8 Ways to Gain More Independence in Your Business
We asked fellow business owners and leaders for their best advice on how to help small business owners save time in their day-to-day business processes. From delegating to others to being intentional with emails, there are several ways that may help you gain more independence as you scale your business.
Here are eight tips for increasing productivity in your business:
Consolidate Business Communications
Save Time by Mentoring Others
Effectively Delegate
Innovate Solutions to Reduce Time-Consuming Tasks
Prioritize Growth and Improvement
Create Marketing Systems
Ask Yourself What You’re Spending Your Time On
Be Intentional With Your Emails
Be Intentional With Your Emails
I have found that a great business tip to free up more time in your day is to be intentional about answering emails. I check my emails at the same time every day and allot myself a certain amount of time to get through everything. If I open and read an email, I try to respond to it then and there. That way there’s no wasted time in reading it, marking it as unread and then rereading it again later when I come back to it. This simple practice has proven to be very effective and helps free up some of my time throughout the day.
Ryan Nouis, TruPath
Consolidate Business Communications
Since the start of the pandemic, many U.S. businesses have tried and continue to dabble in remote work. The advantage here is that employees get some time back in their days by removing long commutes. The disadvantage is that you can start feeling bombarded by business communication.
How much of your day is taken up hopping around from app to app on Zoom calls, phone calls, Slack messages, emails, and so on? Consolidating business communications in a single app, like Nextiva or other major VoIP brands, is a great way to keep yourself productive and focused throughout the day. This will also help reduce any burnout you're experiencing.
Devin Pickell, Nextiva
Save Time by Mentoring Others
I have heard business leaders say they do not have time to be a mentor. Look at being a mentor as an investment. The more skilled, efficient, trusting, and trustworthy people you develop, the more you can pass along the tasks that take up your day. Effective mentors can even afford to take vacations!
Denise Meridith, World's Best Connectors LLC
Effectively Delegate
"It's just faster if I do it myself." That is a phrase that I hear often as an HR consultant and leadership coach. It is a myth — and it should be dispelled. Learning to effectively delegate frequent, low-risk, but important activities to team members (employees or independent contractors) is a great way to free up your time.
First, sit back and analyze your own tasks and activities and then start small. Give away something that you do frequently (at least weekly), that is low risk (you won't lose a client if you delegate it), is important (it really can't be ignored), and that you can teach another person to do in less than 30 minutes. Write a short, bulleted procedure to go with it, and give it a try.
Whatever time you invest in prepping your procedure and training the person to whom you delegate, you'll get that time back (and then some!) if they take on that task a couple of times. Saving the best of your time and energy for higher level business needs is a key to success in every business!
Niki Ramirez, HRAnswers.org
Innovate Solutions to Reduce Time-Consuming Tasks
When I first began my marketing career, I thought it would be beneficial to the rest of my team if I tried to help out with as many tasks as I could within the workweek. However, I quickly realized this made me burn out more than anything. Now, I utilize the time I spent running around doing miscellaneous assignments trying to find solutions to these time-consuming tasks. This includes finding solutions to automate more manual tasks and not being afraid to ask for help where I need it.
Thylan Le, Markitors
Prioritize Growth and Improvement
Oftentimes, business owners instinctively want to micromanage every aspect of their business. This can be limiting in the long run, as well as unnecessarily time-consuming. Prioritize higher-level tasks related to growth or improvement, and delegate more tasks to get daily operations done and new ideas executed without needing your constant input.
Trust in your team and assign leadership roles to keep departments running smoothly. Using a project management tool like Basecamp or Slack can help you keep track of your team's workload and efficiency. Hiring a sales team, or working with a marketing agency can also help offset the stress of growing your business.
Abigail Mulvin, Monsoon Marketing
Create Marketing Systems
Start or grow your marketing systems and processes. Having these in place will help free up time and make sure your prospects and customers are feeling valued. Instead of one-on-one meetings, use digital marketing to amplify your marketing efforts and keep you top of mind. From networking follow-up to lead generation and brand awareness, building marketing systems will open up more time in your day. You can outsource this work to an agency or you can start small and review your daily activities to find one thing you can automate.
Tanya Gagnon, Miss Details
Ask Yourself What You’re Spending Your Time On
Take note of where your hours are going towards to see what is sapping most of your work. Is it a client asking too much or are their administrative processes holding you up? By keeping track, you can ask better questions on how to spend your time, like if part of your business can be automated or handed off to someone else or if boundaries need to be set to open yourself to better opportunities.
Jacob Byers, Ohmni