Ad: When you run a small business, there is a chance that you will become overrun with the amount of things you need to do. You may feel as though you just don’t have enough time in the day and that everything is just getting too much. This is completely normal, but there are things that you can do to try and save both time and money. Here are a few fabulous time saving tips for any small business…
Control your Email Account: The first thing that you need to do is take control of your email account. One way for you to do this would be for you to reduce the volume of the emails you’re getting. Recent reports suggest that the standard business owner gets well over 100 emails per day, and if you spend 2 minutes replying to every email you get, then you will soon see how this can add up to a large chunk of your day. If you want to save time, then you can easily reduce the amount of emails you receive by unsubscribing from certain services. You might also want to invest in an email software, as they usually give you the chance to unsubscribe from certain email lists in bulk.
Books like the Empowered Entrepreneur can offer great guidance
The Quality of your Emails: It’s so important that you use shorter, or even more efficient messages when sending your emails. If you are sending an email to a lot of people at once, then tell them not to reply to all when they do respond. When you do this, you will reduce the overall email volume and it will also help you to stay on top of your inbox as well. If you do need to respond to each person then it helps to set up folders so that you can look at them later on in the day. This won’t take long but it will really help you to make the most out of the time you have.
Filing Systems: A lot of inbox programs give you the chance to create folders. Put your important contacts in one, your clients in another and then friends in a completely separate folder. When you do this, you will know instantly when an email comes in whether it is something urgent, and this will save you from checking your inbox every single time something comes through. If you can, it also helps to have your email connected to your phone. When you do this, you can send notifications right to your device and this can really help you to get the motivation to respond when you’re on the go.
Limit your Time on Social Media: The main area you want to limit your time is social media. There are so many tools and apps out there that will block social media for you, and the best thing about them is that they can do it in set hours. If you don’t have the self-control required to avoid Facebook or other related sites, then you might want to invest in something like this, as it will have a positive impact on your working day.
Process Everything: Every single day, you will be bombarded with “things to do”. This can be very frustrating because if you don’t stay on top of them they can easily become overwhelming. If you want to get around this then do anything that will take you 2 minutes or less, right there and then. If you know that it is going to take longer than this, then put it on your calendar for a later date. You can also delegate if this is easier.
Close the Door: Sure, open door policies are great, but they really can reduce your overall productivity. If you want to get around this then you need to have a closed-door policy. This will give you the chance to get your head down and concentrate, and your team will know that you don’t want to be bothered.
Batch Tasks: Checking your email constantly throughout the day won’t be doing anything for your productivity. Instead, you need to respond to your emails once or twice per day. If you want to get some help with this, then it is a good idea for you to invest in an intelligent information management system. When you do this, you can easily store your files, access them at any time or even extract data. This will make it way easier for you to process your documents, and it will also make it easier to give other people access.
Set Small Breaks: You may think that in order to get everything done, you need to work constantly and without a break. After all, the less time you take out of your day, the more time you will have to get everything else done, right? This is not the case at all. In fact, sometimes, having a break can free up way more time in the day because it gives you the chance to focus and recharge. You can go back and accomplish almost any task much faster and you can also give yourself the chance to re-evaluate that to-do list.
Outsource: Delegating is important when you run your own business, but you also need to outsource as well. By outsourcing your smaller jobs, you can run your business more efficiently and you can also bring in way more profit too. This doesn’t take long to do, and it could stop you from spending tons of time on menial tasks that make absolutely no difference to your bottom line or your company image.
So, it’s not easy to free up more time in the day when you run your own business, but by taking the above tips into account, you can be sure to do it a little easier…
“when you change the way you look at things, they things you look at change”-Dr WayneDyer
Stay fabulous
Christine
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