The challenge with time for an entrepreneur is not the fact that there are a certain number of hours in a day, but the priorities. Most entrepreneurs mistakenly focus on three main priorities:

• The focus on the easy
• They focus on the immediate
• Focus on what other people want

I find that most of the entrepreneurs I come across who complain about lack of time and feel overwhelmed spend their day dealing with email, answering questions, paying bills, and solving problems immediately when someone asks for their help. They burn out running errands, ordering supplies, updating their website or blog, social media, answering the phone or sending text messages.

Are you spending or investing?

Entrepreneurs do all these different activities that keep them very busy. They think they are doing the right thing when in reality they are wasting their time instead of investing it.

The activities I just listed are, for the most part, things that need to be done, but if you prioritize them and allow them to control your day, then you’ll always be reacting instead of being in control.

Most of these activities do not generate income. When an entrepreneur focuses his time on actions that do not generate income, it generates a lot of stress. That’s because time is spent instead of invested. The way time is spent is not paying off financially.

Entrepreneurs are a different breed of people.

We tend to have a sense of urgency. Whatever is right in front of us feels like the most important and immediate thing to pay attention to.

Entrepreneurs also tend to be very loving and generous. We want to help people. That’s why we do what we do for a living. If someone asks for something, we tend to make that request a priority. We are always happy to help someone else right away, even at great cost to ourselves.

The problem is that if this is how you spend your time, the projects that could have the biggest impact on your business are pushed to the background. No wonder you feel stressed and like you never have enough time.

If this is true for you, then this article will help you make a big change in the way you view what you are supposed to do on a day-to-day basis. The solution may actually surprise you.

The solution

Most employers think that in order for everything to work, they have to work longer. They say, “I just need to get up earlier and get more done in my day. I need to try to fit more into my day and work more hours.”

I am here to tell you that this is not the solution. It will not help you generate more income in your business or reduce your stress. If anything, it will reduce your income and increase your stress.

I am going to share with you the three most important things to focus on. Then I’ll give you some tips to start creating time to grow your business. For additional help implementing these tips, I highly recommend getting advice, mentoring, and accountability from a certified trainer.

Let’s start with the three most important things every entrepreneur needs to focus on in order to be happy and successful in their business.

• Focus on what connects you with potential customers
• Focus on what connects you with current customers
• Focus on what moves your business toward your annual goals

Most entrepreneurs mistakenly focus on the business they have instead of the business they want.

When you focus on the business you already have, you are only perpetuating what you already have. You’re not really reaching out and creating something new or exciting.

It’s more about maintaining the status quo and seeing what it is and how to maintain it rather than asking yourself, “What will move me forward, grow my business, and what opportunities are waiting for my attention?”

When you focus your energy, intention and attention on the business you want to have, all your creativity, actions and mindset are directed towards creating what you really want.

Focus on the right things

Answering emails, paying bills, running errands, texting, and those kinds of activities don’t connect you with potential or current customers or help you move your business toward your year-end goals. Those kinds of things are ways to pass the time.

You want to invest your time. For every minute you invest in your business, you want to earn a return on that investment. He wants you to pay off with greater financial and spiritual fulfillment in your business.

Invest your time in activities like speaking, building joint venture relationships, and following up with prospects. There are so many new businesses you can have by following up with leads that it would blow your mind.

You should be writing thank you notes, creating a new program or package, talking to past customers to reconnect with them, writing a book or new report or free audio to give away on your website. Spend time organizing updates to your website, but don’t waste time doing it yourself.

You can hear how each of those activities focuses on one of the three priorities.

A part of you might be saying, “Who’s going to do that other stuff? How do I make this work? I’m on a tight budget. My business is new. I haven’t been in business very long and I need to get my next client. How do I make this work?”

A change in your way of thinking

This is an opportunity for one of the biggest mindset shifts you can ever experience.

I’m here to tell you in the voice of experience that you can’t have it both ways. You can’t grow your business to six figures, high six figures, or seven figures, if that’s your goal, and answer all your own emails. You can’t grow your business to that level and run your own errands. There are not enough hours in the day, and each of us does not have that much energy.

No matter the size of your business right now, you want to think like a million dollar business owner. Even if your business is just getting started, he’s been in business for a short time, or he only has a few clients, thinking this way now will help you accelerate your success.

In other words, even if you’re running your business from your kitchen table or have only been in business a few years, by focusing your time and attention on the right priorities, you’re thinking and acting like a million-dollar business owner.

You must start thinking like and acting from the business you want to have. Ask yourself, “What would the owner of a hundred thousand or million dollar business do about it?” So act with that mindset!

What to do, what to do, what to do?

The last piece of advice I want to share with you on how to make time to grow your business is this; Once you know what to spend your time on, you need to know what to do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Plus, you need to know what to do quarterly, every six months, and annually to keep up.

Most entrepreneurs make the mistake of doing the same thing almost every day. They answer the email and check their BlackBerry. They go to some networking meetings and attend some teleseminars. They do the same thing day after day, week after week.

They don’t really plan or have a system for saying, “What am I supposed to do on a daily basis? Within my day, what am I supposed to do on a monthly basis to make sure I’m on track?”

pay attention to this

Without a clear list or chart of what you’re supposed to do on a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis, what will happen is that all those old tasks that you’ve gotten used to doing will throw you away. They will continually beg for your attention. Those tasks are familiar and comfortable.

Remember; most entrepreneurs mistakenly prioritize what is easy and immediate and what others want.

When you focus on what is easy and immediate and what other people want, you only create stress, overwork, and burnout. You need to organize your daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and yearly activities around the three priorities you now know successful entrepreneurs spend their time on.

• Focus on what connects you with potential customers
• Focus on what connects you with current customers
• Focus on what moves your business toward your annual goals

The first is the first

Here is a tip on how to start the day. The first thing you want to do every day before checking email, voicemail, or your BlackBerry, is set your marketing tasks. I recommend doing at least one marketing task each morning.

Don’t try to cheat on this. Don’t think, “Marketing is checking to see if I have any emails from my current customers that I need to respond to.” That is not marketing.

By “marketing,” I mean outreach. It’s picking up the phone and calling someone to get a commitment to talk or explore having a new joint venture partner. It is writing an article and submitting it to a newspaper or magazine that can publish it for you.

Those are the kinds of outreach activities that are highly proactive. You want to do that kind of thing every day, first thing in the morning.

Reactive vs Proactive

You want to avoid being in reactive mode. When you stop to check email or voicemail, you’re being reactive. That is reacting to what is coming to you.

You want to be proactive and send things. You want to be the one making the phone call or sending the email saying, “I’d like to get in touch and connect with you.” Those are the things you want to do because then you’re taking care of the top three priorities that will move your business forward.

When you focus your time and energy this way, you’ll feel calmer, more relaxed, and focused because you’re taking care of the most important tasks first thing in the day, and those are the things that will really grow your business and move you forward.

Ask for help

Do yourself and your business a favor and ask for help! If you’re unclear on how to pull off this type of marketing calendar, I recommend finding a certified business coach to help you with the tools and design needed to specifically move your business forward and keep you accountable and on track.

Find a business coach and get the mentoring and accountability you need to plan the core activities of a million-dollar business owner: connecting you with potential customers, connecting you with current customers, and doing the things that move your business toward your annual goals and vision.