As a business owner, your two most precious resources are time and money. In this blog, I am going to give you an insight into how to generate more money AND free up your time…
Do you feel frustrated at the rollercoaster of being so busy that you don’t have time to market yourself, only to find the next month you have to scramble to refill your pipeline?
Managing the flow is just one issue facing business people today.
As a business owner, your two most precious resources are time and money. In this blog, I am going to give you an insight into how to generate more money AND free up your time…
Do you feel frustrated at the rollercoaster of being so busy that you don’t have time to market yourself, only to find the next month you have to scramble to refill your pipeline? Managing the flow is just one issue facing business people today.
The second issue is one of capacity. You may have a steady stream of business but find yourself stressed and exhausted by having to fit necessary administrative tasks into your schedule.
There’s a saying, “It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness”. The good news is that there are strategies to leverage your time and knowledge to get more done in less time, attract an ongoing flow of clients and serve them with less effort:
1. Assign Low Pay-Off Activities:
Be ruthless with your time and delegate required but low pay-off activities to other people. For example, whilst your VAT and Tax must be done, they are not revenue producing. Ask yourself, “Is this the highest pay-off activity I could be doing at this time?” Assign work to an assistant and outsource to bookkeepers, copywriters, programmers and designers.
2. Create Procedures:
Document the specific way you do things and begin to standardise your processes. Creating “How-To” guides for your core activities will make it easier for you to tweak them over time and hand them over to someone else. Plus, by using your processes, you can start to repeat your successes time after time.
3. Bunch and Block:
It takes energy to switch gears. Not to mention losing focus and time. To optimise your results, bunch similar activities together and block out dedicated time in your calendar to complete them. If you have client calls to make, set aside a regular time each week in your diary, then commit and follow through, without getting distracted by any other activity.
4. Automate Actions:
Creating “set and forget” systems will save you buckets of time. Assess each activity to determine how you could put it on autopilot. For example, when people sign up to your online newsletter, you can automate the thank you message they receive. You could set up a series of autoresponder messages to provide clients with information at pre-determined intervals. Or create a FAQ page on your website to direct people to, rather than repeating yourself.
“Light the candle” in your business by systemising your activities to help you free up the time to focus on high pay-off activities that build your business.
Here’s the ‘How-to’
To get you going, list your daily activities for one week to determine how much of your time is spent on ‘Busy work’ and how much is spent on Business Building activities.
Next, create a list of activities that you’re not getting around to because you don’t have time. Then schedule time in your calendar to develop strategies to assign low pay-off activities, document your processes, do what needs to be done or automate your activities.
Has this article got you thinking about your business and how you want to grab the reins and drive it forward but you struggle to find the time or feel that you lack the skills or knowledge to do so?
Are you looking at your screen wondering how or if Good2Great could possibly help you to build a better future for you and your company?
If so, why not check out free ways to learn more either at a seminar or in a free one-to-one business health check.
Either way – click this link to learn more about Free support from Good2Great
OR – perhaps you’re still at the start of your business journey – check out the Business Start Up Bootcamps
