It’s a universal problem amongst business owners. You’ve got no time. No time for lunch, no time for that meeting and definitely no time for that new project.
Short of adding extra hours to the day (not possible, we checked), there are some simple ways you can free up some of those precious hours in the workday.
Let Go of Control
We know your business is your baby, particularly if you’ve built it from the ground up. As you expand and take on employees, it’s tempting to keep a watchful eye over staff to ensure they’re doing things just the way you would. But this level of control freakery will cost you both time and trust. Have you ever met anyone who enjoyed being micromanaged? We haven’t either.
Have faith in your hiring decisions. Loosen those apron strings, let your staff do what they do best (and believe us, even the greatest employee never does their best with someone peering over their shoulder), and spend that time doing something much more constructive.
Turn to automation for a helping hand
Why waste time doing boring tasks when you can let a computer do it?
From setting up your social media accounts using an app like Buffer, which posts on a particular day and time, to apps that automatically sort and clean out your email inbox (Sanebox is a real workhorse for this, but if you use Gmail, Google has a huge range of rules you can set up to help keep your mailbox decluttered), there are a growing number of apps, sites and programmes to help you steal back some precious time.
We wrote a whole blog on automation not so long ago – for a more in-depth overview, check it out.
Know when to outsource
We’ve all been there. You’ve got some great ideas for your marketing strategy or your website and you’d like to tackle it yourself. It’ll save you money and be a good learning curve, right? In reality, you know you need to do some swatting up before you give it a bash, but the essential jobs keep piling up and your good ideas are left languishing on your to-do list.
There’s only one of you, and there’s only so much time in the day, so bringing in an expert who can do the job twice as fast as you can makes a lot of sense.
In this digital age, there’s almost instant access to talent from all over the globe. Whether you need a virtual assistant to shoot through your outstanding (and boring) admin or an accountant to crunch your numbers, it’s easier than ever to outsource, leaving you free to do what you do best.
Ditch the distractions and find some discipline
You likely already know what distracts you. Whether you’re a chronic text-checker, social media glutton or water-cooler natterer, you’re almost certainly contributing to the estimated 759 hours per year wasted by the average worker. So just get rid.
Stick your phone on silent, shut down social media sites (unless you work in social media, in which case, definitely don’t do that) or tell your colleagues in a decidedly polite manner that you’ve got stuff to do.
If you need a helping hand, the app SelfControl for Mac will let you block whatever website(s) are distracting you for whatever length of time you choose. Once you’ve set it going though, there’s no way to turn it off, even if you delete it! ColdTurkey is a great, but more lenient, alternative for PC users.
We can save you time by getting your books in order. Give us a call for a super-productive chat.