One issue I’ve had since going fulltime with IM is with efficiency. Seems like sense I now have more time to work on my Internet Business, I’m not as effective as I was when I had less time since I had to spend 70 hours a week at my day job. This is very strange, but it is a problem. Perhaps the reason is I’m not under the gun as much and so I’m not as focused.
I’m sure this is a problem that a lot of people have. In fact I know it is since I see it on forums all the time. I’ve been working on methods to keep myself on track and ensure I spend my time effectively and I thought I would share them with you.
The first thing is actually going to work. I no longer sit around in the bedroom slippers and work on the laptop from the sofa. Instead I get up and actually get dressed. I’m even getting dressed in work clothes just as if I was going out of the house to an office environment. This includes shoes, but it does not include a tie. Just can’t make myself do that again. 
Another couple of things I’ve done is to create recurring task lists which I must accomplish every day before a certain time. This is very easy to do with Outlook and it has really helped my focus.
Of course even thought I have my tasks setup, there is always more to do than I really have time, so I’ve been working on efficiency too. One of the most time consuming tasks in my business is writing content. I do outsource some of it, but even if you get the cheapest writer around who still produces legible content you are creating an expense for your business, so I try to do as much of this as possible as it directly affects my bottom line.
One thing I did was to buy another monitor for by desktop computer. This additional monitor allows me to have my research up on one screen and write on the other one. This allows me to work a lot faster since I don’t have to switch back and forth between applications. This may not seem like much, but I’ve found that I’ve almost doubled my efficiency since making this change.
Another item is to really start using Dragon Naturally Speaking. For a long time this software would not work for me and my Southern English, but since version 10 it is very easy for me to train the software to my voice. Nuance claims the software can improve your output three times and I believe them. I have not ran controlled tests of this, but it does help quite a lot.
So do you have any tips for improving efficiency when working on your IM business, if so I would love to hear them.
