If you are a small business owner, you probably have a lot on your mind: you have to negotiate contracts, deal with clients, and assure that the quality of the work is good. You also have to work out different strategies, organize events, and find new products. You work tedious, 7-day weeks, hoping that you succeed keeping your business floating.

As a business owner, you also know that you can be successful only if your business is more productive and more creative than others. So you have to find time to think about your business as a whole, to have a pig picture of where are you heading.

However, because you feel completely overwhelmed by the daily routine, you don't have the time and energy to take your business to the next level. All this can be changed with good prioritizing and the delegation of some responsibilities. So how can you move your business forward with smart prioritizing.

Break your to do-list into two

The first list should be about the things that are urgent, such as solving a client complaint, paying the bills and dealing with the problem you have with one of your worker. The second list should contain the issues that are important for your business: for example, testing a new product, or working on a new marketing strategy.

Your main goal is to be able to work with both of these lists on a daily basis. So you have to manage your time in a way that you can cross some of your urgent tasks, and do some of the things that are really important for the future of your business.

Make time for your “important” list

Most business owners start the day by working on the “urgent” list, and until they finish, the day is over. The successful businessmen always carve out blocks of time for their “important” to do list. So let everyone know that you don't want to be disturbed with anything for a few hours every day.

Most people find they are most creative during the first hours in the morning, so you might want to try that. If you decide to do so, it is very important to start working on your “important” list the first thing in the morning, before you check your e-mails, or answer phones. These can easily pull your thoughts back to your “urgent” list. 

Group the same things together 

If your responsibilities include some routine tasks such as writing invoices, paying bills or doing financial statements, you can try to do designate certain days of the week or the month to do them. For example you can do invoices on Friday afternoon, and you can pay your bills the first Monday of every month. You will find that by grouping similar tasks you can finish them much more quickly. 

Delegate routine tasks

Who said you have to do everything? If a task doesn't involve any sensitive information and only routine decisions are made, you can ask a colleague to do it. After all, it is best if the business owner focuses more on the “important” list and less on the routine things. It is good to ask yourself from time to time “is this something only I can do?” If the answer is no, delegate the task immediately.

Focus on the things you can change

In business there are things that you can change, and there are things you can't. You can change your strategy, you can get your products better and you can motivate your co-workers. But you can't change the slow economy, or there is nothing you can do if one of your competitors gets praised in the media. It is always better to concentrate your efforts on the things that are in your power instead being frustrated because of things that are out of your reach.