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Revolve Nation Meetup Recap: October 10, 2012

Time & Project Management and Skill Diversity

The Revolve Nation Boston Entrepreneurs Meetup is the largest community of entrepreneurs and small business owners in the city of Boston, offering networking, discussion groups, seminars, business plan hot-seats, and more. We meet every two weeks on Wednesday nights to network, socialize, learn, and promote a thriving community of entrepreneurs.

Here’s a summary of our most recent discussion topics.

1. How do you budget time?

Entrepreneurs and especially solos must do it all: plan, execute, build new business, keep old business, network, volunteer, and still have a life! How can someone in that position ensure each gets the attention it deserves?

Suggestions ran the whole gamut.

Some, especially those in technical fields, use project planning software that enables them to assign tasks and project completion time, which allows them to allocate the remaining time according to their current needs.

Another solo offered her method of blocking chunks of time for certain tasks on certain days. For example, new client development on Monday, and operational improvements on Tuesday, etc.

Others had drastically different perspectives. One attendee recommended the book Critical Chain as an example of how completing a large project goes better if you start with the easy parts first. The mind subconsciously solves the harder problems while you productively procrastinate.

Another member suggested simply blocking 2-4 hours each day to work in total seclusion from interruption. Or to generate a to do list, but then apply the 80/20 rule to pare it down to only the items with the highest impact.

2. What’s the best way to juggle the many areas of expertise a solo must master on a day to day basis?

Surprisingly, networking tends to be a strong return on investment here because, while it won’t solve most special problems in and of itself, the connections that develop once your friends and professional acquaintances know what you do are rewarding. Often you can close a significant knowledge gap just by chatting over a coffee with an expert friend.

Some attendees shared their experiences with mastermind groups; a kind of personal, mutual board of directors where members can share important issues on a regular basis.

If you want to hear more or throw in your two cents, join us at Meetup!

You can contact the author here, and follow @revolvethis and @gerritbetz on Twitter.