Business Consultant

How can Entrepreneurs have Self-discipline and Follow Time Management?

Business Consultant, Entrepreneurship, Life Coach, Self Improvement / Gordon Grigg

In the recent years, especially after Covid 19, the world has witnessed a sudden boost in the number of work-from-home entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is really cool and if you are doing it from your home, it actually becomes cooler. Right? After all, you can work from your home. You don’t have to wake up every morning, dress yourself up, and walk to your office to get to work. Sounds cool, no? Well, but it is not. I, Gordon Grigg, a life coach in Nashville, Tennessee telling you that, work-from-home entrepreneurs have self-discipline issues.

No matter how determined and resolute you are, you will face discipline issues when you have to follow something for 30 days throughout the year. Wait, don’t panic. There are some ways that can help you overcome this problem easily. Here, I am going to talk about them.

● Make a schedule

Yes, I know you are a very hard-working person and work day in and out to achieve your goal, but believe me, working without any systematic way is only going to make you messy. Literally, it will not take you anywhere. So, the first step for an entrepreneur to self-discipline while working from home is to create a schedule for him/herself and strictly follow it without any excuses. A systematic schedule will help you know how much you have to work in a day.

● Work consistently but not continuously

I appreciate your enthusiasm and understand that as a work-from-home entrepreneur you want to work tirelessly and live your dream as soon as you can, but it is very important to take regular breaks throughout the day. Don’t stay seated in your working chair for long hours. Make sure to take regular breaks, which will not only refresh your mind but also keep your physical health good. Here, understand the difference between being consistent and being continuous.

● Dressing nicely does matter

When working from home, you have the flexibility to work in your pajamas, right? Well, you have flexibility, but it does not mean that you should wear pajamas at work. If you really want to be self-disciplined, just put all your PJs and loungewear aside and dress like you are working in an office. It will impart a sense of energy and zeal.

● Keep the working environment neat and clean

The biggest drawback of working from home is that people end up creating a messy and cluttered environment around their working space. Unknowingly, but this happens. Like, you eat something and put the plate on the working table, you drink your coffee and put the mug on the table, you charge your mobile and put the charger on the table, and many other such little things. You yourself create a very untidy workspace for you that affects your work productivity and body energy to a great extent. This is why make sure to maintain a clean and clutter-free workspace.

● Have a dedicated workspace

As a work-from-home entrepreneur, you have the flexibility to work anywhere at any time from your home. Right? But, don’t make this flexibility your habit. Though you can work from anywhere even from your bed, make sure to have a dedicated working room for you. Sitting leisurely on your couch or on your bed will bring you many unnecessary naps and laziness and this will obviously hamper your work productivity.

● Set fixed working hours

As a life coach mentor, I am telling you this from my personal experience that setting fixed working hours is very very important when you are working from home. The reason being, in this case, you don’t have anybody to report to. You become lazy and work whenever you feel like. Obviously, our mind does not want to work with the same enthusiasm every day. Someday, you like doing everything all together and the other day you feel like not even leaving your bed. So, time management is very important for work-from-home entrepreneurs.

● Let people around you know your working time

The biggest problem with work-from-home entrepreneurs is that the people around him/her think he/she is available all the time. Don’t let people do that and affect the productivity of your work by disturbing you at any random hours. Let them know your working hours and ask them not to disturb you at that time. Sometimes, even your family members disturb your work by asking you to do little house chores. Though sometimes it can be a good idea to get up from your working table and go to the market to get vegetables. This way you will be able to take a short break from work too. So, manage this thing according to your convenience and make sure not to hamper your work productivity at any rate.

● Keep home distractions aside

When you are working from home as an entrepreneur, it is pretty common to get distracted throughout the day, unlike in offices where there is a complete work environment. Like sometimes, you would feel like having a light snack, and then you would leave your table and walk up to the fridge. Avoid such distractions and stay focused on your work. Here, you yourself have to be disciplined and make sure not to get indulged in any kind of household distractions. Let your family members enjoy their time. Just don’t be tempted by them to get involved in that. Focus on your work. Rest things can be done later.

● Use technology to track things

It becomes pretty difficult if you yourself have to manage everything and work-from-home entrepreneurs are required to do that. No matter how good a memory you have or how good you’re at making notes, there will be something that will slip away from your mind. Here, the only thing that can save you is technology. Yes, embrace it. Download the time-tracking apps, work management apps, productivity tools, project management software, activity planners, and other such software to keep everything on track for you. This way, you will be able to monitor everything without putting much time and brain.

● Limit the number of times you check social media

Even you will agree with the fact that social media is the biggest cause of distraction not just for work-from-home entrepreneurs but for everyone from students to job aspirants. Unlike in offices where you are strictly forbidden to access anything on the internet other than your work, you are free to do just anything when working from home. Here, nobody is to monitor your activities. So, promise yourself not to login into your social media during your working hours, obviously if your work is not related to social media only.

● Manage time wisely

As a work-from-home entrepreneur, you yourself have to manage your time, schedule, as well as family. You don’t have a fixed time for work. So, manage time wisely and make sure to find a balance between your personal and professional life. Don’t give too much time to your work and don’t get too much involved in your family activities either. Time is the key in professional life, so utilize it in the best way.

● Put your mobile on silent

Yes, you are working alone and you won’t give off any unprofessional vibes like you might do when your phone rings at office meet-ups, but still, it is very important to put your mobile on silent. I will even say to keep it completely silent, not even on vibration. The reason being, you can’t resist holding your phone and checking it as many times as it will beep for notification and I am sure it will definitely beep at least 2-3 times in an hour considering the way we use our mobile. So, you have to be self-disciplined and resist your urge to check your mobile frequently. For this, the best option is to put it on complete silent mode and check it back when you are out of working hours.

● Maintain your health

Maintaining your health is also a part of self-discipline when working from home as an entrepreneur. You must be wondering how it is. Right? Okay, let me tell you. When you work from home, you don’t have a fixed time for eating, drinking, sleeping, and exercising like you have when you work in an office. You just do what you feel like without bothering about your health. You have an unbalanced lifestyle and this is very very harmful to your health in the long run. Getting your health affected means getting your professional career ruined. So, follow a healthy lifestyle and make sure to maintain your health.

Conclusion

Having self-discipline while working from home as an entrepreneur might seem difficult, especially at the initial stage, but once you start following everything strictly, you get used to it and it becomes a habit. Yes, I, Gordon Grigg, a life coach in Nashville Tennessee, am telling you this from my personal experience because I deal with hundreds of such cases daily.

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Why do you need a business consultant with real-life business experience?

Business Consultant / Gordon Grigg

The business environment is changing rapidly and constantly. What you learned back in business schools about setting up a successful business, might not be completely applicable in the current scenario. Thus, connecting with the right people and business consultants will be the best you could do for yourself and your business, as it will help you soar to new heights.

Another truth is that, until and unless the products and services are sold, nothing happens in the business. Everything in the business leads to the magic moment when there is an exchange of goods & services. And a business consultant will also help you effectively sell your products and services.

Well, I, Gordon Grigg, a life coach and business consultant in Nashville Tennessee, will be telling you the reasons for conferring with a business consultant with real-life business experience. As they can help you improve your business performance and make necessary changes for achieving success.

What is a business consultant?

According to Business News Daily, running a small & midsized business is a challenging task as it involves activities such as accounting, technical support, human resources, and others. But, thanks to the concept of hiring business consultants prevailing in the current business scenario. As they tell you the right way to thrive your business in the crowd.

Businesses, usually startups need an outside source who has both expertise & experience and could guide them about business work. They also help business owners and employees in efficiently carry out and execute business plans that can save time, money, and aggravation, by providing them with proper training and accurate resources. Apart from this, business consultants also provide management consulting services to organizations, help in analyzing businesses, and create solutions that can help companies meet their goals.

You should connect to consultants who have extreme knowledge, previous experience, and a wide array of skills, like me. I have spent the past 30 years building businesses and have deep core knowledge about the same. So, feel free to connect with me through Gordon Grigg.com, so that I can share my knowledge and expertise with you that can prove to be of great help.

Why you should hire a business consultant?

Business owners should consider hiring a business consultant when they need an expert perspective on their chosen path or a catalyst for bringing change to their companies. Apart from these, there are several other reasons why business owners consider hiring business consultants. The wide range of services offered by them in building a successful business empire is the major reason. Some of these services include:
● Providing expert advice in any specific business niche
● Identifying problems in the business that act as hindrances and providing viable solutions for the same
● Supplementing the existing staff in the company
● Initiating necessary changes
● Providing objectivity over business issues
● Train and teach employees
● Revive the organization
● Lay off certain inefficient staff members if necessary
● Creating new businesses
● Influencing other people

What do business consultants do?

The work of a business consultant in the company or the organization is divided into three stages, i.e., discovery, evaluation, and implementation. All the steps are mentioned below in detail:

STEP 1- Discovery
The first stage for every business consultant is to learn about the business. It is referred to as the discovery phase, where the main goal is to learn more about the business. An expert business consultant takes enough time to understand the business by digging into all the possibilities from the aspect of both the owner and the employees. During this period the consultant will uncover the details of the company’s mission and its current operations. Apart from that the consultant can tour your facilities, have a word with the company’s board of directors, analyze the finances of the company, and study all the details.

STEP 2- Evaluation
After having an in-depth understanding of your company, the business consultant will then start the evaluation process. Here, in this phase, the major goal of the consultant will be to identify the places where the change is needed. Thus, in this stage, the company’s strengths and weaknesses are identified along with many current and unforeseeable issues. They will then, strategize the solutions to the identified issues and outline certain ways by which business owners can improve daily operations, increase profits, capitalize on opportunities, boost efficiency, and grow businesses. Communication and feedback are the two most important elements that need to follow in this process.

STEP 3- Implementation
After the company is satisfied with all the changes that the consultant wants to do, they then enter the restructuring stage or the implementation stage. In this phase, the consultant then builds up the asset of the company and eliminate its liabilities. They also keep a keen watch on the process and make necessary changes when and where necessary.

Benefits of hiring a business consultant

The services of business consultancy have become an important part of the business culture these days. They act as a business advisor who has a special aptitude to share their external viewpoint with the organization, when and where required. A business consultant has an objective eye, with which they provide expertise, specialized consultation, business strategy, assistance in operations, funding opportunities, and many others.

Thus mentioned below are certain benefits that the organizations may receive on hiring a business consultant:

● Cost effective – Hiring a business consultant is cost effective as they can provide the company with great business information that helps them increase their efficiency. Hiring a full-time business consultant can be too expensive, rather you should hire professionals to handle a specific business issue for a particular time.
● Expert help – Hiring a professional business consultant for handling certain specific tasks of the company might prove to be of great help to you. With the assistance of an expert, you might rectify your mistakes in a better way and improve the probability of success. Thus being guided by an industry master can act as a game changer for your business firm.
● Focus on the core capabilities of the business – Regardless of whichever industry niche, you run your business in. But, hiring business consultants or professionals can help you understand the core capabilities of the business and how to profitably deal with it. The legal advisors, the administrators, the directors, and almost every staff member will also gain accurate knowledge about their potential by understanding the core of the business firm they are working with.
● Improves effectiveness and profitability – Business consultancy services have taken new advancements as they assist the organization in finding a better business approach to gain profit and increase the efficiency of the business.
● Expansion of business – In the present time, expansion of business has become quite pervasive and convenient. A business consultant is a specialist who has a practical approach to running a successful business. They have the tactics to evaluate the organization and recognize its potential strengths and weaknesses. They also provide certain conventional business information to the company that can help expand their business to new levels.
● Ability and experience – One of the major benefits of taking business advice from consultants is that they accommodate your business at their best. They will guide you as how to execute the business arrangements and follow suggested business strategies & ideal business approaches. Thus, as a business, you should take full advantage of the ability and experience of the consultants.
● Admittance to the extensive broadness of information – Many private companies, especially the newcomers in the industry do not have the deep details, contacts, or information that can assist them in moving forward and earning profits in the competing business world. Thus, hiring a business consultant will help you, as the expertise, aptitude, and knowledge provided by them assist the businesses to scale their economies to a new level.
● Draw in and remove staff – A business consultant understands the deep details of the business. They also gather knowledge about the staff working there and the jobs they ought to perform. They then according to their analysis, can remove inefficient people and can also recruit new people. Consultants can also rearrange and assign new tasks to the existing staff according to their potential.
● Customize business – Consultancy services are not the same for all. What goes well with your company, does not mean, it will suit others too. Thus, the guidance, business methodology, and all other forms of assistance are customized by the consultant according to the need and objectives of each business firm.

As an entrepreneur or a business person if you too want improvement in business functions, want some specialized advice, and want to increase the achievement and life span of the business, then you should surely hire a business consultant for your firm. Well, I, Gordon Grigg, a life coach and business consultant in Nashville Tennessee can help you with the same, by providing you with deep business insights and sharing the nitty-gritty for building your business as the most powerful in the industry.

Why do you need a business consultant with real-life business experience? Read More »