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Ever wish you had more time in a day? I get it! It’s no surprise if you think CEO must stand for “Chief Everything Officer” when you are running your own business. That’s why saving yourself time however and whenever you can becomes so important. Read on to learn how to save time with these productivity tips for busy entrepreneurs. They’ll give you some time back in your day, week, or month so you can find more joy in your life and business and avoid burnout. 

1. Email Templates

Does your audience reach out to you on social and by email time and again with the same questions? Chances are, you can write an email template. These work great for customer service emails and client onboarding. Email templates, sometimes called “canned emails,” can save you so much time. Gmail, in particular, makes it super easy to save templates and easily reuse them whenever you need them.

Another place you can use email templates in your business are places like your weekly newsletter or email sequences like welcome sequences, sales sequences, or templates for your project management software. Why start from scratch when you don’t have to? Of course, you’ll want to read through and give the template your own personality, but it’s a great shortcut to follow someone else’s outline.  I personally can’t live without templates and I am admittedly an email template hoarder! Some of my favorites include Dani Page’s Email Closer Templates and anything from Brittany Long including Welcome and Wow and Hidden Loot in Your Email Sequence.

2. Project Management Templates

I talk a lot about project management tools, like ClickUp, and for a good reason. They are the best way to organize your business, your projects, and your tasks. One of the best things about a project management system like ClickUp is creating templates for your most common or recurring projects.

Here are a couple of examples of when these templates really work:

  • Publish a new podcast episode every week? Make your subtasks into a template!
  • Regularly publish new blog posts? Create a template for your subtasks!


You can then even create an automation within ClickUp to attach that template.

Not to mention, almost every course or program I have purchased also has Trello templates, if you use Trello. If you need help deciding which project management tool is right for your business, you might want to watch my Build Your Biz HQ workshop which includes a Trello and ClickUp template to help get you started. 

Both software come with premade templates to help get you started or you can also purchase premade templates so you don’t even have to build from scratch. 

3. Batch Your Work

It’s actually not true that multitasking is efficient or effective. Studies have shown we are actually less productive when we try to do multiple things. Why? Because it takes us too long to redirect our minds after an interruption. So batching your work is one of my best productivity tips for busy entrepreneurs because you not only accomplish more in less time, but you also stay sane (and everyone wants that!). 

Move all of your tasks that involve the same client or system into one batch of time. Opening and closing different systems can make you break focus, whereas if you get them all done at once, it’ll save you tons of time. One of my favorite tips is to create separate Google profiles so you can just jump in. No need to up and close separate programs.  

4. Scheduling Meetings and Appointments

If you feel like your days are constantly broken up with meetings or appointments, try only allowing them to be scheduled on certain days, like only Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Another reason I like this as one of my favorite productivity tips for busy entrepreneurs is because I know if I have all my client calls scheduled on a particular day, this means I might plan to fix up my hair and makeup or wear something a little more dressy (in other words, no messy bun and sweatshirt that day). Same goes for batching videos like YouTube or Reels.  It helps to know what I might be doing on different days.

5. Automations

Pretty much anything that is recurring can (and should) be automated. One automation might save you a few seconds, but that number can grow quite a bit over time. Another advantage of automating versus doing tasks manually is that it reduces the number of things you need to remember to do on your own. In other words, it takes our mental energy to remember things (and task switch), like sending client contracts and invoices after a proposal is approved, or sending a welcome sequence after someone signs up for your freebie.

Zapier is a helpful tool and integrates with over 5,000 software and apps. How would you use this? Add new leads to your project management software, automatically save attachments from your emails, sync unsubscribes from your systems, and more. I love using Honeybook for automating my lead capture, proposals, contacts, and invoices. If you are looking for more productivity tools, you might want to read Get More Done: 12 Productivity Tools for Coaches and Entrepreneurs for more ideas.

6. Take Breaks Throughout the Day

Make sure you take breaks throughout the day, especially if you work from home on a computer. Set a timer to remind yourself to stretch your legs and take breaks. Sitting at a computer all day can take its toll, so you should also make sure you have a good ergonomic chair.

A Pomadoro app is a great extension you can add to your browser for free to set your work block for 20 ot 25 minutes and then a 5 minute break. Apple Watch or Fitbit are also set to alert you to be active every hour.  

7. Get Rid of Interruptions

If you get distracted easily, it’s time to minimize distractions. Close out any unneeded browser tabs (or hide them) and shut off your phone notifications. It’s incredible how much more productive you can be when you aren’t constantly distracted by your phone going off.

I talked about how effective it was when I added the RescueTime extension to my own browser in this blog. Newsfeed Eradicator is helpful when you are on social and using it for focused work (finding leads in groups, answering questions online, doing market research) and don’t want to get sucked into the scrolling rabbit hole. 

8. Figure Out When You Are Most Productive

Most people are more productive at a specific part of the day. You might be a morning person, or maybe you get your second burst of energy in the mid-afternoon. Don’t allow yourself to fall into the trap of thinking you have to be a member of the 5am club in order to be a successful entrepreneur. We all have our unique rhythms and our obligations that we work our businesses around (childcare, other employment, and so on). Knowing when you are most productive can help you tackle your biggest or most important tasks during that timeframe.

9. Hire Help

Outsourcing is the secret weapon when it comes to productivity tips for busy entrepreneurs. We all have the same 24 hours in the day but the way to expand that would be to hire as much as you can out. Where can you enlist help? Consider ordering groceries online, taking your clothes to the laundry or dry cleaners, hiring a cleaning person, or employing someone to watch your kids or daycare to outsource things at home.

One of the things that allowed me to scale my own business was outsourcing help. I’ve been able to increase the productivity and ROI for several business owners like you by hiring and training new team members, optimizing their tech, and automating their systems. View my services page or schedule a consultation with me now to see if we are a good fit for one another. 

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