Mark J. Kohler, a CPA and attorney, shares his "battle plan" for entrepreneurs: write three to four revenue-driving tasks on a Post-it each evening, then complete them first thing the next morning before checking email. He says 20% of effort generates 80% of income, and daily distractions prevent that high-value work from getting done.
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Hey, all you entrepreneurs wanted to record a little video on the go here and talk about the battle plan. Now, as an entrepreneur, as a small business owner myself, for years, my whole life, it is so hard to get everything done in the day. And sometimes you get into emails and voicemails and texts and the problems of the day, and then at the end of the day, you really don't feel like you accomplished anything that really matters in your business that's going to help create value and cash flow. What's the old 80, 20 rule, right? We spend 20% of our time creating 80% of our income. Now, there's some necessary to do items, I get it. But I wanted to talk about what I call the battle plan. My partners and I Learned this probably 10 years ago, and I'm trying to be religious at it. I'm not great, but most of the time I do this. And here's the battle plan. The night. At the night time, when you finish up your work, maybe it's when you leave the office, 5, 6, 7, 8, whatever, or late night, you return your last email as an entrepreneur, you know what I'm saying, right? But at the end of the day, when you're done and you're finally breathing, maybe getting to that little Netflix binge that you're watching, take a post it out and write down the three or four. No more than five, sometimes it's just three. Write down those three or four things that are absolutely critical that you know you've got to get done tomorrow. And that's when you have the clarity, right? You're like, oh, I didn't get to it today. I have got to do those things tomorrow, whatever they are, put them on a post it, put it on your bag, your computer screen, your phone, whatever it is. And then tomorrow morning, do those three or four things before you return any emails, before you get sucked into social media, get into texting, whatever it is, get those three or four things finished, and then get into the normal work of the day. Those three or four things are typically going to be the items, right, that create the most value, create the most income. They're those important phone calls you know, you got to make or important emails or important tasks. I mean, they can be a phone call or email, but they're the three or four most important things you've got to get done. That's the daily battle plan. And again, as small business owners, we know what those are. And we get into the office and we start getting sucked into all the problems. And we don't get them done. And then all of a sudden you we're stuck. And three or four days go on and we've got problems because we didn't get those three or four most important things done. I don't care if it's one or two. But think long term. Think value, think revenue, think making my business better. And what are those three or four things that aren't going to take all day, but are going to help you be better in your business, Better as a business owner. So there you go. That's my daily battle plan that I try to use, and I recommend you do the same. Put it on a postit, tackle it first thing. You're going to be better off as an entrepreneur. It's going to help you succeed. Good luck.
