Yesterday was not a productive day at all. I didn’t accomplish any tasks related to the business, mostly because I was exhausted. I was supposed to get off work early, but that didn’t happen. I also skipped the gym because I had played basketball on Monday, and my knees were already hurting. I figured there was no point in putting more stress on them.
I was planning to go to the gym this morning, but I ended up running behind schedule. Instead, I’m going to try to leave work at a decent time today and get my tempo run done. Now that I’ve completed my first 5K, I’ve set a new goal of running one in under 20 minutes. That’s what I’m going to be training for over the next several months. I’ve also decided to stop playing basketball for a while because it’s been causing too much knee pain. For now, running will be my primary form of cardio, and I’ll try to incorporate weight training whenever I can.
Getting back to yesterday, I basically came home and went straight to sleep. When I woke up, I did some laundry and took care of a few household chores, but that was about it. Unfortunately, I pretty much wasted the day as far as business productivity is concerned. I had originally planned to dedicate the day entirely to activities that would move the business forward. I wasn’t going to worry about photographing inventory, listing products or doing any of the usual eBay work. Instead, I wanted to spend that time on Alibaba, contacting manufacturers and discussing some of the other products I’m interested in developing.
Balancing Product Development With My Current Expenses
One of the problems I’m dealing with right now is that I don’t want to spend too much money on product development while I still have all these expenses coming from the rental properties. The roof replacement at my Apopka property is already running behind schedule. The roofer was supposed to start early this week, but it’s now Wednesday, and I still haven’t heard anything from him. I texted him last night, so hopefully I’ll get a response today.
I’m making a mental note that I probably won’t use this contractor again for any project that needs to be completed urgently. Maybe I’ll consider him for smaller projects where timing isn’t as important, but I wouldn’t rely on him for another major repair. These delays are costing me money because I can’t finish the other work on the property until the roof is completed. At this rate, I’m probably going to have another vacancy throughout November, which means losing approximately another $1,000 in rental income.
Until these repairs are finished, I’m hesitant to commit too much money toward developing new products, even though I know it’s something I need to continue doing. I’ve started putting more effort into eBay again after two slow weeks, and sales seem to be picking up. However, I’m probably going to limit how much profit I pay myself over the next several weeks. I already had to give myself an advance on my regular business payouts to cover the unexpected AC replacement, so I need to rebuild some of that cash.
Spending $300 here, $400 there and another $600 somewhere else on product development doesn’t seem like the smartest decision right now. Those expenses can add up pretty quickly, especially when I’m already dealing with thousands of dollars in property repairs. I need to be more careful about how much I’m spending on research, samples and manufacturing while still making progress toward building my product catalog.
The way I see it, if I’m going to continue spending money on product development, then I need to be working even harder to generate revenue from the business I’m already operating. I can’t keep investing in future products while neglecting the activities that are bringing in money today. Both are important, but I need to make sure I’m generating enough cash to support those investments.
Trying a Different Approach to My Schedule
I’ve also decided to experiment with a different way of organizing my business activities. Since I have such limited time during the day, I’m going to divide the business into different categories and dedicate specific days to working on each one. The idea is to concentrate on one area at a time instead of constantly jumping between unrelated tasks and never making enough progress on any of them.
Yesterday was supposed to be dedicated to activities that move the business forward, specifically product development. I wanted to spend that time communicating with manufacturers on Alibaba and working on the products I’m trying to bring to market. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any of that done.
I’m going to see if I can make up for yesterday’s lack of productivity today. I still need to get my tempo run done, and I’d like to make some progress on the business as well. I know I won’t be able to do everything every single day, but I need to find a schedule that allows me to consistently work on the different parts of the business without letting any one area fall too far behind.