I love being self-employed.
How could I not? That is a picture of today's office, above. My side bar features the art work I have enjoyed working n and can offer for sale to my clients and my links above take you to my other websites I enjoy creating and filling with relevant material for their subject names. As I work in the creative arts, my work is a passion rather than a chore? What is work to you? I would love to read your comments.
There is nothing new about the 20%/80% rule also called the Pareto principle. It is named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population; he developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas.
Here is how the 80%/20% rule applies to business.
80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers.
80% of your complaints come from 20% of your customers.
80% of your profits come from 20% of the time you spend.
80% of your sales come from 20% of your products.
80% of your sales are made by 20% of your sales staff.
You can effectively improve your life and business by focusing on the most effective areas and eliminating, ignoring, automating, delegating or re-training the rest, as appropriate.
Time management is the most important thing to have an understanding of if you are going to be successfully self-employed.
I am a great believer in playing the 80/20 rule of accepting that 20% of anything I do will give me 80% satisfaction or successful result and 80% of what I do will only ever bring me a 20% result. Periodically I will feel overwhelmed with work and not feel I am getting enough result for all the work I do. This is NORMAL with all business.
When that happens it is very important to take a break from what you are doing. You don't necessarily need to stop work in order to take a break and be able to focus clearly, you can do some of the more routine tasks that require less intense thinking. I did this by taking a week to prepare my art fridge magnets and art post cards ready for a sales launch on EBay in spring time and while I did this I was able to look at the 20% of what I do that is giving me the reward I want and decide on how I will slot that into my daily work to never be neglected. Once that is done, I look at the remaining 80% of everything, not from a point of view of where I will time plan it in, but how I will do something entirely different in it's place or an amended, improved or experimental version of these things.
Here is how I successfully apply this time management rule to my own life, this week.
I have revamped all ten of my websites. The most popular with readers and Google search, required very little work. The least popular websites were dumped, domain name and all and re-birthed with a new domain name and a new look and focus, one that suits my current direction and reader interest. This blog had previously had no clear direction. Blogger Muse I called it. It was where I mused about any subject I felt like. I have now decided to keep it to "Blogging about the Arts and a Creative Life taking over what had been a very popular function of my Kathy Shell artist blog and allow my Kathy Shell artist website to focus more on my own art work. So I am applying a successful formula I have learned that suits both my readers and myself and one that will encourage the painter in me, to this website which had previously be one of me medium rated owns. That is an example of applying the 80/20 rule. You do continue doing the 80%. Just do it better. Work smarter not harder.
Time management 20%/80% Rule.
KEEP 20%
1/ I kept the best 20% of what you do.
Revamp and Improve 20%
2/ I revamped and improved the next best 60% of what I do.
Remove 20%
3/ I threw out, ALL of the bottom 20% of what I do and cleared for myself 20% more time which is mine to choose to use for any purpose I wish. Don't rush to fill this time with anything...enjoy some leisure and allow it to fill with things that lead you to goals of your own choosing.
If you are a sales person, these might be the customers who still order from you, but very infrequently. Perhaps you could ask them to call you when they wish to order...knowing there is a risk if you do not give them courtesy follow ups each month that they might never give that once every six months order. Chances are your income is dependent on those occasional orders as well as your mainstay frequently ordering customers. But consider this..,If you have 20% or even 80% more time available, you could seek out new costumes and service them rather than the 80% of your customers who were only bringing in 20% of your sales orders. Now from these new customers, you will find that 50% of them will bring in 80% of your income...so once more...after periods of time...apply the 20%/80% rule again.
Can you see how this can be applied to anything?
I apply it the rule to housework. 20% of the effort brings me 80% of the results and rarely do I give housework a 100% effort as it is not my priority, however I do want to have a reasonable looking home I can live with and be happy in without it consuming too much of my time. Imagine the place is a mess and someone is coming...Throw open doors and windows to air the place, run around with a bin and thow the rubbish in it. Push the clutter into a pile or other bin and throw an attractive cloth over it. Brush and damp dust. Smooth floors are easier to clean than carpets. fluff and straighten the soft furnishings. make yourself a coffee or tea. Pick some flowers and arrange them while you sip a relaxing cuppa. Put the flowers in front of the pretty cove covered clutter...go freshen yourself up...you are ready for visitors, in half an hour, time I have. To have properly tidy and clean the room would lounge room would take me several hours and I don't always have that time to spare..
Create your own variations of the 20%80% rule.
It is totally flexible and in your own control as is your definition of what is a successful outcome. Remember success is not just how much money you earn or what you weigh, or any other definition giver to you by others, it is what satisfaction you receive from any given activity and this will change and fluctuate with time and this is why we also need to change and fluctuate in how we respond. That is why I love applying this rule. I also know, I can never see how to apply it when I am highly stressed or over worked. The great successes I have achieved, the ones that have lead me to multiple personal goal achievement have come when i take a break from intense 'doing,' and relax a little. Find out that life still goes on when i stop doing something that no longer rewards me...even when I think I need to do it. Only by stopping doing something can I clearly see where it fits within my busy life.
I would LOVE to hear your comments.
You may share this blog post as long as you do so in entirety with full links back to this Blogger Muse website and credit Kathy Shell as the author.
How could I not? That is a picture of today's office, above. My side bar features the art work I have enjoyed working n and can offer for sale to my clients and my links above take you to my other websites I enjoy creating and filling with relevant material for their subject names. As I work in the creative arts, my work is a passion rather than a chore? What is work to you? I would love to read your comments.
There is nothing new about the 20%/80% rule also called the Pareto principle. It is named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population; he developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas.
Here is how the 80%/20% rule applies to business.
80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers.
80% of your complaints come from 20% of your customers.
80% of your profits come from 20% of the time you spend.
80% of your sales come from 20% of your products.
80% of your sales are made by 20% of your sales staff.
You can effectively improve your life and business by focusing on the most effective areas and eliminating, ignoring, automating, delegating or re-training the rest, as appropriate.
Time management is the most important thing to have an understanding of if you are going to be successfully self-employed.
I am a great believer in playing the 80/20 rule of accepting that 20% of anything I do will give me 80% satisfaction or successful result and 80% of what I do will only ever bring me a 20% result. Periodically I will feel overwhelmed with work and not feel I am getting enough result for all the work I do. This is NORMAL with all business.
When that happens it is very important to take a break from what you are doing. You don't necessarily need to stop work in order to take a break and be able to focus clearly, you can do some of the more routine tasks that require less intense thinking. I did this by taking a week to prepare my art fridge magnets and art post cards ready for a sales launch on EBay in spring time and while I did this I was able to look at the 20% of what I do that is giving me the reward I want and decide on how I will slot that into my daily work to never be neglected. Once that is done, I look at the remaining 80% of everything, not from a point of view of where I will time plan it in, but how I will do something entirely different in it's place or an amended, improved or experimental version of these things.
Here is how I successfully apply this time management rule to my own life, this week.
I have revamped all ten of my websites. The most popular with readers and Google search, required very little work. The least popular websites were dumped, domain name and all and re-birthed with a new domain name and a new look and focus, one that suits my current direction and reader interest. This blog had previously had no clear direction. Blogger Muse I called it. It was where I mused about any subject I felt like. I have now decided to keep it to "Blogging about the Arts and a Creative Life taking over what had been a very popular function of my Kathy Shell artist blog and allow my Kathy Shell artist website to focus more on my own art work. So I am applying a successful formula I have learned that suits both my readers and myself and one that will encourage the painter in me, to this website which had previously be one of me medium rated owns. That is an example of applying the 80/20 rule. You do continue doing the 80%. Just do it better. Work smarter not harder.
Time management 20%/80% Rule.
KEEP 20%
1/ I kept the best 20% of what you do.
Revamp and Improve 20%
2/ I revamped and improved the next best 60% of what I do.
Remove 20%
3/ I threw out, ALL of the bottom 20% of what I do and cleared for myself 20% more time which is mine to choose to use for any purpose I wish. Don't rush to fill this time with anything...enjoy some leisure and allow it to fill with things that lead you to goals of your own choosing.
If you are a sales person, these might be the customers who still order from you, but very infrequently. Perhaps you could ask them to call you when they wish to order...knowing there is a risk if you do not give them courtesy follow ups each month that they might never give that once every six months order. Chances are your income is dependent on those occasional orders as well as your mainstay frequently ordering customers. But consider this..,If you have 20% or even 80% more time available, you could seek out new costumes and service them rather than the 80% of your customers who were only bringing in 20% of your sales orders. Now from these new customers, you will find that 50% of them will bring in 80% of your income...so once more...after periods of time...apply the 20%/80% rule again.
Can you see how this can be applied to anything?
I apply it the rule to housework. 20% of the effort brings me 80% of the results and rarely do I give housework a 100% effort as it is not my priority, however I do want to have a reasonable looking home I can live with and be happy in without it consuming too much of my time. Imagine the place is a mess and someone is coming...Throw open doors and windows to air the place, run around with a bin and thow the rubbish in it. Push the clutter into a pile or other bin and throw an attractive cloth over it. Brush and damp dust. Smooth floors are easier to clean than carpets. fluff and straighten the soft furnishings. make yourself a coffee or tea. Pick some flowers and arrange them while you sip a relaxing cuppa. Put the flowers in front of the pretty cove covered clutter...go freshen yourself up...you are ready for visitors, in half an hour, time I have. To have properly tidy and clean the room would lounge room would take me several hours and I don't always have that time to spare..
Create your own variations of the 20%80% rule.
It is totally flexible and in your own control as is your definition of what is a successful outcome. Remember success is not just how much money you earn or what you weigh, or any other definition giver to you by others, it is what satisfaction you receive from any given activity and this will change and fluctuate with time and this is why we also need to change and fluctuate in how we respond. That is why I love applying this rule. I also know, I can never see how to apply it when I am highly stressed or over worked. The great successes I have achieved, the ones that have lead me to multiple personal goal achievement have come when i take a break from intense 'doing,' and relax a little. Find out that life still goes on when i stop doing something that no longer rewards me...even when I think I need to do it. Only by stopping doing something can I clearly see where it fits within my busy life.
I would LOVE to hear your comments.
You may share this blog post as long as you do so in entirety with full links back to this Blogger Muse website and credit Kathy Shell as the author.
