Time Management

Feeling overwhelmed

Since I lost my job for taking a stand as described in my introduction post. I have been somewhat afloat with so many things to do and no clear deadlines. This has led to me being a bit overwhelmed. I am trying to do too much at once, and I am having some trouble focusing. Here is my to-do list relative to the business in no particular order:


Business To-do List

- Update Linkedin to reflect Sleepy Creek Capital maybe add folks to network

- Apply to be a part of the Search Investment Group

- Start contacting banks for SMB Loan prequalification and figuring out which will be on my team

- Build an acquisition team to include CPA and lawyer

- Build an investor base

- Start contacting brokers

- Start reaching out to business owners with letters/cold calls

- Grow social network presence from near zero to make more connections which could be mutually beneficial

- Update my blog

- Take online classes on accounting

- Listen to podcasts to continue to get educated on small business acquisition and small business operations

- Read books/ or rather listen as I am dyslexic and try whenever possible to listen to audiobooks to better educate myself on small business

- Set up a CRM to keep track of all the various people I am contacting, banks, investors, brokers, business owners, etc

- Spend all day on Searchfunder reading and learning


I am sure I am missing some things, but feel this encompasses where I am currently. Usually, I use to-do lists but did read The One Thing by Gary Keller, and do try to incorporate that into my method. Not being a huge fan of rigid time management practices, as I like to be able to flow with changes, but maybe that’s a mistake? Looking through this article on time management methods, which is education that wasn’t on my to-do list above. What methods do you use for time management?


After reading through the site and thinking about techniques that would work best for me, it is not clear. Surprise, all of them somewhat fit, I am both an analytical thinker and a creative thinker, I like making lists, sometimes I struggle to stay focused, I work well under pressure. You get the idea, I could probably use any of these methods, as you all likely can and/or already do. I am most likely going to use a combination of the 80/20 rule with the time blocking method. I am thinking of trying to block the majority of my time for the 20% effective tasks and put the other 80% in where time allows. To organize my list above, I am breaking it into three broad categories and then each to do into whether it falls in a 20% or 80% category for the moment. Also, putting them in priority order in each category.


Education

- Spend all day on Searchfunder reading and learning (80%)

- Listen to podcasts to continue to get educated on small business acquisition and small business operations (80%)

- Take online classes on accounting (80%)

- Read books/ or rather listen as I am dyslexic and try whenever possible to listen to audiobooks to better educate myself on small business (80%)


Short Term Goals

- Update my blog (20%)

- Update Linkedin to reflect Sleepy Creek Capital, maybe add folks to network (20%)

- Apply to be a part of the Search Investment Group (SIG) (20%)

- Set up a CRM to keep track of all the various people I am contacting, banks, investors, brokers, business owners, etc (20%)

- Start contacting banks for SMB Loan prequalification and figuring out which will be on my team (20%)

- Build an acquisition team to include CPA and lawyer (20%)

- Build an investor base (20%)

- Grow social network presence from near zero to make more connections which could be mutually beneficial (80%)?


Long-Term Goals

- Start contacting brokers (20%)

- Start reaching out to business owners with letters/cold calls (80%)


Discussion of my analysis

I guess, my guessing the 20% isn’t working, as I don’t know which of the activities will be most productive. Maybe I am just going to prioritize and tackle linearly with some time blocking so that I can focus.

While education will be helpful, it is something that I am going to rank as a lower priority. I could easily get stuck in analysis paralysis, as I have already read 3 books on business acquisition, listened to 4 different podcasters for pretty much all the available episodes, and started an online course in accounting. So, I will back off these tasks, but will probably continue to fit in the podcasts while I do the dishes, laundry, go to the store, etc. That said, I am also going to allot 30 minutes a day to reading on Searchfunder, but focus it to the phase where I am currently.


Short-term goals are where I need to take ground, and focus. They do have some interdependence, as I prefer not to apply to be in the Search Investment Group program until I have strengthened my LinkedIn profile and possibly made more connections. Being that I stayed at one employer for all of my professional career and the nature of my work in DOD, my networking has been more limited than I think helpful now. I heard about the search investment group on this episode of the Acquiring Minds podcast and find it to be intriguing enough to try to work with them. The blog helps me to organize my thoughts and is starting to help grow my social network, so it’s important, even if somewhat time-consuming. My priorities for the rest of this week will be to spend today getting my LinkedIn profile together. Spend Friday applying to be a part of the Search Investment Group and getting a CRM setup to start keeping track of contacts. Being that I had started down the path of real estate investing I was thinking of Podio, but also think I could just create a database in LibreOffice it’s not like that database is going to have a 100K entries. Does anyone have any suggestions?


Long-term goals I am defining as a month or more away, and you might wonder why am I waiting so long to start getting deal flow into my funnel? I feel like building a strong foundation is key, so I don’t end up with a house of cards. This foundation will allow me to make a favorable first impression and be ready to execute when the right deal is in my sight.