Small Business Strategies: Get more hours in your day

— -- I've got the perfect holiday gift for every entrepreneur or small- business person on your list: more hours in the day. It's what all of us want. C'mon, it's what you want. And I'm going to show you how to get them.

Don't think I can give you more hours? Think I'm going to say "wake two hours earlier, go to bed one hour later?" Hey, you're a small-business owner, you already get up early, stay up late. And you've got family and friends, and taking care of your own healthy body, to tend to, as well.

So I can't give you more hours on a clock, but I can help you pack more productivity in the hours you have. And that's like finding time.

Just follow these nine steps to get more out of your day and be more productive in your small business:

1. Make a list. Yes, I know this sounds trite. But putting together a list at the beginning of the day forces you to identify what you need to accomplish. Keep that list where you can see it throughout the day.

2. Take things off that list. Nothing is more disheartening than to have 100 things on your list every day and never get through more than two or three. Things take longer than you expect. Be realistic.

3. Focus and reduce interruptions. In a small company, you have to manage many things. That makes it hard to finish any one thing. Find times when you'll stay on one task for an extended period of time. Yes, it is possible to turn off email, phone, texts, Facebook. You can even tell your assistant, if you have one, you're not to be interrupted for the next hour.

4. Have meetings. OMG! Didn't you start a business so you wouldn't have to go to boring meetings? Yes, but I'm not talking about deadly meetings when everyone just talks. In your meetings, actually work on a project, moving it toward completion. Need to get a big proposal out to a prospective customer? Get everyone together and hammer it out. Even if you're sitting in the same room, side by side, with one person working on pricing, and another on the PowerPoint, you actually get it done.

5. Complete stuff. Want to feel like you've accomplished something? Then finish it. I could have written three more books with all the half-written columns I've started. It's energizing to check items off your to-do list. That's why many entrepreneurs put things on their to-do list that they've already finished. Yes, they really do! Because completing something gives you energy to keep moving forward.

6. Identify what's "urgent" and what's "important." Most things on your to-do list are time-sensitive: email, customer requests or complaints, getting payroll out. These things are pressing, and you absolutely must do them. But they're not the really big things that grow your business substantially: such as developing a news sales channel, putting together a major marketing campaign, setting up new business processes. Put some of the "important" but not "urgent" issues on your to-do list and start addressing them.

7. Delegate. OK, here's something most small-business owners won't admit: They don't really have to do everything themselves. Yes, I know you think you can. And that you'll do it better than anyone else. But you just don't have the time. Develop and train people to be able to do some of your tasks.