revision to go to the cinema once a week…
Links follow to all the resources from this, which I hope others find useful;
Download Instructions for the Time Budget
Timesheet for managing projects and clients
This spreadsheet is designed to help you deal with several projects at once, whether it’s because you are self-employed offering a service or you want to dedicate time to a new part-time project
Benefits;
- If any of the services are paid for, you can input your hourly rate and know how much you are owed by the client at the end of the billing period
- You can also copy the sheet and send it to them with their invoice, to illustrate what you have done and what you’re billing them for.
- There is space to write in ‘notes’ what you have actually done in each day – useful record for yourself and your client.
- It’s easy to check how many hours you have work altogether over the course of a month, not just on projects (when spreading yourself over several projects its difficult to know how much work you’re really doing)
- Visual break down of how much you’re working on each project/client shown in the pie chart. This helps you to notice if you need to spend less/more time in another area.
- Easy to complete in 5 minutes a day
- Month by Month comparison and detailed record of your work
- Timing your work forces you to concentrate on one thing at a time instead of jumping from one task to another – increasing productivity
