Many entrepreneurs start new businesses while also balancing full-time jobs. When there's limited time to work on developing a new company, you need to pick and choose what tasks to focus on first. Here, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members each share one task that should take priority over all others when you have limited time to work on your startup.
When you're only able to work on your business or side hustle part-time, what's one task that should take priority when you have limited time?
1. Building an online presence
One of the best areas to focus your efforts on when you have little time to spend on your side hustle is producing content and building an online presence. Blogs, videos, and social media posts are a great way to show people what you’re all about, even if you don’t have anything for them to buy yet. It lets you connect with people and reveal what drives you—your vision. Building a loyal audience will get your business off to a strong start. —Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker
2. Prioritizing content creation
Since you have limited time, use it to create content. Content is king. It helps you climb the search engine rankings over time and gain traction on the respective queries that represent your niche or target audience. Content helps your business grow, and helps you gain the trust of your audience and build brand authority. —Jared Atchison, WPForms
3. Increasing audience engagement
One task you should focus on every day is improving audience engagement. You could spend hours building a website and convincing users to join your email list, but none of your work will amount to new sales if you don't consistently engage with subscribers and build rapport. When I was pressed for time in the early days, I'd spend a little time each day working on an email series or blog post. —Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights
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4. Prioritizing new sales
Don't get inundated with administrative duties. Instead, work to aggressively increase your revenues so that you have more budget and cash flow to start hiring staff. This can help you scale, especially if you aren't able to transition into a full-time role with your own business. —Firas Kittaneh, Amerisleep Mattress
5. Focusing on tasks that will have the biggest impact
There are a lot of important tasks that you need to do when running a side business, but some tasks are more important than others. If you only have limited time, then you should prioritize tasks that will have the biggest impact. Some of these include marketing, doing research, and developing new products or services. By focusing on these tasks, you can help ensure that the business is successful. —Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
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6. Providing great customer support
When you run a business, remember that keeping your customers happy should be your top priority. So if you have limited time to work on the overall business each day, you need to focus on improving your customer support. Focus on making your customers' experience with your business a solid one. —Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
7. Improving the quality of your products
The quality of your products and services can make or break your business. If people love them, they will definitely come back to you, so work on improving them. —Josh Kohlbach, Wholesale Suite
8. Building strong partnerships
Building partnerships is one of the most important tasks you can focus on when you can only work on your business part-time. Strong relationships with other businesses and influencers in your industry can help you reach a wider audience, access new resources, and generally make your business more successful. Plus, it's helpful to have a supportive network to rely on when things get tough. —Sujay Pawar, CartFlows
9. Developing a schedule
One task that should take priority when you're working on your business part-time is creating and maintaining a schedule. This schedule should detail what you will work on each day and how much time you will spend on it. A schedule will help you make the most of your limited time and help you progress on your business goals. It also can help to keep you accountable to work on your business. —Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
