We live in an age when we work more hours and feel more stress trying to get more done. Technology, meant to simplify our lives, saps our attention and steals our time. The need for a more efficient operation as a Small Business Owner has ever been greater?
When you own a small business, there are dozens of clients and projects vying for your time and attention. It’s hard to figure out where to focus your resources and easy to become overwhelmed.
This post covers a list tips to help you stay more productive and organised in business. All these productivity tips are all small business owner tested, proven and approved.
1. Understand Time Management
As a small business owner, you know that time is your greatest asset. You can lose money and get it back. You can even lose a business and get it back. But time is irretrievable. That’s why you’ve got to protect it like a hawk.
You may be frequently interrupted or pulled in different directions. While you cannot eliminate interruptions, you do get a say on how much time you will spend on them and how much time you will spend on the thoughts, conversations and actions that will lead you to success.
2. Delegate task when necessary
If you’re a solopreneur, you will want to skip this step. For those small business owners with one or more employees, you will want to consider which tasks can be delegated from your to-do list to your employees.
Don’t take on the entire burden of moving the business forward. Instead, figure out which tasks should be accomplished by someone else and distribute them to better-equipped members among your team.
Also Read: How to Maintain Work-Life Balance As a Small Business Owner.
3. Always set realistic and timely goals
Successful businesses set goals. Without them, they have no defined purpose and nothing to strive for; consequently, they stagnate and struggle for meaningful accomplishments. Goals are stepping stones to an end result. They must be present in every business plan and become a regular part of ongoing daily business operations.
As much has it is important to set goals in business, it is also important that the goal set is realistic and can be achieved with the available business resources in a given timeline.
4. Avoid Distractions
Nowadays, aside unplanned meetings and appointments, distractions mostly come in two forms which are emails and social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Remember the days before emails and social media? No one does. Today’s business owners and professionals have become slaves to constantly checking their email and social media.
Take control of your inbox and social media platforms you active on and limit how often you access them stay sane and focused on the job.
5. Learn how to prioritise when everything is important
You know that sinking feeling you have when there’s too much on your plate? When you try to tackle your tasks by priority, but it feels like everything’s important?
The most important question to ask yourself is if everything is really important as they see? From this process, you can eliminate some task and keep your list of priorities as short as possible.
6. Create a comfortable workspace
The spaces we occupy shape who we are and how we behave. This has serious consequences for our psychological well-being and creative performance.
If you want to become more efficient and productive at work? Organising your office and your technology for maximum efficiency makes a big difference. Always ensure that your work environment is conducive and welcoming.
Also Read: 10 must-read books for startup founders, business owners and entrepreneurs.
7. Make your health a priority
Health is wealth they say! Don’t invest in your business at the expense of your personal well-being. Research suggests that poor nutrition and lack of physical activity is linked to lower productivity at work.
Encourage your team to maintain good health habits, too. If they’re sitting hunched at a particular spot all day, they could end up with health issues in the long term, which will only hurt your business’s performance.
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