Timesheets are a digitised record of your life at work. Your own human memory simply isn’t up to it. Timesheets are your online memory booster.

1. Plan out your day

Before you sift through your hundreds of new emails, voice messages and start on that task you've been putting off all week, grab your morning coffee and set out a schedule for your day. Seems simple enough but this is the number one rule to increase productivity. 

Set a timer for each of the tasks and layout when you're going to get each task done by. e.g.

 

8.30-8.45am - Plan day

8.45-9.45 - Reply to emails, phone call, chase up supplies

9-45-10.30 - Go over blueprints for the Jones' job

10.30-10.45 - Morning break

 

Regardless of what kind of clients your business has, providing an excellent client experience is paramount. It's what differentiates your business and is part of your competitive advantage. Dealing with difficult clients is never easy, but they will inevitably crop up at some point and it's important know how to deal with them in a professional way, so that in the end, you can turn a negative experience into a positive one. How do you handle a client who is dissatisfied, angry, impatient, intimidating, demanding or frustrated? Here are our top tips.

You are an expert in your industry, respected by your peers and appreciated by your clients. Large projects are successful due in significant part to the contribution of you and your team. Do you feel the same confidence when it comes to managing the people you engage with on a day to day basis?

There used to be a TV ad with a pumpkin farmer leaning on his Ute talking with his business advisor. Picture the farmer in scruffy clothes and dirty boots, and the advisor dressed up in a smart suit. The farmer says, “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. It costs me $1 to grow each of these pumpkins. I take them to market in the Ute and sell them for $1 each. Even though there’s no middle-man, I just don’t seem to be making any money.”

The advisor ponders. Eventually he comes up with a suggestion. “Maybe you need a bigger Ute.”

We’re more than halfway through 2018 and people still are using Excel timesheets!

These are the same people that get excited about driverless cars, being able to order your dinner from your smartphone or even having robots vacuum their house. The companies that give you these products are guaranteed not to record their precious information in something as simple as Excel, and neither should you.

Here are the signs it’s time to replace your Excel timesheets: