Batching has to be the best thing since… sliced bread? The internet? A new social media platform? But if you’ve tried it out and it hasn’t quite worked for you, just know there are multiple ways you can use batching in your business and it’s not the same for everyone.
By listening [and taking notes], you’ll learn:
Two different methods of batching to help you to be far more productive
How using batching is not just about getting more done, there’s more to it!
Various areas of your life and business you can apply batching to
If you’re always up for an extra ounce of being a productivity genie or are a renowned unorganiser, you’ll love this episode.
Batching has to be the best thing since… sliced bread? The internet? A new social media platform? But if you’ve tried it out and it hasn’t quite worked for you, just know there are multiple ways you can use batching in your business and it’s not the same for everyone.
By listening [and taking notes], you’ll learn:
Two different methods of batching to help you to be far more productive
How using batching is not just about getting more done, there’s more to it!
Various areas of your life and business you can apply batching to
If you’re always up for an extra ounce of being a productivity genie or are a renowned unorganiser, you’ll love this episode.
If you’d like to work together with me as your 1:1 business and marketing consultant, book a call here.
Shannon Stone:
Hey guys. Welcome to the podcast, super excited to jump into this episode.
Shannon Stone:
Today we are talking about using batching to be more efficient in your business, as a business owner or as part of the team. So if you're not using batching or if you're not aware of what it is, it's a productivity or efficiency organizational type of tool that you can use in your schedule or the way that you approach tasks in your business, and it helps you to group similar things together and what that does. It stops you from swapping between things or doing a task, one type of task and then doing a completely different kind of task, whereas when you batch things together and we'll talk about different ways you can do this. It allows you to be much more efficient, stay in that same frame of mind without having to switch all the time, and I have always been an advocate of saying structure does equal more freedom. So a lot of people might think they're being held too tightly by a well organized calendar or schedule, but it really truly does create more freedom in so many different ways. It allows you to get so many more things done in such a shorter amount of time because you have prioritized it, you have scheduled it, you have organized it correctly.
Shannon Stone:
And also I remember this pivotal moment with a client where I said and he was very anti scheduling his calendar, but he was a willing person, so we gave it a go and what happened is exactly what I knew would happen. But I wanted him to experience it because it's different for someone to say this is what's going to happen and it's going to be so great for you. They have to experience it for themselves in order to see the impact. But he went through a week of having his calendar more structured and when we caught up the following week, he said you know what it was? Exactly like you said. I felt like when I was relaxing, I was actually truly able to relax outside my business because I knew I got the things done or I knew when I would be doing those things. So it was like out of sight, out of mind, because we had already planned when he was going to do certain activities in his business and I truly felt, or feel, what is more important, or more of the upside, is not so much that we get more of these things done, it's that when we are outside our business and we are wanting to do other things and relax, we don't even have to think about business. We can just truly switch off, and I think that really is where the magic actually is in all of this. So I do believe structure creates more freedom and there's such a positive flow on effect from doing it.
Shannon Stone:
So that's my pitch about doing some batching in your business. Let's jump into it. So I find there's two main ways that you can batch. You can batch your days or have theme days, or you can batch times in your business. You might do one or the other, you might do a blend of both. I'll walk you through each of them and then I'll also share some different elements in your business that you can start to batch as well.
Shannon Stone:
So let's start with the batching days. This is one I have done forever. So I batch my days in my business Tuesday, wednesday, thursdays, a client days so I don't scatter my clients across all the weeks, all the days. They're specific days when clients are scheduled in On the off chance they may need to do a different day, say a Monday or a Friday. If I can factor that in, I will always definitely factor that in. But for me, client days are always Tuesday, wednesday, thursday, and that creates so much efficiency for me because I know who I need to be on certain days basically, or where my attention is focused on certain days, particularly Tuesdays and Wednesdays. They're more of my bigger client days and so I won't schedule really anything else on those days. I definitely won't be going to any events on those days, but I do batching days, particularly when it comes to my client activities, and they usually well, they always are Tuesday, wednesday, thursdays.
Shannon Stone:
My Mondays and Fridays are for different things, so we're taking you all behind the scenes of my schedule. My Mondays are my on the business days, so this is when I am planning things, this is when I'm working on a lot of my stuff in my business, whereas Fridays I use them as a little bit of an overflow day and everyone would do things differently. Whatever works for you, but I might be working on certain projects. Fridays are usually the day I have open for other calls in business, whether they are other people wanting to find out about my services or other. You know, hopping onto calls with other people in business for a way of different reasons, and so I use Friday as a bit of a flexi day in some kind of way. But that's really how I batch my days. So how you batch your days might be slightly different. It would obviously be dictated on your business how you like to do things, your business model, lots of those type of things, how you schedule things in already. But using batching days work really, really well, not just for me but also for clients, and so when new clients come on, it's just very easy for me to say well, what days would work for you If it's Tuesday, wednesday, thursday? I'm seeing which days work my calendar versus their calendar and I'm not having to spread them across multiple days, and that allows me to have more stability of I know who I need to be on certain days. I know where my energy is going to be on certain days and any of the other tasks or projects I might be working on they are outside those client days, so batching your days can be really, really amazing. The other way that you can batch is batching your times. Instead of saying client days a Tuesday, wednesday, thursday.
Shannon Stone:
I had a client who wanted to do batching, but for her she wanted to have a client every day at 9am. So Monday to Friday she wanted to have a client 9am every single day and it's important to do what is right for you and I loved her reasons for her. Her reasons were she wanted to have something on at the start of the day, so she felt like she had like a real kickstart to the day, like she had. She was held accountable to getting up, being organized, being ready for that first client every single day at 9am and it's all your do what is right for you. I can still get up and get going even if I don't have a client at the beginning of the day, and I'll batch my days the way that worked for me. But she wanted to do it in this kind of way because she knew it would give her a head start on the day. So her goal was five clients, five days a week, 9am, every single day. And does this work all of the time? It works most of the time.
Shannon Stone:
Sometimes you might have to be a little bit more flexible, a little bit more fluid. Maybe a client can't do, maybe you get two clients who want to do the same day, and so what do you do in that instance? That's totally up to you and how you want to work it out. But batching times that was one example of how one of my clients did it. She would have a client at every single day at 9am. There might also be certain tasks that you'll batch that will always be at the same time, every single week or every single day.
Shannon Stone:
Maybe there's certain strategies in your business where you need to be doing them every single day and so you can batch them in your calendar. Maybe it's even checking your emails. You'll batch when you check your emails every single day. Maybe it's twice a day, three times a day, whatever. It might be once a day, no times a day, whatever works for you. But batching it into your calendar so it happens at the same time can really help.
Shannon Stone:
So we've got two real type of ways to batch. You can batch your days with theme days and you can also batch with times, and I gave you that example there of having a client or a particular thing at 9am every single day, monday to Friday. Now what you could also do with these, it's say for the client of mine who had her five clients at 9am Monday to Friday. Then what do you do after that? You know, after the client work is done, how do you batch the rest of the days, and that's completely up to you. But I find the best way to do it is to always batch similar tasks together.
Shannon Stone:
If you're doing a lot of writing type tasks, maybe you're doing a lot of marketing type stuff, or that might be a particular category that you batched together versus another category might be calls, it might be video stuff, it might be you recording things, and so, however you like, whatever makes sense in your mind. As far as batching, some people will do it based on client type of things. Some people will show it in how they physically have to show up where you know. They might say well, tuesdays and Thursdays are my client days and they're also the days I'll do videos because they're the days I'm feeling presentable, so you might have client sessions in the morning and you might do your video stuff in the afternoon, and so that works for you. So you have to find the way that batching works for you and the way that you like to approach and operate things. And I think where we can often fall down when people share methods like these is they say there's only one way to do it and you have to do it the way that I say to do and like.
Shannon Stone:
I know someone who shared a method with me but it wasn't quite a fit for me and it was like a front facing day, a behind the scenes day and then an admin day. And the behind the scenes and admin days were like days when you can and this is what worked for the person but like no makeup days and, you know, could feel a little bit more relaxed, whereas for me, I like to make sure I get dressed every single morning. I will do my makeup, I'll make myself feel presentable every single morning, because that works for me, that gives me a kickstart to the day, so if I want to hop on and call it any time of the day, any day that we week. That can happen because of the way that I like to show up. So you've got to look at well what works for you instead of what works for me or what works for other people. So that's why I'm sharing some variations around what batching can look like for you.
Shannon Stone:
Now I will share some different categories of batching before we get into the action steps. So you can be batching your client work obviously your client calls, or your client project stuff, or working on your client work, whatever that looks like in your business model. You could batch your marketing obviously your projects. So if you've got other projects within your business maybe you are overhauling your systems, maybe you're tidying up your finances, maybe you've got other projects happening so you can batch your projects. You can also batch any team stuff. So if you've got any team training or anything in relation to your team another great one to batch.
Shannon Stone:
Batching any calls. So if you've got any calls that are not client calls, or maybe they are client calls, how do you batch your calls? And again, is it certain days, is it time of the days? That's a really great one. You could batch your events as well. So maybe you only go to breakfast events and you will not go to any during the day because that is your business time, where you like to work in and on your business. Or maybe you will only go to events on a certain day of the week, for example, and if they happen to be on another day that is just outside your scope. Or maybe you'll make a exception some of the time, and I think that's always okay as well. And then another thing you could also batch is any training or upskilling or studying that you might be doing or working on. I think it's always important to continue to hone our skills in our areas of expertise, so you might batch some of that time into your schedule as well. So there's like half a dozen different or so different things you can be batching in your business.
Shannon Stone:
Now to the action steps. Action step number one is to categorize the different tasks that you have in your business. So this would all be bespoke to you. I did share some different ideas your client work, your marketing, your projects, all those kind of things, but personalize it to you. What are the different tasks that you have in your business that are important to you? So first we want to categorize those. Then the second thing we want to do is we want to set up a preliminary schedule or a draft of a schedule. So set up a schedule, a batching, a schedule where you've included some batching into it, and consider this as the first draft, the first round, because action step number three is to test the schedule, and I would test it for at least a week, if not longer, but at least a week, to let's put this schedule to the test, let's see how this actually works for me, because the fourth action step is to update the schedule. I will often set up new schedules for myself to especially as things change.
Shannon Stone:
This year, I did my search for in training and assessment through TAFE, and so my schedule definitely had to change, and so I had to set up that preliminary, first draft schedule. Then I had to test it. I had to see well, let's try this on, to see how it works, and then, based on things working and not working, I then updated the schedule A big one for me as I did the search for in training and assessment. My classes were Monday and Wednesday nights and I made sure that they weren't in my business time. That was one of the big things for me when it came to study that it wasn't going to be in my day to day business. So that was great. I chose the nighttime classes.
Shannon Stone:
But what I also had to shift around that and this was something I had to learn as I went through it was when do I cook dinner? You might not think it's a really important thing, but it definitely is for me, and I'm sure my daughter would consider that something to be really important as well. So I, because I was doing these night classes twice a week, they were the days I definitely didn't cook. So, with my classes being on Monday and Wednesday, I then made sure I cooked on Sunday, tuesday and Thursday at a minimum. I kind of like go a little bit lax as we get towards the weekend.
Shannon Stone:
But in that schedule, when I was doing TAFE which I have thankfully finished now, that's what I did I added that batching in around when I would cook dinner, because it would cause chaos if I didn't feed my child. We can't be having noodles every single night, so that's something that I factored in. That's one of the ways that I set a preliminary schedule. I tested it and then I updated it, but it all had batching in there and it made my life so much easier because there's such a flow on effect that comes from it as well. It's like, okay, well, I know when I'm cooking and I know this is almost slipping out of business, but it's all tied in one in a way. It's like I know when I'm cooking dinner, I know when I need to make sure I have groceries by like, if I bought groceries on a Monday, that's already too late because I don't have time to cook it.
Shannon Stone:
And so it created that structure, created the freedom that I was looking for, and I think the freedom that a lot of us are looking for, and like, one great thing to do, I believe, is look where there is frustration in your day to day. This could be life when it comes to cooking dinner or in business. Where is the frustration, and then how could you create some structure around that? Because that could be some of the times when you solve the biggest problems in your day to day and it ultimately that structure will give you that freedom. So here's a couple of ways that I suggest you try.
Shannon Stone:
On batching, and I think it really is one of those things where you have to test it, you have to try it, you have to test it and then you have to update it so you might have something in place at the moment. Maybe it's working. Maybe it's working some of the time, but not all of the time or most of the time. I do believe in being a little bit fluid and letting life happen as it does, but having this in place works 99% of the time for me in my business and I will have that little bit of flexibility if and when required as well. So hopefully you found this useful.
Shannon Stone:
If you have any questions, always reach out. I can't wait to see and hear how you apply this in your business, and maybe you can even share how you do batching and I will learn something from you as well. But hopefully you found it useful and I will talk to you very soon.