I turned to Laura and blurted, “It’s Administrivia.”

 “You can say that again,” she sneered, “It’s admin and it’s
trivia and I agree we should not even deal with it!”

  That’s when I threw my hands up and told her, “Hold on. Just
because it doesn’t produce revenue directly you can’t just walk away from it.
You’re always complaining about not having enough time to get things done. Part
of the reason is that you don’t manage the administrivia and more importantly
you have no idea of how you’re spending your time.

“What?” She questioned.

“You’re a consultant,” I continued. “Basically you bill
people for the time you spend working on their problems. No. Don’t tell me you’re
on retainer. I know that. The question is, are you earning it and more
importantly, are you spending your time profitably?

If you don’t monitor your time you don’t have a clue about
how much you’re wasting. And when you have employees it gets worse.

Are you willing to try something?

Download a form from my consulting website and fill it in as
you go through your day. All you have to do is enter the activity or client
name, the hours you were doing it (in quarter-hour increments) and note the
totals by type at the end of the day.

I combine this data gathering with my paper calendar which I
print out each Sunday for the following week and have for over 20 years.

This form was put together because so many of my clients and
prospects have asked me for a recommendation for time keeping software. This
simple paper form used for a month will establish the habit for you and the
habit of keeping track of your time is more important than any software.”

“Yeah, but what about the administrivia?” Laura asked.

I told her, “It will never go away but now you will know
when you have too much of it. Try the time keeper worksheet for a month. It can change your life.

Consider, too, using Contact Management Software linked to email marketing to simplify the process of going from contacts to contracts.

Learn more about Jerry Fletcher:

Speaking: www.NetworkingNinja.com

Consulting: www.JerryFletcher.com