Your ability to get more stuff done is critical when trying to grow your funeral home business. Watch the following video to learn my five tips for increasing your productivity and getting more stuff done.
For those of you who prefer to read, an AI-generated transcript is below the video.
Are you the type of person who really enjoys getting things done, checking things off that list, and moving on to the next priority?
Or, are you the type of person that your to-do list keeps getting longer and longer because nothing ever gets done?
If you want to be a Funeral Business Builder and take your business to the next level, you have to take your productivity to the next level. You’ve gotta be able to get more things done.
You might have heard of the concept of working in your business versus working on your business. That’s from a book called, The E-Myth by Michael Gerber from many years ago.
When you’re working in your business as a funeral homeowner, you’re meeting with families, you’re maybe working on your facility, maybe making sure the services are gonna work perfectly.
And when you are working on your business, you’re working on your marketing, you’re working on your messaging. You’re looking at maybe some acquisitions. You’re working on how you are gonna grow your business.
I’ve found over the years that most owners are extremely productive when they’re working in their business but not so productive when working on their business.
Here are five tips to help you be more productive when it’s time to work on your business, not just in your business.
Tip number one, start your day with a prioritized list of your primary tasks. What are the primary things you need to do today to grow your business?
It might be things like working on your marketing message or your mission statement or hiring a new funeral director. These are not small tasks; they’re tasks that you’re gonna need to block out some time for.
You’re going to reserve some time to get some of this stuff done. And I would typically only have one to three primary tasks a day.
Then you can have a secondary list of tasks. That’s got everything else you need to do, but pick out the one to three things you have to get done today and start every day by looking at that list and saying “today, I’m gonna get that sucker done.”
Number two, maximize your power hours.
Everybody has a time of the day when they’re the most productive for most people it’s early in the morning. What’s the primary task that you need to get done? Do that first.
But you’ve also gotta look at it and ask yourself, what’s my best time of the day for different things?
What I find personally, first thing in the morning, the analytical side of my brain kicks in and if I need to research something, if I need to understand some technology, if I need to really look at a customer’s competitive situation and really analyze it, first thing in the morning is when I do that task.
My collaborative work with my clients tends to be from about mid-morning through late afternoon. That’s when I’m more collaborative.
But if I need to write something like working on some, a piece of writing for a client that is from 4:00 PM on those are my writing hours. I can write twice as fast at the end of the day as I can in the morning. That’s just how my brain works.
You’ve got to understand what are your power hours and take those prioritized tasks, put ’em right into those power hours.
Tip number three, you’ve got to learn how to say no to distractions.
We live in a very distracted world. Getting interruptions all day like vendors calling you offering new services.
And in many cases the solution is to turn your phone off when it’s time to do that power hour. When you’re really going to work on your prioritized task, take that phone, shut it off, set it away somewhere and focus. It’s the only way you can get more stuff done.
Tip number four, block out your time. Take those prioritized tasks I talked about earlier. Make sure you’ve got one to two hours scheduled in your time today to get that done.
You’ve got to block out your time to manage it better and take advantage of it. When I’m working with my clients, one on one, we will always set a regularly scheduled appointment so that it’s there in our calendars. Whether it be once a month or once a week, whatever the frequency may be, we set a standard appointment so that we’ve blocked out that time so that we can be productive together.
Tip number five, when necessary, get a change of scenery.
If you’re sitting on that same prioritized task for too long, it’s been on your list for a few days, the solution may be to get out of the funeral home. A funeral home is a very interrupt-driven environment. That’s contrary to being able to be productive, working on your business.
You need quiet time. And in some cases, you might need isolation. That might mean going to find a quiet coffee shop to work in.
In one case, one of my clients has started going home for lunch every day. And then he spends roughly an hour working on his business. It’s funny. I’ll get emails from him. I know they’re all going to come at about 1 pm to 1:15 because that’s when he’s working on his business daily. Home for lunch, spend an hour working on the business and come back to the office.
You might need a change of scenery to get things done and to be really productive.
Those are your five tips. Start with a prioritized list every day, maximize your power hours, say no to distractions, block out your time, and then get a change of scenery when necessary. Do those five things and your productivity will go up.
If you want to grow your business. If you want to have the funeral home business of your dreams and get to the next level, you got to take your productivity to the next level too.