As a business owner, it can often be difficult to find enough hours in the day to do all of the things that you need to do. Every business owner out there dreams of the day when their business will operate like a well-oiled machine and they will have enough time in the day to complete all the tasks on their list with ease. Unfortunately, this dream rarely becomes a reality for business owners and this is mostly down to poor time management. If this sounds like you, the good news is that there is a lot that you can do to change your approach so you save more time moving forward.
Oftentimes, business owners become rigid in their approach and fight change. When it comes to managing your time more efficiently, you need to look at your daily schedule and see where you can gain back some time. Time management is a skill and is something that you can work on to make your days more manageable and reduce the time you spend at work so you have a better work/life balance. As no two businesses are the same, it’s crucial that you do a quick time audit to see what tasks are eating up the majority of your time. Identifying what tasks take up the most time will help you to make the right changes for your particular situation so you can manage your time more efficiently.
Let’s take a look at some useful time-saving tips that you can use to improve your time management.
Utilize Business Software
There are countless different business software tools that you can use to streamline your business processes and save time. Many of these tools have automation features that can save you a huge amount of time on a variety of different tasks. A retail staff scheduling tool can make creating staff rotas much quicker, payroll tools will make managing payroll much more straightforward and inventory management tools are designed to save you time tracking and looking after your stock. With so many different types of tools available, be sure to do your research and choose the tools that will meet the needs of your business the best.
Streamline Your Emails
Most business owners receive one to two hundred emails per day. Even if you only spend two minutes replying to each of these emails, this one task can take up a huge amount of your time each day. To minimize the amount of time you spend on your emails each day, aim to write shorter, more succinct emails and replies. Take the time to unsubscribe from email lists that you no longer want or need to read.
Use Do Not Disturb Features
If you use programs such as Skype or other communication tools, make sure to put yourself to “Do not Disturb” so that you can focus on what you are doing instead of constantly being interrupted by notifications that you don’t have time to reply to. This simple change will put you back in control of your time and ensure that you can concentrate on important tasks without distraction.
Plan Your Day
As the old adage goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail”. Knowing exactly what you are trying to accomplish each day before you ever sit down at your desk will ensure you get as much as possible out of each day, Whether you use to-do-lists, a time-management app or write down what you are trying to accomplish on a whiteboard, being organized is one of the best ways to manage your time more efficiently as a business owner.
Learn To Delegate
For many small business owners that have been operating their own business for years, it can be difficult to relinquish control and trust others to carry out jobs for you. However, if you truly want to manage your time more efficiently moving forward, you must learn to trust in your team and hand tasks off to them as much as you possibly can. While you might need to invest time, money and energy in hiring and training a team to be able to complete various tasks to your own high standards, it will be worth it in the long run and save you a lot of time as your business continues to grow.
Take Control Of Your Business And Save Time Going Forward
Time is valuable and as a business owner, you need to be sure that you do everything you can to use the time available to you as well as you possibly can. Following the advice outlined above, you can quickly transform how you manage your time in the future so that you get the most out of each and every day, so that you maximize the potential of your company.