The Ultimate Business Blog Citygirlbusinessclub.com
Does it feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day? For many small business owners, it feels as though they have a million and one things to do, yet no time at all. Where are all those hours disappearing off to? Making the most of your working day is integral to the success of your business, so you need to do anything you can to make every minute count.
A mistake that many small businesses make when first starting out is wasting time. They don’t waste time as a conscious action; rather the time slips away from them. Don’t let time elude you and your business. Here are some tricks you can use to save time.
Use A Social Media Management System
These days every business has to be active on social media. Social media platforms are great marketing tools. Using social media allows your business to connect with your potential customers. Acknowledging that you need to have a presence on social media is vital to your business. Many business owners put too much focus on social media. They assign hours and hours to social media activity, which is a waste of time. By using a social media management system, like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck, you can save time. These systems allow you to schedule many posts per day, so you can get all the social media posts sorted first thing in the morning. That means you don’t have to spend your day sitting on Facebook or Twitter.
Outsource Your Invoicing
Invoicing takes a lot of time and concentration to get right. Many business owners choose to deal with all the invoices themselves, but this can be dangerous. You may want to involve yourself in every aspect of the business, but doing so means you neglect other areas. You should consider outsourcing much of your invoicing work to an external company. Invoice factoring allows you to outsource your invoices to a third party company, which will free up a great deal of time for you.
Less Talk, More Action
Many small businesses put too much emphasis on meetings. You want to get everything right the first time round, so you spend hours talking it over with your staff. Talking things over too much could mean that you spend more time in meetings than you do working. It is an easy trap to fall into, but don’t assume that your staff members are stupid. You only need to tell them once about a project, not spend hours over-explaining every little detail. Try to restrict yourself to one hour-long meeting per week and spend the rest of the time working.
Turn The Radio On
Studies have shown that people work better (and faster) when they have the radio on in the background. Many employers think that having music on will distract their employees, but this is not the case. Having the radio on in the background is relaxing. Of course, you should not put on heavy metal or rock music, but some light pop or classical music will help your staff to work harder.
Use A Linked Calendar
Telling people when and where to be all the time is exhausting. Rather than wasting time leaving each other memos and sending endless emails, why not use a shared calendar. A cloud calendar is ideal as everyone in the office can see what appointments or meetings they have. You can add a new meeting or task and assign it to a certain person within the office. Make it your office policy that every staff member has to keep on top of their calendar, so they know what meetings and tasks they have.