Every successful entrepreneur understands the need for productivity. Most start-up owners take a personal approach, using different techniques to get the most out of their time.
While maximising personal work time is extremely important, the overall productivity of the business needs to be tightly managed too. To get where you want to be, it’s vital to make sure your business is operating to its full potential every day.
Here’s our five tips to help your business work hard and smart.
1. Take everything online
There are so many digital tools available now, that it is logical to use as many as possible. They can help your business cut the time it takes to carry out everyday tasks, and help keep stress levels low.
Digital apps, tools, websites and software are available for every business function, whether you’re looking to streamline your financial management or want to level-up your marketing efforts.
Look out for tools to help with project management, social media and creativity. There are plenty of free apps available in all of these areas.
2. Move accounting to the cloud
For small businesses, keeping well-maintained, orderly and frequently updated accounts is essential. However, it can seem like a tedious administrative process taking time away from innovation and research.
Productivity suffers when using outdated desktop software, or by sticking to spreadsheets. As an accounting alternative, you could become part of the 46% of UK SMEs already using cloud-based accounting software.
3. Sort out your cashflow
If you’re spending time worrying about late paying customers, something that is inevitable in business, then you need to take control of your cashflow. Maintaining a healthy cashflow will free you up to concentrate on other aspects of the business.
First ensure it’s as simple as possible for clients to pay you with their preferred method, send reminders and make your invoices clear. The best way to encourage customers to pay on time is to set up a system of automatic direct debit payments, ensuring maximum efficiency. If you combine this with a cloud-based accounting platform, you won’t even need to chase payments.
4. Utilise templates for repetitive jobs
There is a lot of day-to-day admin to deal with when running a small business, before you can get to the more glamourous stuff. The average working day will likely include many repetitive tasks, such as scheduling meetings, posting social media content and answering emails. Tackling these in an efficient way will free up time, and one way to do this is with specially created templates.
5. Hire a virtual assistant
These days, virtual assistants aren’t only restricted to large companies with lots of money. Increasing numbers of freelancers and small businesses are using this technology to increase productivity. Virtual assistants give the advantages of a physical assistant at a much lower cost.
