Time Management is one of the most important aspects in building a successful solo business.

It remains however a very difficult monster to tame.

We all know that spending your time on those things that can make a difference and have the biggest impact on your business success is vital and that it requires you to have some dedicated focus.

But truth of the matter is, most solo-entrepreneurs have a to-do list a mile long. There is just always something you need to take care of or something that needs attention …and often unexpected things topple the apple-cart and make it easy for you to lose focus.

Sometimes things even get so out of hand that you don’t know what is important anymore and what you need to focus on first, because everything seems important and very urgent.

This is when you need to take a step back, and re-evaluate your priorities… and I know, this is often easier said than done.

When things get out of hand in my business, I usually force myself to take some time out, to look at my to-do list of 101 and to re-evaluate and re-prioritise the tasks.

To put things in perspective for me, I first use the following criteria: What will make the biggest impact on my bottom line in the shortest period of time and with the least amount of effort?

Secondly, I apply the 80/20 rule or Pareto Principle to those tasks.Now, the Pareto principle states that roughly 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. For example:

• 20% of your marketing methods results in 80% of your clients: Focus on those methods.
• 20% of your clients contribute to 80% of your income: Nurture those clients.
• 20% of your business tasks gives 80% of the results: Focus on those tasks.

So when you’ve narrowed down your huge to-do list to the actions that will have the biggest impact on your business, apply the Pareto Principle and choose the 20% actions that will give 80% of the results you want and start doing them first.

The secret here is to complete each action before you move on to the next action. No multitasking ladies! Sticking to one action and completing it is the only way to get results fast.

This way you can easily tick off the important actions from your to-do list, while you simultaneously see the results in your business.

The value of applying the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) is that it can help you to successfully identify those aspects where spending your time produces the most results.  By focusing your time on those actions, you not only move your business forward faster, you also feel better and much more in control.

Vice versa, applying the 80/20 rule can help you identify those 20% actions that take up 80% of your time, but are doing zero to nothing to increase your bottom line. Those are the tasks that you can easily outsource to free up even more time.

Bottom line: You can tame the time-management monster when you don’t just “work smart”, but when you work smart on the right things.

If you like the 80/20 rule and think it can also work in your business, why not commit yourself to apply it on at least one aspect of your business. Share with us below what you will focus on first :).