Time Management: Get More Done by Doing Less

My family moved into our current home when it was newly built. After moving in, we didn’t realize how quickly it could go from looking shiny and new to needing some freshening up. After just a few short years, our young kids really started taking a toll on the interior paint of the house. It wasn’t that noticeable at first. One day, I went to wipe some dirty handprints off the wall. I sprayed some cleaner on a rag and scrubbed the prints off. As I stepped back to inspect my work, I was shocked to see that there was now a big clean void in the middle of the wall. What started out as a simple cleaning job revealed a much larger need for our entire house.

The Struggle is Real!

The ability of 2 small children to dirty the walls of an entire house is a topic for another day, but the struggle is real! The challenge at hand was how to get them all clean again and where I would get the motivation to do such a big job. Furniture would need to be moved and everything hanging on the walls had to be taken down so the entire wall could be scrubbed. Otherwise you would see the contrast between what had been cleaned and what hadn’t.

As I assessed the overall job, it wasn’t something I wanted to tackle. I didn’t have enough time on any given day to stop and do it all. My online business combined with all of my other responsibilities kept me too busy. If the only way to do a project like this was to do it all at once, it would never get done. Instead of cleaning every wall in the same day, I decided that if I just did one wall as I had the time, I could eventually clean all of the walls in the house. 

Time Management: The Concept of Chunking

Breaking down a project into smaller, more manageable tasks is a concept known as “chunking.” The origins of chunking trace back to the work of psychologist George A. Miller in the 1950s. He developed the idea as a way to break down a mass of information into smaller, more manageable units or “chunks,” making it easier for an individual to process and remember. 

Miller wrote a paper titled “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information.” Published in 1956 his theory proposed that the human working memory has a limited capacity, typically able to hold about seven items at a time. However, by organizing information into chunks, this capacity can be effectively expanded. For example, a long string of numbers can be remembered more easily when grouped into chunks, such as a phone number divided into area code, middle three digits, and last four digits.

I use chunking almost every day of my life. I have a long list of projects that all need attention. I never have enough time to commit to any one of these projects long enough to see it through to completion. So I work on each for a short amount of time as I have the opportunity. As a result, I’m always completing large projects that I never would have taken on if I had to do it all at once. 

Using Chunking to Break up Menial, Boring Jobs

I’ve been running one of my current businesses for 5 years now. We have a team of appointment setters that call our leads throughout the day to set appointments for loan officers. It’s a simple job that doesn’t require a great deal of skill. When we started, we only had 1 appointment setter that would call for a full 8 hour shift. We quickly ran into a problem though. The first appointment setter quit after less than a month. The second only lasted about a week. Each time I hired a new appointment setter, I had to train them. It was a process that took hours of my time. Having a high turn around with this appointment setting position ended up requiring more of my time. 

Today, my team of appointment setters only works a few hours at a time. We figured out that if we hired multiple team members and allowed them to break up the menial task of calling leads and setting appointments, our employees wouldn’t burn out so quickly. In fact, some of the people we originally hired, using this idea of chunking, are still with us after several years. 

The difference in approaches is clear: they understand that the job is repetitive and boring. However, if it pays well and they only have to do it for an hour or two at a time, they can manage it mentally. In contrast, the prospect of calling our leads for a solid 8 hours was just too overwhelming for even the most motivated phone caller. So, this concept of chunking has helped me manage my team of appointment setters, a position that is so critical to the success of the whole company.

Use Chunking to Start an Online Business

If you knew you could change your financial future by starting a new business in the digital marketing industry, would you take the leap? The allure of this field is not just in its potential for profitability, but also in the flexibility and autonomy it offers. Imagine being your own boss, setting your own schedule to fit your lifestyle. This is not a far-fetched dream in the world of digital marketing. New technology and ever growing social media platforms structure the industry in such a way that it allows entrepreneurs to work remotely, breaking free from the traditional 9-to-5 office routine. This means you can run your business from anywhere in the world, whether traveling the country in a personal RV or from the comfort of your home.

The efficiency of digital marketing businesses is another key advantage. Once your business is up and running, it typically requires only a few hours each day to maintain and manage. This efficiency gives you more time to focus on scaling your business or enjoying personal pursuits. Financially, the rewards can be significant. On average, successful freelance digital marketers earn around $14,000 per month. This impressive figure highlights the lucrative nature of the industry. With the right strategies and a bit of hard work, your digital marketing business could not only provide a stable income but also the potential for substantial growth. This combination of flexibility, remote work capability, manageable time investment, and high earning potential makes starting a business in digital marketing an enticing opportunity for those looking to transform their financial future.

The journey of starting a business in digital marketing, while promising, is not without its challenges, particularly when it comes to time management. In fact, time is the leading factor preventing most would-be entrepreneurs from recognizing the hopes and dreams of running their own business. For many aspiring entrepreneurs, finding the time to initiate and nurture a new business can be overwhelming. This is especially true for those who are already juggling full-time jobs, family responsibilities, or other commitments. Does this sound like you? The initial phase of setting up any business is often the most time-consuming, involving tasks like market research, developing a business plan, building a client base, and creating the right digital presence. These foundational steps are crucial for long-term success but can require a significant investment of time and effort. 

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Yet, many husbands and fathers continue down this path by working a 9-5 job to pay bills, provide for their family, and make ends meet. They hope to one day get ahead, but life always feels like swimming against a strong current that pushes them back any time they stop to take a breath. Inflation, unforeseen expenses, personal injuries or accidents are part of life and represent that strong current that is working against all of us.

Is there really a way to get out of the proverbial rat race and head in a new direction? The solution is through this concept of chunking. A successful digital marketing business can be accomplished through breaking it all up into manageable steps. Marketing tasks can be divided into small actionable tasks. Each task doesn’t take a great deal of time. With some careful, but intentional planning, it is absolutely possible to start your own online business and change your financial future. 

Years ago, before social media was invented, I was a young father working a 9 to 5 for a service company. I drove from job to job fixing large printers for various businesses throughout my area. It was a skilled job that had required specific training. I had been led to believe that meant I had “Job Security” because not just anyone could do it.  As I pursued this career, I evaluated the lifestyles of my co-workers, especially the tenured employees. These were guys much older than me. Years ago, they had bought into the idea that they could work a skilled job and somehow “Get Ahead.” Not a single one of them had been able to. They drove a nicer car than me and had nicer homes, but everything was financed. They were able to take days off and go on cool trips on occasion, but most of the time they had to carefully plan it around the demands of our employer. These guys also still owed money on everything they supposedly owned. If it was possible to get ahead working this type of job, why had none of my co-workers been able to do it. An accident or injury could potentially force them to forfeit anything they thought they had. 

I discussed this with my wife. We decided that I either needed to give college another try(I had dropped out) or I should look into the option of starting my own business. We weighed our options and made a list of pros and cons for each:

Pros of Financing and Attending College

1. compared to those with only a high school diploma. However, this typically only applies to working for an employer. This can lead to better financial stability and opportunities in the long run.
2. Career Opportunities: A college degree can open doors to various career paths that are not accessible to those without higher education. It can also lead to more advancement opportunities within a career. Again, this pertains to working for a company or employer.
3. Skill Development: College provides an environment to develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and specialized skills that are valuable in the workforce.
4. Networking Opportunities: College can be a great place to build a network of professional contacts, including professors, mentors, and peers, which can be beneficial for future job searches and career advancement.

Cons of Financing and Attending College

1. High Cost and Debt: College can be extremely expensive, leading to significant student loan debt that some graduates spend their entire lives paying off.
2. No Guarantee of Success: A college degree does not guarantee a job or a successful career. The job market can be competitive, and not all fields value a college degree equally. I had friends that financed a college degree only to flounder in the job market and ultimately start a career they could have done without a degree.
3. Opportunity Cost: Time spent in college is time not spent in the workforce, which could mean lost earnings and work experience.
4. Stress and Pressure: The academic and social pressures of college can be overwhelming for a newer husband and father providing for a family.
5. Rapidly Changing Job Market: With the fast pace of technological change, some degrees may become outdated quickly, or the skills learned might not match up with future job market needs. As mentioned before, I had seen this happen with close friends of mine.
6. My wife and I had both decided that she would be a stay at home mom. We both felt that our relationships with and the future success of our children would best be served by her staying home and raising them. So she wouldn’t be able to support me financially while I attended school.

Pros of Starting an Online Business

1. Lower Startup Costs: Compared to a brick-and-mortar store, an online business often requires less capital to start. You don’t need a physical storefront, which saves on rent, utilities, and insurance.
2. Global Market Access: An online business can reach customers worldwide, not just those in your local area. This expands your potential customer base significantly.
3. Operational Flexibility: You can operate an online business from anywhere with an internet connection. This flexibility allows for a better work-life balance and can reduce commuting and office costs.
4. Scalability: Online businesses can be more easily scaled. You can increase your product range and target audience with fewer geographical and logistical constraints.
5. Data Collection and Personalization: E-commerce platforms allow for the collection of detailed customer data, which can be used to personalize shopping experiences and improve marketing strategies.
6. Open 24/7: Your online store can operate around the clock, allowing customers to shop at their convenience.

Cons of Starting an Online Business

1. High Competition: The online marketplace is crowded, and standing out can be challenging. I’ll need a strong unique selling proposition and marketing strategy.

2. Shipping and Logistics: Managing inventory, packaging, and shipping can be complex, especially as your business grows. You also have to handle returns and exchanges.
3. Customer Trust and Security: Building trust online can be harder without face-to-face interaction. Ensuring data security and protecting against fraud is also crucial.
4. Dependence on Internet Visibility: An online business’s success heavily relies on being visible online through SEO, social media, and other digital marketing strategies.

After weighing these factors, my wife and I decided I would have the least risk and highest chance for reward by starting my own online business. With starting an online business, I could use this idea of chunking to work on building the business when I had the time. Then, as my business grew, eventually I could step away from the full time job and replace it permanently with my online business. 

Chunking Worked! I Did More By Doing Less

Almost 25 years later, I’m happy to say that my plan worked! It actually worked better than I could have imagined. Early on, it did require a great deal of hard work and sacrifice, but it was all spread out in a timetable that I could manage. My wife would often lament that she only gets to see the back of my head after work as I sit at the computer working on my business. But, the efforts all paid off! I’ll save this for another post, but one key to success was that I found a marketing course that taught me everything I needed to know about getting my website ranking in the organic search results. That was before social media existed. Today, it’s possible to grow and scale so much faster with all of the available tools and ways to drive traffic. 

As my online business grew, I reached a point where I could finally quit my full time job. As I was discussing my decision with one of my good friends and co-workers, he said: “Good for you! I’m in my mid 40’s and I have nothing to show for my years of working here. I started with a big mortgage and I still have a big mortgage. We’ve had to refinance a few times over the years to pull out equity and pay off bills. I wish I would have taken a different path sooner.” I’ve lost touch with that friend over the years as our paths went different directions. Reflecting on what he said, I can compare where I’m at now that I’m nearly the same age he was. 

I’m completely debt free! I’ve been able to pay my house off. I actually did it in just 7 years, saving hundreds of thousands in interest that I would have paid with a 30 year loan. I’ve been able to start other successful online businesses that have all helped me put plenty of money away for retirement. I’ve helped friends and family members start their own successful online businesses. 

I did all of this through this simple concept of chunking. If I wasn’t able to break things down into smaller tasks that I could work on in my spare time on a daily basis, I would have been too intimidated to move forward. As I stated in the title, you can actually accomplish more by doing less. Less at one time that is. If you try to take on too much at once, you’re probably not going to follow through to the end and finish it. In that case, you’re left with nothing, right? So what would you rather have? Nothing, because it was too overwhelming,  or something life changing that you broke up into manageable pieces and accomplished over time? 

Let me know your thoughts on this article. Is this a new idea for you? Is it something you’re going to start working on? 

If you’re interested in starting your own online marketing business, but don’t know where to start, I’m happy to point you in the right direction. You need a legitimate course or a mentor. You need help and advice from someone that already has the formula for success figured out. Marketing methods are constantly changing. You need a program that is always updated with the latest information on what works and what doesn’t. My friend Dave has one of the most comprehensive training courses available. I bought it just to freshen up my skills and I was blown away with everything I learned and the resources he has available, including one on one mentoring and training. His course can get you started making money in as little as 15 days, depending on how much time you have to learn the high end skills he teaches you in this course.