This week’s user interview on time management and how vital it is to a successful business is with one of our favorite OfficeTime users, Kristelle Sim. Kristelle is an editor, a writer, a personal coach, and a Shaklee success story! She’s also a great inspiration and a super nice person to know!
Tell us about your company, Kristelle, and about the services you provide.
This is always the tricky part: explaining what I do! I’m more than an editor—I’m The Writer’s Muse! So I do in-depth editing, personal coaching, and direction-clarifying too, all to make the written word sing with that special voice of its author. (http://www.beyondediting.com)
I’m also a personal coach, I have a full time sales job, and I help people start health & wellness companies with Shaklee. Oh, and I’m writing a book. And I do it all from home. (Crazy, right?)
[Nope, not crazy! We at OfficeTime know that busy entrepreneurs juggle a LOT of stuff!]
How important is time management in the day-to-day running of your business AND your life?
For my multi-faceted career path, and with working at home, I’ve got plenty of distractions. I can go from one project to the next in seconds. But I’ve GOT to be able to document the hours I’ve spent on what project, for what company, on what day. Otherwise, not only would I completely lose track of the work I had done and could bill for, but I’d have no feeling that I did anything…because I’m doing so many DIFFERENT things.
Here are some of my typical administrative concerns:
I’ve been running around like the proverbial chicken…seriously, what projects did I work on today?
How many hours did that entire editing project take from start to finish?
How long have I been on the phone today?
How much time can I bill for that session with my new writing client?
What’s the average time spent with my coaching clients?
How many hours did I meet with my Shaklee team this month?
How do I fill out my “Hours Donated” worksheet?
What hours can I document for my employer for this pay period?
I had to step away to finish the laundry, and I didn’t look at the clock…how long was I gone?
Talk to me specifically about OfficeTime. What’s been your biggest takeaway of using it?
OfficeTime saves me! If I didn’t have it, I probably would have failed miserably at documenting anything for my clients, and that would have meant that I wouldn’t have gotten paid, or I wouldn’t be able to show what I was working on when.
Perhaps more importantly though, with the ease and simplicity of its tracking feedback, comes the additional focus to make it all happen. It’s so easy to just sit down, click, and now I’m ready to start a project. I need to switch —click— I’m now tracking for another client. I go away, and it reminds me that I’ve been away, and asks do I want to keep those minutes on that project or put them in another project? It’s a great assistant.
So what new and awesome thing have you been able to create in your business, since you’ve freed up so much time with the OfficeTime time tracking tool? (That’s sort of half joking — what new thing is exciting in your life and company is the real uptake.)
OfficeTime has actually helped me STOP working! I’m more attentive to time, but without the anxiety about “keeping time” for myself. I am less distracted by competing projects, and far more focused. And when I can see just how long I’ve been working, as well as just how much I’ve accomplished, it’s easier for me to stop, pat myself on the back, and go do something else!
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One more beautiful thought from Kristelle… which she shared with us, and we thought we’d share with you…
“Time is a precious resource, and because it stretches on like saltwater taffy sometimes, it can be so easy to waste it, lose the moment, and lose the momentum. For me, it’s a constant challenge to retain focus long enough to complete the ever lengthening ‘list’, while still deeply enjoying the experience of living.”
Yes, that’s the most important thing, to remember to enjoy the experience of living. Thanks for reminding us, Kristelle!
Time. The real commodity.
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