Whether you’re operating a growing startup or going it alone, running a small business is guaranteed to take up a lot of your time. On top of hiring employees, managing client relations, and filing taxes, you need to worry about making the whole thing run efficiently.
For many businesses, it’s that last part that’s the hardest hurdle to overcome. Unfortunately, the costs of business inefficiency can be devastating. Among other things, business inefficiency wastes time, bleeds money, reduces service quality, and damages employee morale.
The good news: there are plenty of ways to make your small business run more smoothly. Here are five simple tips to get you started.
- Delegate What You Can
Many business owners insist on doing everything themselves, which is rarely a sustainable business plan. By delegating the smaller tasks to your employees, you put accountability on them and make the business run more efficiently. To make the most of this approach, consider your employees’ strengths and weaknesses before delegating tasks to them.
Also, don’t try to micromanage the delegated tasks, as that defeats the whole purpose. Monitoring their progress in the beginning is fine, but try to reduce your influence over time.
- Upgrade Your Accounting System
Your accounting is the lynchpin of your business’s financial system. This system keeps notes of every dollar you spend, so you’ll want to make sure that it’s doing it efficiently. Research the most popular accounting software packages (such as Xero, Wave Accounting, and QuickBooks) and pick one that offers features your business needs the most.
- Foster Community Development
Developing a community centered around your business can be one of the best methods of creating new business opportunities. One good way to get started is to create a public forum or Discord server for discussion. This can produce new concepts or lead to invaluable feedback that can help you streamline your business model.
- Consolidate Your Tasks
Studies show that we’re more productive when we focus on a single task instead of taking on several activities at once. If that’s the case, why not consolidate the tasks that involve similar processes? For example, dedicate the first part of your morning to your email correspondence. This can include anything from follow-ups to client relations messages.
- Manage Your Schedule
Tackling a busy schedule is one of the biggest challenges for any business owner. One way to keep your appointments in order is to use a time-management service. Your best bet is Google Calendar, which comes with an easy-to-use interface and various integrations to popular tools. For a dedicated schedule appointment app, consider Appointlet or Setmore.