Maximising Productivity This Year: Time Management Tips for Tradesmen

Time is of the essence, and your time is precious when working as a tradesman or woman. How to effectively manage their time is one of the most common challenges that many tradespeople face daily.

In this article, you will learn the intricacies of time management in the context of a trade business. Delegating simple and complex tasks, analysing your time management issues, preparing for the future with the proper methods, and quickly adapting to changes are all covered below.

Why do tradespeople need strong time management skills?

Failing to value your time is one of the most common mistakes made by tradespeople. On top of this, if you're like many business owners in the trades, you probably spend most of your time on the job and only a little on developing your business. 

Time management skills are needed so that you can grow as a business owner and ultimately become a profitable tradesperson. When you started your business, you probably had big ideas about building your future, including a thriving business, more freedom with your schedule, and more time with your family. 

The tricky part for tradespeople is that it's hard to turn down work, as that will be clear money in the bank. 

However, you must take time to work on your business if you want to succeed in business. The most successful tradespeople are mindful of this. Spending time on your business needs to be included in your weekly time allowance. This is where a time management plan pays off in the long run. It can be used for working on your skills, general improvements, team management, training and budgeting. 

Problems you could face if you don't manage your time.

Finding more time to spend at home or with loved ones is one of the most significant issues facing the typical tradesman or tradeswoman. We aren't saying that running a business should be easy, but not many people talk about how much time it takes. After setting up, you can soon notice that without managing your time, work will begin to take over your personal time, which may not be the best place to find yourself in. 

The most common problems faced by trade business owners include the following:

• Not switching off your phone, meaning calls come in at all hours of the day
• Mish-mashing your work schedule to fit in work that comes in every day/week
• Sorting out any issues with employees whilst you're away from the business
• Micro-managing

But how can you help to manage these problems? Simply follow a handful of useful solutions and watch your spare time begin to reappear!

Diagnose your time management problems

Step 1: 

Diagnosing a problem is the first step to success. Realising the areas that are wasting your time can help you to achieve your goals and targets.

Therefore to effectively organise your time, you must first understand where your time is spent. Additionally, you must regularly audit your time by completing a time log or diary to define where your time goes.

Your time as a tradesperson is invaluable and can be chalked up into three areas:

• Working for your business
• Working on your business

Utilising a time log to understand better how you spend your time on a typical week and how it relates to working on your business or in business administration is the perfect first point of call.

Step 2:

After diagnosis, you need to establish a goal for your company to work toward before you get into the nitty-gritty of how you should spend your time. A result that will eventually make all of your hard work worthwhile!

The first step in practical time management is a clear idea of what you want to accomplish. Focus and time management are made more accessible by your goals. Consider whether completing these activities or tasks is the most efficient use of my time and will bring me closer to achieving my business vision.

Step 3:

Not valuing your time is one of the biggest errors that trade business owners make.

Simply put, your hourly rate is not the value of your time, so it's crucial to know where spending your time adds the most value to the business. Top tip: It's building your asset and working on the business.

As a tradesman or woman, you inherently want to generate cash to pay your bills and fund your lifestyle. However, finding the right balance in the places you spend your time is the key.

We'd recommend organising your tasks in order of importance. This would be a better way to assess your schedule. You can set your own level of urgency: in terms of money, deadlines, or how much of a pain they can be if left undone. Then, make a note of whether or not these responsibilities can be delegated to an employee or apprentice. Once you have a clear list of tasks ranked from most to least important, you can manage your own time and that of your staff members (potentially freeing yourself up to work on the business). 

Step 4:

One of the most important time-saving levers you can pull is delegating effectively. A simple way to become a more profitable tradesman who is also adept at time management is to become an effective delegator.

Not only does delegation help you save time, but it also gives your staff more authority and confidence and contributes to better team performance. When you do something that could be done by someone else just as well, if not better, ask yourself, "Does this work need to be done by me?" Good managers know that training employees will pay off in the long run.

This doesn't have to focus just on your employees. Think of jobs you could outsource (as long as they don't break your budget).

Save yourself time, stress and distractions and boost your own productivity by having an outside force take care of bookkeeping, social media, payroll etc. Of course, there is an extra cost, but this can free you up to focus on bigger tasks to accelerate your trade business. 

Step 5:

It's the 21st century, and it could be time to automate using technology and apps to streamline your business and time. Automation in the workplace can significantly boost productivity and save time. Additionally, many routine tasks can be automated thanks to the nearly ten million distinct apps, many of which focus on making our lives simpler or more enjoyable.

For tradespeople, consider apps like PoweredNow, which helps to control invoices, quotes and workload. Xero takes care of your accounting online or Tradify, which helps with complete business management on things like website creation, quoting, time management etc. 

Why you should take out trade insurance

On top of handling your time management issues, your trade business will need a solid trade insurance policy to protect your business and your hard work from any compensation claims. 

The team at Rhino Trade Insurance have designed a precise cover for almost every trade imaginable and can tailor every policy to the needs of your business. From our fundamental cover: Public Liability Insurance, to our policies that build upon this, like Tool Insurance, Personal Accident Insurance and many others, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better, dedicated trade insurer than us. 

Why Choose Rhino for your Trade Insurance?

Rhino Trade Insurance has provided trade businesses like yours with valuable protection for nearly two decades. We have thousands of five-star reviews from tradespeople on the tools right now, proving that our customer service is top quality.

Customers don't have to give us their information to use for marketing purposes because our cutting-edge technology allows them to get instant quotes. Our prices are probably the lowest in the trade sector, so the only question is, what are you waiting for?

Call us on 0116 243 7904 and speak to a lovely Rhino team member or get a quote online today.