Productivity Hack for Small Business Owners with a Long To-Do List

How overwhelmed are you feeling in your business right now? Is your to-do list a mile long? Filled with parenting duties, work duties, and just life things that need to take priority? Then may I suggest a fun productivity hack for small business owners that I discovered a few years ago – carving out time to get ahead.

The first working weekend I took for myself was in late 2019. I was in the middle of growing and launching my online presence and I needed some dedicated time for BIG projects. I didn’t want the distractions of home. And quite frankly, I didn’t want mom guilt either. 

You know that guilt that creeps over us when our kids see us working from home. Yea, that. 

female photographer and small business owner sitting at a desk ready to be productive
Productivity Hack for Small Business Owners with a Long To-Do List 3

That first weekend I was astonished with how much I could get done in a 2-day sprint and, from that point on, I was hooked and promised myself that I would carve out the time at least once a year. 

Now, I like to check myself into a nearby hotel, but you can also accomplish carving out time by kicking your family out on an outing or booking some time at the local library or co-working space. That way you can still be home for dinner and bedtime – find what works for you and your family so you’ll be able to plow through tasks without worrying about other things.

A few weeks ago was my annual planning/working weekend and I checked myself into a hotel 2 miles from my house and Holy Cow, I am on FIRE for 2024. Just look at the list of what I did over the weekend:

  • Watched 4 training videos from my coach
  • Planned out 3 new freebies
  • Planned 3 new offers
  • Worked out 💪 
  • Meditated
  • Scheduled ALL of my 2024 launches 😱
  • Drafted MONTHS of content ideas
  • Voxered with my business bestie (👋 Colie James)
  • Read my book
  • Organized my calendar 📅 
  • Walked to Starbucks twice
  • Started using a new planning platform for content (👋Asana)
  • Sent my VA some new projects
  • Took lots and LOTS of notes
  • Reached out to a web designer, copywriter and graphic designer for future support on projects
  • Got overwhelmed (then cycled out of it and carried on)🔥
  • Started building landing pages for new stuff
  • Started writing email sequences for that new stuff
  • And wrote this blog post 😉 

It sounds like a lot, right? And honestly it is.

That’s the beauty of a working weekend. 

If you have never given yourself this time away before, I cannot recommend it enough. Your productivity will sky rocket. Your vision will be more clear. Which in turn gives you a solid jump start on crushing your goals.

To hear more about this productivity hack, check out the podcast interview I did with my biz bestie, Colie James. You can listen to that episode here.  And then, let me know below when you’re planning on scheduling a working weekend for you and your business?

photographer and business coach shares favorite productivity hack for small business owners
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