Task Time Reality Check

Subscriber-only episode

Facing the perpetual question of "how long should this task take me?" is something every entrepreneur struggles with. The truth? There's no one-size-fits-all answer—it genuinely depends on multiple factors unique to you and your situation. Whether you're navigating new technology, learning software, or implementing unfamiliar processes, your initial timeline estimates are likely way off.

The revelation that transforms time management isn't a magic formula—it's understanding that testing a process once tells you almost nothing about how long it will typically take. You need at least three attempts at any new task before you can establish a reliable baseline. With each iteration, you'll naturally discover shortcuts, develop muscle memory, and refine your approach. What initially took three hours might eventually require only 75 minutes once you've mastered the workflow. This three-attempt rule applies universally, whether you're editing videos, creating landing pages, writing sales emails, or designing opt-ins.

Documentation becomes your secret weapon in this process. Recording your screen while narrating your actions creates an invaluable resource that serves multiple purposes—from creating SOPs to eventually delegating tasks. Transform these recordings into checklists using tools like Zoom for recording and ChatGPT for organizing transcripts. The result? A systematic approach to tasks that eliminates guesswork, allows for accurate scheduling, and ultimately creates space for the high-impact work that truly grows your business. Ready to apply these principles to your sales process? Join my upcoming SmartSell Sprint where we'll refine your existing product offerings without rebuilding from scratch—focusing instead on the critical tweaks that connect with your audience and drive conversions.

Join the Smart Sell Sprint.

Chapters

• 0:00 How Long Should Tasks Take?
• 0:44 Testing Tasks Multiple Times
• 1:35 Creating Effective SOPs
• 2:35 Recording Your Process
• 4:14 SmartSell Sprint Invitation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

I recently had a client reach out and ask how long a task should take her and my response probably wasn't something she wanted to hear. Because it really depends, and that was my answer. It depends on what it is that you're doing, how quick you are at it, how long you've been doing it. If you are learning a new technology editing video using a new app to do a podcast recording, going through and creating a new opt-in in Canva and you've never done it before, any of these things are going to take longer because initially, you have to be able to figure out the process that it takes in order to do that. So when you are looking at how long is something going to take you, you have to first test it out. And when I say test it out, that doesn't mean you do it once. Doing it once is not going to be your baseline of how long it's going to take you to do a task. So let's just use an example of editing a YouTube video. Let's assume that the recording is totally done. You have to put an intro in, you're going to make sure that it is edited so that it looks the way that you want it to be throughout the content, and then you're going to put an outro in. How long is that going to take you is going to depend upon how long have you been editing video for is going to depend upon how long have you been editing video for. If you are trying to figure out a system to use to edit the video, it's going to take you much longer than it will the next couple of times. And again, testing this does not consist of not only not once, but at least two to three times. You have to get a baseline data of how long it's going to take you to attempt to do something before you can say, okay, this process is going to take me two hours to complete, or an hour and 15 minutes to complete. Whatever it's going to take you, you have to run it through three different times because your process is likely going to change. You are going to get quicker, you're going to notice that there are certain shortcuts that you can actually do, and you're going to get more comfortable with the technology side of things as far as the software that you're using. So, if you're using an app on your phone, if you're using an editing tool on your computer, if you are using software to create emails, whatever it is that you are doing, in order to figure out the amount of time that it's going to take you, to then plot it into your schedule so that you know what your week is going to look like. You have to run it through at least three times and that will then give you the process that should go into place.

Speaker 1: 2:40

So your SOP what do you do each time? Where are you going? What do you click? What are you looking for? Once you've saved it, to upload it, to add a thumbnail image? Or, if we're looking at creating a new landing page for a sales page for a new product, all of these new pieces of not details, but new processes that you're putting into your business in order to offer a better experience for your audience to either find you or to buy from you you need to be testing that process. So really look at testing out your new process. Do it at least three times.

Speaker 1: 3:21

Have the SOP kind of in mind, whether you're handwriting it out as like a checklist or you are recording exactly what you are doing so that you can go step by step. One of the things that I would recommend is have a recording going on in the background when you are doing something on your computer so that you can talk through what it is that you're doing and then have a transcript from that. You can use Zoom for this. Have it set up so that you're using Zoom, you're screen sharing what you're doing so that if you wanted to hand this off to someone else, you could, but you could also get a transcript from that recording to then turn into a checklist using ChatGPT whatever else you want to do to then have that checklist right next to you so that you know the process of how long it's going to take you in order to complete that task, so that you can then look at your schedule for the week and plan and batch things better.

Speaker 1: 4:14

If you are looking to really take the next step in your selling process and make sure that you are tweaking some of the products that you are already offering, make sure that you join in the SmartSell Sprint that I am hosting April 28th. We are going to be meeting each day via Zoom to go and tweak the products that you already have in place. We're not rebuilding them, we are simply tweaking the process of how you have everything set up, everything from the copy to the landing page, to the sales emails. To make sure that it is going to translate to your audience, you can just go right into the comments here in the description and join the sprint.