In today's reality of working twice as hard for half the money, time management is more important than ever. Proportionately, time management is more difficult with the increase in business labor. Central Florida has been hit extremely hard by the housing crash and by extension the home inspection market has not fared too well either. Like most professionals in our industry, I find myself seeking as many alternatives or opportunities as possible to market and keep my market share. Subsequently, attention to previous projects (like ActiveRain) suffers for the lack of time resources. Allowing the reduction of attention to producing projects is not a smart business move. However, not utilizing the networking opportunities presented is equally detrimental. Thus, one has to become more. This is why your parents told you adversity builds character. Finding the way to increase your attention to marketing while doing the regular business activities is what defines success or failure in markets such as these. There is no set tool, secret, organization, or system for making this occur. The only constant in any workable solution is discipline. Find the management tool you are most comfortable with and make a 100% commitment to utilizing its incorporated devices. For some it's the old fashioned 
written organizer. (My wife uses Franklin). For others, the organization and regimentation can be facilitated by electronic organizers, phones, PDA's. The extremely fortunate will have a highly regimented and anal retentive assistant that can handle their own particular personality quarks. Then there are those like myself that have an iPhone, Outlook, two written calendars, and several scraps of paper that precariously balance the load between a couple of businesses, some community activism and a surprising amount of family events. I am learning to schedule my blog writing, posting and monitoring of several networking sites, but I am sure I will always find time management troublesome.
Steve Edmonds
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