Event Planning Tips, From the Experts, Your Event Career
Tips for a Productive Day as an Entrepreneur—Part 2
Earlier this week, our QC Event School tutor, Heather Vickery, told us how to be more productive as entrepreneurs. Follow up with more tips on how to be a productive event planner! Heather is the Owner and Event Director of Greatest Expectations Special Events and Weddings, one of Chicago’s most celebrated event planning and design firms.
Be flexible
This one is so important. Yes, I told you to make a schedule. Yes, I think that is very important. But the reality is things do not always shake out as we expect them to. Be prepared to shift things in your schedule. Oftentimes things need to move around to meet new expectations or deadlines. This is ok! As long as you actually move items to a new, scheduled time, everything will continue to get done. And keep in mind: that new schedule time can be on the next day’s schedule.
Stay focused and avoid distraction
How often are you in the middle of something and you see a text pop up on your screen, a Facebook notification, or an email notification and you quickly click over to check it? As soon as you make that choice, you have gone down the rabbit hole! Each and every time that happens, you lose focus and concentration. This is not a healthy way to multitask. When you do this, it just means that nothing is really getting 100% of your attention and everything takes longer than it should to get completed. Stay focused!
Remember self-care
I like to call this the oxygen mask. If you do not take care of yourself, you are useless to others. That means take breaks. Build time into your schedule to get up and take a short walk, listen to a short podcast and have a snack! Under this category is also the rewards system. I like to keep a list of little rewards and then plan them out for project completion. “Once I finish creating this client’s timeline, I will walk to the coffee shop and grab a latte!” Sometimes these rewards are small and sometimes they are large, like taking a day off or getting a pedicure.
Write out the wins
It is so easy to get to the end of our day and feel like we have not made any progress. While this is never true, it is sometimes hard to see what we have accomplished. That is why I love taking a few minutes towards the end of the day for reflection. Write out the days wins. When you take the time to celebrate and recognize each and every success, small and large, you start to really appreciate how hard you work and that it really does pay off. This exercise helps you keep perspective and motivation. Look at everything you accomplished today! This is also a good time to review any positive feedback from clients or others. Remind yourself of all the good that has surrounded you throughout the day.
Making a schedule for the next day
The last thing I suggest doing before closing up your computer is creating the next day’s schedule. It is fine for this to start with a to-do list, but as I mentioned before, truly taking the time to schedule everything and give it an assigned time is where the real action comes into play. By ending your day with a detailed and reasonable schedule for the following day, you will be able to truly close up shop and step away from the work world and re-enter your personal life. Scheduling for the next day gives you the freedom to know that everything is accounted for, you are not going to forget anything and it is ok to turn it all off.
Remember, each entrepreneur’s life is different. Their objectives and client demands are different. Their family obligations are different. There is no right or wrong way to set up your day but following these simple tips will set you up for success. Now go and be productive!
