organizing your day as a solopreneur

How to create daily habits that drive the success of your solo business

As a solopreneur, organizing your day and having good time management skills is super important. Strategically planning how to spend your time when you’re self-employed helps you stay self-motivated and able to meet your deadlines. It can also lead to greater success and a better work-life balance. That’s because being organized is associated with being able to best manage your time, be more responsive and attentive, and make better business decisions 

For any solo business owner, or anyone who’s self-employed, being your own boss means you’re responsible for your own success. And building success requires a concerted effort. You’ll need to consistently meet client expectations, and produce quality work on-time and within budget, especially if you provide a service. Even if you sell products, there’s a huge amount of daily work required to market your products, maintain stock levels and liaise with suppliers and vendors. 

'What are morning habits of solo entrepreneurs?' 'How can I create daily habits that drive the success of my solopreneur journey?' These are some commonly asked questions by those wanting to create wealth and success through running their own businesses. 

To organize your day effectively as a solopreneur, you’ll need a plan. You’ll also need commitment and willpower to stay on-plan. And you’ll need to constantly consider your workload and capacities. For example, when you’re approached by new clients, to make sure you can handle the additional hours.

Below we look at what a typical day looks like for a sole business owner. We also consider the reasons why having a daily work plan is so important. Finally, we suggest 10 tips for solopreneurs to organize your day and stay on-track. 

Solopreneur lifestyle - reality vs myth

Have you ever wondered what is it like to be a solopreneur? There are definitely some misconceptions about being self-employed, both positive and negative.

Myth 1:

Solopreneurs have tons of freedom and can work and schedule their days as they like. 

Reality 1:

While freedom is definitely possible, running your own business means you’re solely responsible for its success. This means you’re the one and only person who must complete all the work that needs doing within the deadlines. Meeting these responsibilities requires you to be organized. This requires you to plan your days strategically and always have a plan of how you’ll achieve your goals. 

Myth 2:

Solopreneurs can wake up late and take long lunches. They spend lots of time having the perfect work life balance as they are in charge of their daily schedule.

Reality 2:

While the above can hold true, solopreneurship is known for being lonely. Working solo can lead to burnout, and an intense lack of any work-life balance. When organizing your day, it’s therefore important to first attribute value to your time and your services. This way, you can prioritize your tasks, and be strategic about what you can achieve. The more value you create, the more money you are able to generate for your products or services. And only then will you be able to free yourself up for all those long lunches and late mornings. 

Myth 3:

Solopreneurs can limit their work weeks to four days or less because they are in control of their businesses. 

Reality 3:

To make a success of your business and meet your client's expectations, you’ll need to put in the hours. Some may be lucky enough to work a 3- or 4-day week, but this won’t always be the case. This is particularly so when you are getting started and establishing your brand. In fact, many solopreneurs and entrepreneurs end up working much longer hours than traditional 9-to-5 jobs. 

Myths vs reality of being a solopreneur

A day in the life of a sole business owner

Now that we’ve busted some common myths, what does a typical day look like for a solopreneur? 

Working on your own means you’re not just doing the fun stuff all day. You’ll also need to take care of all the business administration tasks. Then there's marketing, liaising with clients, legal compliance, emails, contracts, accounting, invoicing and the list goes on. In addition, you might need to spend time planning how to build and scale your brand and business, develop innovative new products or services, or adopt new technologies. 

A typical day for a self-employed entrepreneur might look something like this:

Morning:

You may spend your morning tending to emails, calling clients, setting up meetings, taking care of routine admin, and planning your day. Depending on the nature of your work, you may also spend several hours on creative work or in-person selling. 

Afternoon:

If you have a lot of deliverables and tight deadlines, work may bleed into the afternoons. Perhaps, you'll take a break to spend some time on personal hobbies like taking a walk or reading a book. Then, daily tasks like marketing, creating backups, or working on your insurance schedule may fill up the rest. And don’t forget the time you’ll need to spend on personal admin. 

Evening:

Evenings may be spent socializing with friends or family, but you may also be drawn into deep creative work, building your strategies and figuring out your cash flow. There are also bound to be emergencies or unexpected work demands. As a sole operator, there's noone else who can take over from you.

Organizing your day as a solopreneur

When organizing your day, keep in mind your preferred working times and styles. For example, are you more productive in the morning or in the evening? Do you have other important tasks to fulfil aside from your business, like spending time with your family, playing with your children, or exercise commitments?

In reality, as a solopreneur you may often spend a lot of your day working. To maintain a positive work life balance, you may therefore need to stay hyper-focused, productive and organized. If you spend too many hours a day on non-work activities, you may not be creating the best value for yourself. If you want to earn more than someone who’s employed by a company, get this balance right. 

Time management skills, project management skills and the ability to plan ahead and figure out the best legal, financial and jurisdictional options for your business are all a part of making it as a professional business owner.

Why planning your daily routine as a solopreneur is important

We’ve seen what a daily routine for a solopreneur might involve. Without a daily strategy and plan of what you want to achieve, working for yourself could be a struggle. You might find it challenging to stay on-target and meet all your work commitments and deadlines. 

Part of being successfully self-employed and retaining clients is being able to meet and exceed client expectations. That includes being able to produce work on-time, within budget, and being great at communicating and liaising with clients. And the better work you do for your current clients, the more you will get referrals to new clients.

If you don’t have a plan, you may not be able to manage your workload, and may end up disappointing or annoying your clients. 

That’s why organizing your day, having a daily work plan and making targets can help you to stay on-track and productive. Setting daily goals can also help you focus your energy and achieve your work, while maintaining a healthy work life balance. 

Entrepreneurs, how many hours a day do you work on average? The answer will be similar for solopreneurs. The one difference is that entrepreneurs may be able to rely on partners and staff to help them scale and manage workloads. Solopreneurs therefore may need to be even more strategic when it comes to managing daily workloads. 

Tools and strategies to best organize your day

In any job you need to be organized. But if you are the only one in your business, there’s no time to waste. Noone else will pick up the slack if you’re not working. So it’s even more important as a solopreneur to develop good organizational skills and find tools and strategies to support you.

Being organized on a daily basis requires you to set smart goals. These are goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. 

It’s also important to create a schedule for yourself of when to do different tasks. This can help you plan your deliverables and communicate with clients about deadlines. Having a task list also helps you learn how to prioritize tasks, make time for yourself to keep a healthy work life balance, and avoid burnout. 

There are a range of time management and productivity tools available. These can be helpful to when organizing your day and staying on-track. They include:

• calendar assistants like Calendly,
• project management tools like Asana,
• appointment setting tools like Appointy to arrange your meetings,
• client communication tools like Notion or Slack, and
• easy digital business solution e-⁠Residency of Estonia. 

10 top tips on how to be organized and achieve your goals

Maintaining a consistent flow of work is important as a solopreneur. That requires setting up a monthly, weekly and daily plan of how you’ll organize your day to achieve your targets, meet deadlines and keep your clients and customers happy. 

Achieving your goals is not just about having a work plan. It’s also about sticking to your plan and maintaining your productivity. That requires great time management skills, and may even mean that you need to add some extra skills to your CV. 

The tips below should help you to stay organized, motivated and to achieve what you set out to do:

1. Set specific and achievable goals for each day;
2. Create a schedule and block out time for different tasks and activities;
3. Prioritize tasks based on importance and deadlines;
4. Take breaks and allow for flexibility in your schedule;
5. Use tools and resources, such as calendars and to-do lists, to stay organized and on-track;
6. Identify and eliminate time-wasting activities;
7. Communicate with clients and colleagues effectively to manage expectations and your workload;
8. Consider implementing a system for tracking your progress and accomplishments;
9. Take care of your physical and mental well-being by incorporating self-care into your daily routine;
10. Stay motivated and focused by setting aside time for activities that bring you joy and inspiration.

This article was written by guest contributor and seasoned digital nomad Andy Stofferis (www.andysto.com).