Business Time Management Tips, with Elizabeth Sutherland

June 2, 2021

Episode 13:

Business time management tips from special guest Elizabeth Sutherland can help you and your team get more done in less time…and with less headache. Hear insights about:

  • How Elizabeth and her business partner merged their competing agencies to create Sutherland Weston
  • What sets Sutherland Weston apart from its competitors, and how understanding Maine and the communities they serve help them stand out in the market
  • Why watching the organization’s macro and micro finances at all times proved vital for their growth, and what business time management tips have made the most difference
  • What common financial mistakes agency owners often make when they’re growing their businesses, and why Elizabeth believes it’s crucial to think broadly and with bold vision
  • Why it is crucial to be willing to take risks as a business owner, as long as you’re focusing on the right risks
  • How Sutherland Weston prides themselves on being a “one-stop shop” full-service agency that doesn’t need to outsource work very often
  • How the outbreak of the global pandemic has impacted Sutherland Weston, and what key pivots and transitions the organization made to navigate the challenges
  • What business time management tips and strategies Elizabeth uses to accomplish more during her day that help her move the needle for her business
  • Why effective time management is a crucial skill to develop, regardless of what industry you’re operating in

Business Time Management Tips

Elizabeth Sutherland is the CEO and Brand Strategy Director of Maine-based marketing agency Sutherland Weston. In merging and growing her agency, Elizabeth has learned many important skills and strategies that have helped her excel in her role, including business time management tips that have allowed Elizabeth and her team to get more done and really differentiate themselves from their competitors throughout Maine.

The Importance of Time Management

No matter what kind of agency you run or what industry you operate in, time management is a crucial business skill that you must develop to be a successful leader. Especially in today’s highly competitive and ever-shifting market, time management is one of the crucial ingredients you need to be able to swiftly adapt your business to overcome its challenges, especially in the age of pandemic.

One of the biggest business time management tips Elizabeth shared during our conversation is the importance of focusing on the right priorities. It can be very easy to get distracted by the little things and lose sight of the big picture. As Elizabeth explained, her organization at one point had a bookkeeper who was extremely focused on tracking and managing all of the small office expenses, down to how many paperclips the team was going through. However, the bookkeeper was spending so much time on the little expenses that she wasn’t getting all of the billing done. She lost track of the big picture stuff by wasting too much time on less important priorities… and this in turn impacted the overall success of the agency.

Business Time Management Tips for Moving the Needle

One of the key strategies Elizabeth employs is that she takes time out each week to make a fresh list of major priorities. It isn’t a simple “to-do” list but rather a high-level view of her week and where she can best spend her limited time. At the end of each evening, Elizabeth writes down the three most important things she needs to accomplish the next day, and the next morning she works hard to ensure that those three key priorities are accomplished before noon. This way, Elizabeth is preventing herself from losing track of the things that matter amidst the many small things that are trying to shift her attention away throughout the day.

I hope you enjoy this week’s episode of the Progressive Agency podcast with Elizabeth Sutherland. Her business time management tips and thoughts on vision and risk-taking are sure to help you in your own work. If you’d like to learn more about Elizabeth Sutherland and her team at Sutherland Weston, please visit their website.

And as always, please visit me at https://craigcodyandcompany.com/agency-podcast/ for more informative, money-saving podcast episodes like this one.

Business Time Management Tips

Additional Resources:

How to Connect with Elizabeth Sutherland:

About Elizabeth Sutherland:

Elizabeth Sutherland, APR is the Sutherland of Sutherland Weston Marketing Communications. Originally from Maine’s largest and most northern county, Aroostook (affectionately known as “The County”), after college Elizabeth worked for the United States Senate, the American Red Cross, and Northern Light Health in increasingly complex public relations and marketing roles before launching out to create her own firm in 2003. She is a graduate of the Bangor Region Leadership Institute and winner of the Mobilize Maine Momentum award in 2014, the 2016 G. Clifton Eames Leadership Award and the Girl Scouts of Maine 2017 Juliette Award for Leadership. She serves on several non-profit boards and in leadership roles for a variety of local and state-wide organizations including the International Women’s Forum, Bangor Symphony Orchestra, United Way of Eastern Maine, the Greater Bangor Convention and Visitors’ Board, and the Advisory Board for Bangor’s Cross Insurance Center.

Elizabeth is an experienced marketing professional with expertise in campaign strategy development, budgeting, research, and measurement. She is also an avid reader, writer, runner, mother of two teenage boys and wife to a radio-talk-show host.

As a Maine entrepreneur, Elizabeth directly understands the challenges many Maine-based businesses face and has made it her mission to help grow Maine’s economy whenever she can.

Sutherland Weston is a Maine-based integrated marketing and advertising firm. With a staff of 17, Sutherland Weston strives to provide strategic and creative approaches to their clients’ toughest business issues.

Elizabeth believes the key benefit Sutherland Weston can offer its clients is to provide practical advice on how to be persuasive and prepared to achieve measurable results.

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