All of my work is, at least loosely, time sensitive. I’ve spent most of my work life dealing with deadlines, timelines, due dates and schedules. Whether working in special events, printing and publishing, writing, etc.—all of this work has been reliant on individuals meeting deadlines and doing work on a timely basis.
I thought I might offer some words of advice (with a little bit of rant thrown in) for those who may not be used to working with deadlines and due dates, and may find in your home businesses that keeping yourself and your services on schedule may be a bit of a challenge.
If you are doing any sort of advertising, marketing, conferences or events as part of your home business, you are going to be dealing with schedules and deadlines on a fairly regular basis. Just so you know, you will not endear yourself to anyone who has to put together these conferences, events, publications or venues if you ask for extensions or miss deadlines or wait until the very last minute to start making arrangements. Some will try to accommodate you depending on how possible it is, but others will not be able to and there will be aggravation and annoyance all around. The schedules and deadlines are carefully established and there is generally a whole chain of individuals and events that have to fall into place for things to take place—so waiting for your registration or ad or special request can set several individuals’ schedules back.
For your own organization, it can be helpful to start at a deadline or due date and work backwards through your schedule to make a plan for meeting the deadline. For example, if you know you will be attending a conference on a specific date—start there. Then, figure out when you need to have your registration materials and any advertising or other information turned in. Make sure you’ve marked that date on your calendar or timeline. Then, continue working backward and planning pieces of your own schedule so you will be able to meet these deadlines. Breaking things up into small chunks and do-able pieces is what makes meeting deadlines and due dates manageable.
There will always be last-minute changes. That’s just the nature of how humans working with humans goes. However, everything you can do to stay on schedule and meet deadlines will help the process and help you establish a reputation for being someone who can be counted on. Even if you are working with customers on a small scale—each time you make a delivery promise or schedule a service delivery, and then you meet that deadline, you are establishing a reputation for honesty, organization and efficiency. The trick is to only state and agree to deadlines you know you can meet, and then make sure you follow through!