Toma Clark Haines, CEO of The Antiques Diva & Co, checks in after a whirlwind time at Paris Design week where she hosted The Antiques Diva Champagne Brunch at Marche Dauphine and sponsored by Modern Antiquarian. The fete was on Lunar New Year. Nearly 300 guests sipped champagne and ate on croissants whilst celebrating the Year of the Rabbit at Toma’s favorite market within the Paris Flea Market. #watchthisspace Not only was Toma hosting the party but was also filming the pilot for her upcoming TV show. 

On today’s episode, Toma shares her time management system. She is often asked, “How do you do it all? Do you have a clone?” And the truth is she has a great team, but a recent inquiry from a writing friend got her thinking about one of the most important things she talks about with her business coaching clients: Are you using your time wisely? Are you looking at what’s going to make you the most amount of money with the time you have? 

We all have to think about how we are spending our time. Toma has a unique time management system that she has created and used for the last decade that can help you work more efficiently and make the best use of your time. 

For years she has simply drawn her own system out on a piece of paper (although she is excited to be developing with her sister a printed/printable version of her system that she is testing and refining now). 

At the beginning of each week, she divides a piece of paper into seven days. At the top of the page, for each day she writes her MIT (Most Important Thing), then on each day she lists her Top 3 (after the MIT). Then her actual appointments are scheduled in for the day. And, finally (and she tries to never neglect this), she will put in her self-care for the day.

By taking these simple steps, she has now assured that not only will her top four most important issues of the day be dealt with, but she will make all of her appointments, and she will not neglect herself in the process!

Toma then divides the bottom corner of the weekly page into a list for each of these categories: Administration, Marketing, Creative, Sales, and Financial. By looking at these categories individually, she is able to utilize an effective time-blocking technique. Simply having her to-do list organized in this manner facilitates time-blocking or task-blocking. She is able to do all her financial stuff at once. She can go in and do all her sales oriented tasks at once. She is able to address all of her creative activities at once. When she has a time-block to use her brain in a certain way, it allows her to function better/more efficiently.

Toma hopes this system can help you to create your fullest, happiest, most financially fruitful year yet. 

Stay tuned because she is starting to schedule the line-up for the next 12 episodes here on The Business of Antiques where she will be bringing you business coaching for antique dealers and other creative entrepreneurs.

While we will always do private one-on-one consultations, we are looking to feature live consultations on the podcast so listeners can experience and learn from you. If interested, please send an email at [email protected] to have your free consultation on the podcast. 

But never fear, if you desire an unrecorded consultation, Toma is happy to oblige that as well. The key point is that she would love to help you succeed in your antiques business!