The Side Hustler's Guide to Time Management: Part II

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase using one of the links in this post, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, Thanks for your support!If you missed Part I, make sure you go back and complete your time inventory, so you can follow along!Now that you’ve completed Part I, you should have a pretty good idea of how many flexible hours you have in the day.  I’ve seen this go one of three ways:Case Study 1: Side Hustler ExtraordinaireThe side hustler with a day job has exactly 87 minutes to dedicate to her side hustle each day.  And she must fit all activities related to the project she is passionate about in those 87 minutes lest she risk damaging her bill-paying day job, relationship, time with kids, social time, mental or physical health, sleep etc.Case Study 2: #MomBossThe stay at home mom has all day to do #allthethings, BUT also has 3 kids under 5 to manage, entertain, feed, and referee all day long.  Said kids are often intent on destroying the house she is committed to keeping clean and may or may not scream as soon as she opens her computer.  She has (very tired) evenings to work on her passion project and maybe a naptime/quiet time each day she can (usually) count on.Case Study 3: Full Time Creative – More Time, More ProblemsThe full-time blogger/entrepreneur has wide open days and a mile long to do list.  There are sponsored posts to write, posts on her heart with no sponsor at all, DIY projects that always take longer when you have to photograph each step, Instagram stories to do even when you’re sitting in your PJs, pictures to edit, copy to write and edit, and SO. MANY. EMAILS.  Plus, she’s supposed to laze around on social media commenting, posting, responding, and reposting basically 24/7.  And breaks? They don’t come without guilt.  No work-y = no money, and your girl’s got bills to pay.Luckily, there IS a way to make your side hustle work, regardless which category you fall into – even if it’s another one altogether!  The key is to set yourself up with planned, reasonable, and actionable expectations.  Which brings me to Part II of this series: Recurring Tasks!  Today, we’re going to take a look at that list you made at the end of Part I – the things you need to do regularly but aren’t necessarily appointments.[convertkit form=5137808]For instance, each week, I need to do the following things for my blog:

• Write a minimum of 2 blog posts, preferably 3
• Create graphics to accompany blog posts and social media posts
• Brainstorm new blog posts
• Schedule my social media posts (when I can’t post during the day)
• Work on client’s individual calendars and schedule virtual meetings

I also need to answer my blog email and social media DMs on the daily and keep track of my blog traffic.  In an ideal world, I’d also do the following things:

• Deep dive on blog traffic to look for trends and key messages that resonated with my readers
• Review my affiliate statistics and look for new opportunities
• Develop my content calendar at least two months in advance
• Connect with like-minded entrepreneurs

These are all things that I want to do, even need to do, but they can happen any time I have a spare 30 minutes or so.  Which means they happen never.  Or they happen when I should be doing something else.  I have to schedule these recurring tasks if I want to make them a priority.So, using the example schedule I sent you in Part I, (if you didn’t get it, you can drop your email below, and I’ll email it straight to you!) I need to add in time for some of these things.  Perhaps I’ll reserve one of my free evenings to do my blog traffic deep dive instead of writing posts.  Even though I love writing, and that’s always my go-to activity for blog work, I know that I need to plan strategically by staying in the know with what my readers want to see.  So, on Wednesdays, instead of writing, I’ll review my stats, and maybe I’ll use the rest of that time to plan ahead on my content calendar as well.  Additionally, I’ll schedule some time on Sundays to make connections with other bloggers and creatives.Now your turn!  Go through the list you made, or make a new one, comprised of recurring DAILY, WEEKLY, and MONTHLY tasks.  If those things have times associated with them, add them to your Time Inventory.  If they don’t, write next to each task about how much time it takes and leave them on the list.  We’ll tackle those things in Part III![convertkit form=5137808]