Opening and operating your own small business can be incredibly time-consuming. As a small business owner, free time is something that sometimes feels more like a distant memory than a reality. Between managing marketing efforts, finances, and the day-to-day challenges of your role, business owners know that time is money. Saving time with your business is extremely important to surviving in a fast-paced economy, so how can you work smarter and market your business more efficiently without working harder? With deadlines to meet and goals to accomplish, you need to be as productive as possible in the time you are allotted. Here are 6 ways to save time with your business that will help you get more hours in the day.
How to Save Time with Your Business
Learn to Say No
One of the hardest things you must learn to do as a business owner, and as an individual, is learn how to say no. Working yourself to your max capacity and then trying to take on additional tasks is a surefire way to shoot yourself in the foot. If you’re short on time to begin with, and the task you’ve been asked to do won’t help your business grow, simply say “I can’t” or “That doesn’t work for me”. Saying no more often will help save you time and effort down the line, even if it can be awkward at times.
Go For Easy Wins
It may seem like a cop out, but small wins can add up quickly over time to create huge successes for your business. Look for opportunities to grow your business in small ways that require less effort than a traditional campaign might. Making sure your social presence is up to snuff, such as improving your Twitter, Facebook, and Google My Business presence is an easy way to draw in new customers and keep your old ones interested in returning.
Another example of improving your business with minimal effort is by sending a small discount code to any customer who has ordered within the last six months to incentivize them to purchase again. Existing customers are a great market to tap into because you know they already support your brand, products, and services.
Delegate and Hire
As a business owner, it can be difficult to relinquish power to your employees, but it can be a huge relief once you realize the time you were losing. By delegating some of your responsibilities to your employees, you will be able to free up time to work on other, more important tasks, such as your next major marketing campaign, opening a second location, or forming profitable business partnerships. You may even want to hire a freelance blog writer or marketing consultant in order to ramp up your marketing efforts. Delegate the daily tasks, such as returning phone calls, managing social media, and collecting email addresses to other employees so you can save time with your business.
Avoid Distractions and Stay Organized
While it can be tempting to push aside your work to catch up on your favorite Netflix show, staying focused when you have a task to complete will help you save time with your business. Staying organized with your process will also help you to save time, such as making lists, downloading productivity apps, and writing out your schedule hour by hour will cut down on time waste. Avoiding distractions like hopping on social media, turning on the TV, or going out for an extra long lunch can help you be more productive and save time with your business.
Better Done Than Perfect
If you find yourself getting bogged down with small tasks, taking too long to perfect your content, or wasting time where you shouldn’t be, stop yourself in your tracks and realize that done is better than perfect. You could spend forever adjusting small grammatical errors or spelling mistakes within your content, but if you delay too long you will forever tweaking without actually releasing anything. The more projects you complete, the more you will be able to increase your productivity, and the more you will be able to do in the time allotted. Spending less time perfecting and more time producing is one of the best ways to save time with your business.
Meet Less, Communicate More
Rather than scheduling meetings for every change or bit of new information, instead communicate more often in more effective ways. Creating a group chat through Slack or Google Hangouts with your staff is a great way to touch base more often and more easily. Meetings can be a huge loss of time through the effort spent scheduling, bleeding over after the meeting is supposed to end, and trailing off topic. A great way to save time with your business is by streamlining your communication and making it more efficient.
The life of a small business owner is extremely busy, and cutting down on time loss will help you to be more productive and achieve your goals. These tips will help you to not only save time with your business but increase your profits, sales, and productivity.
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