It may not seem to you that you need a real schedule – and to some it may even be repugnant to live in rigidity. More than likely the majority of people who start home businesses do so, for one reason to be on their own and to do things how and when they want to.
While any part of the above said may or may not be true to some extent, there is a definite need for at least some level of organization. There are important issues that do have time constraints and it can cause you a lot of trouble if they are missed.
Most critical are things like your domain registration being updated BEFORE it actually expires. Some registrars will start reminding you months ahead and #1 you may start ignoring them because 2-months ahead you don’t need to worry. #2 eMail is so very unreliable (deliverability) due to spam and spam filters and some are blocked completely (lost in space) because the mail service has inferior filter software. Sometimes because people don’t even read the email mixed up in all the spam or they are just disengaged.
Another critical element is your hosting account. It is usually set up on automatic debit but sometimes you may prefer to pay each month or so manually. In any case your website will be deactivated eventually. Unless it is a very long period of time where you have ignored this, the files will still be there and will display again as soon as you catch up on your fees. If they have really terminated your account you will have to rebuild the site.
Then there are things of lesser consequence that range from optional duties like checking your affiliate programs for commissions or to see what new information may be posted there that you didn’t receive through email. If you are using your blog like you really should be, then you may want to remind yourself to ‘blog today’ (as frequently as possible but no more than once a day is effective).
Of course if you have any automatic services that should be advertising you might want to check they really are, as well as be sure you are paid up so that you have some kind of list building or advertising going on at all times.
Lists are much easier to deal with if you have 3 formats – short term (today), mid-range (this week or month), and long-range (future goals or projects). This makes it much easier to deal with a big scratched out mess. Do no put anything on short term that you absolutely are not positive you will accomplish today. If necessary move it to tomorrow.
