EOTV: Look in the mirror and repeat after me: I am my own boss

(Photo courtesy One Mango Tree)

It's 3:30 pm. Your sitting in your cubicle, eyes glazed, flipping between gchat and some report you have to have done this week. You've entered the nether-hours. Office purgatory - that time of day when you just cannot seem to be productive. A second latte doesn't even prevent you from slumping in your chair, contemplating a quick nap under the desk. Why-oh-why the 9-to-5 work week?!

With office life now months behind me, I still fully recognize the 3:30 slump. We all have different working habits. I personally grind out my best work between 8 am and 1 pm, and then again (second wind) from 6 pm until about 11 pm. Being an entrepreneur of any sort means that you are your own boss - you get to maximize your productivity and organize your days how you like to work.

I know that this freedom in my schedule is one of the most satisfying pieces of my work, and I'm always amazed at how productive I can be when I arrange my time accordingly. However, this does mean that you have to be your own boss, and sometimes that means you have to be really strict with yourself in order to get things done. No one creates the balance for you; you have to do it yourself. You will inevitably find yourself facing competing priorities on a daily basis, and only you can know how to best arrange your workdays to get it all done:

1. I owe a blog post for change.org, but I've had writer's block for the past week.
2. I have a meeting with local government officials related to a consulting assignment I'm doing this month (that part of being a social entrepreneur that sometimes forces you to look for temporary paid work so that you can keep growing your business without taking too much from it).
3. I have to teach a yoga class at the US Embassy today (another income-generator, which pays my rent and feeds me).
4. I need to stop by FedEx to pay for our last shipment, and I need to do a cost analysis to compare FedEx and DHL.
5. One of our customers wants to design a wrap skirt for their line at Whole Foods - I need to sit down with the tailors to come up with a great design and then photograph all the available wax-print in the markets so that the customer can make their selection.
6. I really want to have dinner with some new friends tonight (because building a social support network in Uganda is pretty important if you're trying to still have work-life balance).

When you leave the conventions of the daily 9-to-5 and enter the world of the entrepreneur, you really do take the reins. For me it means comprehensive to-do lists of the various areas of my work. How do you stay organized? What are your competing priorities? And possibly the most important question - what can you comfortably delegate to others?

Halle Butvin is the founding director of One Mango Tree and one of the four columnists for our new Entrepreneurs on the Verge feature on Change.org. OMT seeks to improve the lives of women in impoverished and conflict-ridden areas of the globe. They are currently working with a group of women tailors affected by the conflict to make purses, yoga bags, and other products using the colorful Congolese waxprint fabrics found in local markets.