How valuable is your time? You've heard the ole saying, "time is money?" In this week's blog post, we are going to focus on effective time management. I mean let's face it, every time you turn around another social media channel is being created. When is enough; enough? Text message, voice messages, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram & Twitter. What ever happen to just having a website & email address? How does one keep up? How do you manage all of these channels effectively? Let's face it, you have a life too, right? Do you feel your anxiety starting to build? That's where this week's story begins. How to utilize technology to make better use of your time. Arrange, organize & prioritize! It wasn't long after I came into the auto sales industry, I learned my first sales word, a "lead". In today's world, over 90% of car buyers shop online. They browse popular websites, they enter their information (inquiry) and submit. As a professional salesman, my position is to then determine which are qualified to buy or a qualified lead. In a days time I effectively manage over 100 leads because they are all arranged, organized and prioritized. OK, so I'll leave the car sales for my day job. Let's begin, you wake up on a Saturday morning, you have Facebook messages, text messages you notice your inbox is full. How do you prioritize who you respond to first? How do you keep up? As mentioned, the first step is to arrange your contacts "leads". I mean, the majority of these messages are people wanting to hire you, right? If not, we'll cover that later down the road. How to prospect! OK, so here are a few suggestions. I recommend searching for task management apps or utilizing your existing calendar program, such as Google ICal, Outlook or the likes. There's plenty task management tools out there. In it's most simplest form, your smart phone probably has this capability such as daily reminders, calendar and contacts. I take it a little further. I used a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) application called Insightly. I'm currently using the free version which allows up to 3 users, 2000 records and 200mb of storage. Even with weekly activity I'm a ways from a paid subscription; though missing out on email campaign capabilities. Choose what's best for you. So, great! You've now learned how to arranged this wealth of information coming at you. It's time to organize. This leads us to the most effective time management tool there is. Now last yet not least, you need to arrange time to manage this. This is what I call administration day, as many of you reading this have seen on Facebook. Primarily this day is Monday's for me. I created a generic agenda and chose Monday. The first day of the week. See, given I'm involved in entertainment, I'm generally very busy towards the weekend. Mondays for me is my most productive day of the week. Great, what about my day? Maybe for you a Saturday works better or even a Wednesday, regardless of which day it is, the process will be the same. Alright Todd, great so what do I do next? So, in my day planner under notes, I've created an agenda that I follow every week. Here's a sample of how yours may look.
Of course you would create an agenda that is tailored to you. You may be more active in other social channels. This is a generic template that I use. Notice that finances is part of this? This may look similar to a content calendar though for me it's more of an agenda. I generally start out by opening multiple tabs from a desktop computer. Given I'm also involved with booking management, this is a guideline to keep on track with my goals. An uninterrupted morning is typically 2-3 hours. So, you've now received leads through out the week. You've learned how to organize them and even established a specific time weekly to focus. Now it's time to prioritize. For this, I'll let you decide which is priority to you as you may have offers that either include income or opportunities for exposure. Both have significant value! Remember, Time is Money! Stay tuned for more blog post each week, as I dive deeper into using Social Media more effective to network, prospect and get hired. Models featured: Faith Webster, Ashley Bush. Photography by Brian Wright Photography.
9 Comments
Star Roberts
6/22/2016 11:23:49 am
This is definitely an article worth the read, honey! Quite informative and insightful from start to finish! 😀😀😀
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Diane Gray
6/22/2016 02:23:59 pm
Insightful and informative, I learned a few new tricks in organizing my time. Thanks for sharing this with us! 😊
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6/29/2016 08:05:02 pm
Diane, Thank you! Social Media certainly get's overwhelming at times. Glad this post helped!
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Aurelia
6/22/2016 10:12:02 pm
I think that social media most certainly has its perks for the modeling and photography industries, as well as plenty of pitfalls. Your article definitely captures some great techniques that structure social media usage toward a personalized marketing advantage.
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6/29/2016 08:06:21 pm
Aurelia, I greatly appreciate your input. Check out today's post on hand & head positioning for models.
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6/24/2016 02:22:06 pm
Great insight! I'm gonna definitely try out the detailed written agenda idea. Thank you!
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6/29/2016 08:06:59 pm
Hannah, Thank you! You find great value in today's post!
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AuthorTodd Matherne Photography & Promotions. Archives
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