I Don't Have Time to Start a Business.
I hear far more excuses as to why someone can't achieve success than why they can. People have the natural tendency to use the fact that their lives are busy and get in the way of working on their business.
Well, guess what?
We ALL have busy lives. We all have priorities, we all have various tasks pulling at us throughout the day, we have families, we have social lives, we have work, we have LIVES.
That is fine, that is completely normal and unless you truly are at home staring at a white wall all day, you are probably busy doing something else.
Some of the most common excuses that I get as to why someone simply CANNOT build a business online are:
- "I have a 9 to 5 job. I am pretty busy to get rolling with a business as well."
- "I have school, I am simply too busy with exams."
- "I have kids, there is no time for anything else."
- or simply "I am too busy"
These are the most common and if you have found yourself using one of these (or more than one) as an excuse for not progressing with your business, this post is likely going to be of great interest to you.
We ALL Have Busy Lives.
One thing that is consistent for most of us is that life is busy. Most successful businesses are built out of the desire to "escape" the rat race that we all become so familiar with, so if you are busy and you feel that you are even too "busy" to build a business, trust me you are not. You are in the SAME position as almost everyone that I have ever met that have built a successful businesses online.
I remember when I started out I was 22 years old. No, I didn't have kids at that point in my life, but I had an incredibly busy life. I was full time in a very strenuous program in college (a condensed 2.5 year computer science program), I had lots of labs, homework, reading, tests and exams to continue work on.
Not to mention I played basketball 3-4 times per week, worked out 5-6 times per week, I had a girlfriend (now my wife) who I spent a lot of time with, and I had an active social life. Surely there wasn't time for starting a business?
Yes, there was. And I found more than adequate time to build a business.
Now I have two small children (with lots of activities), I have commitments to a baseball team, I travel, I have a house to maintain and manage, and I have a social life outside of this. Surely there isn't time to run a business? Yes, there is.
YOU Are In Full Control of Your 17 Hours Per Day.
Everyone gets the same 24 hours in a day. How we use it will differentiate one person from the next. I know this is a little cliche, but it is the reality.
When I started out, I had to make some sacrifices in terms of not doing things I was doing, but I also made much better use of the time I was given each day. I had to take a look at this 17 hours per day and decide on how I would fit in some of these hours for my business.
I simply did things a bit differently.
I used my "idle" time to work on my business. On my breaks at school, I worked on my business. When I got home, instead of watching some TV, I worked on my business. Instead of going to every party or social event, I would sometimes instead focus on my business. At night before bed, I worked on my business.
I was able to carve out 3-4 hours per day, every day to dedicate to my business. Through time I was able to ramp this up as I started earning more money and saw the potential.
You can do the same. Take your day, map it out, and find ways as to which you can carve out time for your business.
Your Busy Life is Likely Not Going to Change.
It is pretty rare that one day, your life will suddenly afford you a bunch of new time. I have been wishing for a longer day than 24 hours for many years, but my wish has yet to come true!
So if you are thinking that "I will wait until I have more time", chances are you will never have more time. You have to create more time, you have to change the choices you make on a day to day basis, and you need to do things in your "spare" hours, or even minutes, that will lead to productivity in your business.
Those of us that have found success in business lead incredibly busy lives, but that comes with the territory of running a business. I think to a certain degree we get trapped into the ideology of "4 hour workweek", when this simply isn't the reality nor should be something you seek.
If you're only working four hours a week and respect your business, it is doomed to fail. Something is wrong if you can only find four hours of work within your business.... to IMPROVE your business.
So how do you make time for your business? If we all have the same number of hours in the day, how are some people able to fit in the "start up" of a business whereas others simply can't (or won't).
I have some ideas. ;)
7 Practical Solutions I Use To Get More Done.
It is fine to say that being busy is the reality of life and to "suck it up", but it is another thing to offer you some solutions from my 15 years online where I have been extremely busy, yet have been able to manage a full time business online during these 15 years.
(1) Write down weekly goals. Without knowing what you need to do or want to do, you are not going to get much done right? The first thing I do on Monday morning are to write out my goals for a week. If you don't have specific goals, it is tough to be productive when you actually sit down to "get work done".
(2) Take a break from social media. Don't worry, you probably won't be missed by the zombies and trolls sitting on Facebook all day. It surely it will be a nice break from the sheer waste of time we spend on sites like Facebook sifting through ads and ridiculous videos just to get to our friends latest "look at ME post".
(3) Work on your business during your meals. I remember when I was in the midst I'm going from employment to being completely self-employed. During my lunch hours I would spend my time working on my business either developing ideas, working on my websites, research, etc. For those of us that are working a full-time job, we usually get breaks and we usually get a lunch period that can be invested directly into your business.
(4) Take a notepad wherever you go. Even before we started offering our WA Swag pad folios each year in Vegas, I've always walked around with a notepad. You never know when you're going to get ideas for your niche and business and you should always record these. As a result, I've never been in a situation where I had a shortage of ideas in ANY niche.
All of us have a "notes" application on our phones. I am a pen & paper guy, but if you want to keep it digital use your notes application on your Android or iOS device.
(5) Your computer goes with you. You go on a vacation, your computer goes with you. You go to the coffee shop, your computer goes with you. Basically everywhere you go where you could potentially work on your business, you want to be able to work if need be. This will allow you to maximize your hours in the day and dedicate a portion of your "free" ones to your business.
(6) Read, read, read! We are all connected in one way or another to information. Whether you have access to magazines, a library, your phone and the various news agencies on there, Wealthy Affiliate, etc. Keep reading, keep informed, and keep progressing your education. It will pay off in the most amazing ways.
Although I haven't been as efficient in terms of reading hard cover books these days, I still aim to read six or so books year. I am constantly reading throughout the day and I end each day (going to sleep) educating myself and learning new things. There are a lot of good apps on your phone that you can utilize to get good reads relevant to any topic you input, this could be related to your niche, related to online business, etc.
I also read at the gym when doing cardio!
(7) Business is a 7 day week. Use all 7 days. Many of us at deem a work week being Monday to Friday, with Saturday and Sunday being days when we are not supposed to be productive or are days off. That is the wrong mindset.
The fact of the matter is, those that work through the weekends and treat their business like something that is a seven-day-a-week entity, are those that succeed online at the highest rate. Just remember, those competing with you in any business are working when you are not. You can't LOSE in business if you outwork your competition.
I would love to hear your feedback on the dimension of "time" in your business. We all have different ways to manage it and we all feel some sort of PRESSURE when it comes to having more time in our lives.
I also hope this post has been helpful for putting the time element in business into perspective for all of you. It is something that we all wrestle with in business, and in life.
Your comments, your feedback, your tips and tricks, and your stories about "time efficiency" are really appreciated. Please leave them below.
Recent Comments
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Hi Kyle,
As usual you've written a great and timely post for many people.
I am a busy person, busy with being a Carer. Believe me, there are some days, weeks and even months that I can barely scrape together the time to work on my business. But in saying this, that doesn't stop me from scrounging up time wherever I am able.
I am determined to succeed in my business and I don't care how long it takes (although sooner with some help from a reduction in my carer duties would be much appreciated). It is easy to lose hope in my situation but if it's something you truly believe in, which I do, the pieces will all fall into place eventually.
While I try to grab time wherever I can, including trying to work long into the night and morning if I can stay awake, it remains a challenge because the carer role is so unpredictable.
I also struggle with trying to be productive with only snippets of time. Sometimes it can take a while to get into the swing of things, or I can't quite squeeze in a training video so I feel thwarted a lot of the time too. But I still keep going.
I found a quote by Earl Nightingale that I put up in my loo (its a great place to put up quotes so that you can remain motivated, LOL). It says, "Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway". I don't get the chance to feel down anymore about how long it is taking me to get through the training and add more and more content because I see this quote regularly and it reminds me to keep pushing on.
So even in the loo, I am still working on my business, if you will pardon the pun. It's a great place to come up with ideas too!!
Ange
I always write down my schedule beginning of the month or even put the colourful stickers in different type of tasks.
Usually write down ideas on lunch break and work on something when kids go to bed around 11pm.
But I always fall behind my schedule. :-( Which is bad.
The post is really motivated, thanks Kyle for sharing.
One question for you: Did you ever fall behind your schedule or goal for the week? If you did, how you make it up?
In my case I just reschedule my tasks. Sadly. :-(
Thank you!
For me, personally, I sit down each night and plan the next day. It means the list is fresh in my head and I miss fewer tasks.
I like these tips very much, and the one that I think would be the most powerful in this day and age would be to cut out social media (unless working on business).
90% of the ones complaining about being too busy probably spend at least a few hours a day mindlessly scrolling through different social media accounts.
I stopped doing doing that. I have a 9-5 job and can pump out an article a day. Some days I miss but for the most part I am still constantly working on my business.
I agree 100% with everything you said and I'm definitely guilty of some of those. What it truly boils down to is how much do you want it?
Do you truly want to create an online business? If so, then you WILL find the time no matter what to work at it in order for it to become a thriving online business.
If you continuously use those excuses Kyle listed, then you truly don't want an online business and will be stuck in the same lifestyle that you've been dreaming to get out of.
I'm going to list something else that people don't want to admit or they just don't think about, that keeps them from working on their online business. It is Fear.
Fear of Failure, fear that your content is not good enough, fear that you'll never be able to get enough traffic and even a fear of success.
I can tell you right now that fear has been one of the biggest factors for me that has kept me from continuously working on my business when I should be. My biggest fears right now are that I do not have good content and that none of my content will get ranked and there has certainly been frustration on that part recently.
However, I do know that if I don't do anything or don't put out any content at all, then all those fears will come true. That's when you've got to dig deep and push yourself forward no matter what because that's the only way you're going to achieve what you've set out for yourself.
The negatives CANNOT while the Positives CAN.
Over 75% are a CANNOT. The Rest are CAN DOS.
Negative poor. Positive Rich.
The negative are just filling in life until death while the positive live their life to the full.
YOUR Choice and yours only.
"Put Yourself on the Line and be the Master of Your own Time." Tom Short.
Kyle, you are right and it is indeed a great post thats supposed to wake people up. I am a fitness and Health Facility co-owner and i am hearing almost the same excuse why someone cannot work out or even attempt to join the gym. The reasons are being found in your blog as they are always the same. The keyword here is time management. If you learn on how to master the skill of time management you are almost half through on the way to your success. This includes to cutting senseless conversations with friends or other affiilates down to a bare essential minimum. i find myself staying on the phone with someone and discussing the same issues over and over and over again. Sounds familiar? I think it does to a lot of people and it is in your own hands to separate categories in what is important and what is casual chit chat. This may not be easy at times but it is a skill that you can easily master by timing your conversation and focus on keypoints. Again this is about time management. Yes, sometimes we get carried away and we are ultimately all humans but telling the person you are having the conversation in a nice way that you need to limit this conversation will make the other party understand that you are busy.
Yeah you must see the exact same thing. I know I do because I work out regularly, and I see the same people in there year round. Meanwhile, the greater portion of the public is making excuses as to why they can't make it to the gym.
Then you see you in flocks every January or February of people trying to change their habits.
The online business world is the same way. People want to start something, but they don't actually want to end up doing it because it takes effort. That makes it easy for the rest of classes that want to work hard, and are willing to put forth the effort to create a successful business. It truly limits our competition. :)
Wow Fun Kyle, reading your post About being busy enough Is what you wrote about That was motivating for me.
And I keep in mind I'm a small business man I like your description how we differentiate our time I condense 2 to 3 hours to work on my business. And yes I want more hours in a day.
I write my goals at the end of the day, And start looking for this goals the next day. My goal is to be an Internet marketing and focus on Ditigal products like JVZoo, Well my outlook sometimes looks great when I find my passion it what I do, Thank you for your post Kyle
Yeah it is good to have lots of goals. Then the reality of it becomes working hard to achieve those goals in order to make them actually happen. Sometimes it takes it over a sustained period of time, and sometimes you just have to do it forever (like business, if you drop it altogether, it will eventually fade).
The exciting part is that we can achieve whatever we set our minds to. ;)
So much truth in this post. I read it while eating dinner.
When I saw the title of the post, I knew where this was going. This post resonated with me so much because I hear that excuse all the time. I've referred people to WA who have told me that they don't have time. But they in the club every weekend. Or on Facebook responding to every single comment on their latest post.
People nowadays have NO excuse because almost everyone has an internet connection at home and a personal computer or laptop.
When I was just getting started I had no internet at home and no computer. But I knew I wanted it to work because I needed a better life. I was busy too. I had a full time job.
How did I make it work with a full time job and no internet at home?
Everyday after work, I would go to the internet cafe and spend 1 or 2 hours learning and doing. I would eat my lunch real quick then go check my campaigns at the internet cafe.
I was busy just like everyone else.
My advise is to know what you're busy with. If you want that extra income as much as you say, then GET BUSY WITH INTERNET MARKETING.
Be too busy for the club.
Be too busy for Netflix.
Be too busy for Facebook.
Be too busy for idle friends.
And...
Be too busy because you have to build a business.
No one is sooo busy that they can't squeeze in some time every day to learn and build a business. If you make just enough time everyday to do just one lesson of the certification course, you'll have a website up in 10 days. If you really busy then it might happen a little slower but it will happen.
To be honest, if you think you don't have time, then you're not really interested in changing your situation. But don't use the excuse of not having time because everyone has the time whether they think they do or not. Lamest excuse in the book in my opinion.
One thing that I've personally observed in friends that I've tried to help is that they aren't really that busy even though they say they are. The truth is that they're just trying to run from something else.
They think they can't write good enough.
They think that it might not work for them.
They think that someone who's doubting them might be right.
They think they will try and fail.
They think that it wouldn't work fast enough.
I just can't understand why they wouldn't say what the real problem is instead of saying that time is the issue. Everybody has time.
People are even more privilege now than I was back when I started but even I made it work for me.
Sorry for the long response but this issue is one that I've had to deal with personally and I've written about it more than a couple of times so I might just be a little bit passionate about the topic.
Wonderful to hear from you Jay! You have some great ideas and great advice here. Get BUSY with Internet Marketing. Get BUSY with your business.
One thing that I could've explained in much more detail is the fact that minutes I days when you consider the minutes in a particular day. If I can dedicate five or 10 minutes to something on a day-to-day basis, over the course of the year this is days of my time invested in that particular thing.
But in saying this, 10 minutes of waste, equates to days that I could have invested in an aspect of my business instead of watching TV, snapchatting, or doing something that is ultimately of no absolutely connection to your success.
This post is so educational. My late father always told me that you can throw 20 dollars out the window and walk down the street and find 20 dollars. However if you throw even one second away no matter what you do there is no way you can get that time back. So this is great advice.
Dale
Love that quote and I think after reading this, that quote should resonate with everything. You can create more money, you can't create more time!
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I just switched jobs and the hassle is really time consuming. That's why my rank in WA takes a hit. I am finding some time to squeeze some works to my websites now.
You are right. Busy people usually handles their time better. We tend to see idle hours immediately and make the best use for them.