You probably think you don’t have enough hours in the day to do everything you need to do in the office or on the go with your smartphone, tablet and headset. Any chance some of the time you spend running your small business is nonproductive or just plain wasteful? That’s what Jane Porter suggests in a recent article in “7 Ways You’re Wasting Time and Don’t Even Know It,” that ran recently in Forbes.
Porter is a freelance journalist who writes for leading business magazines. In her experience, small business owners may not realize how much time they actually waste on some tasks. She offers practical suggestions for change.
Overload on administrative work? Porter believes that too often, small business owners waste time on tasks they don’t like or aren’t even good at – reconciling a bank statement or website maintenance are two of her examples. Better to outsource tasks like these if they aren’t your cup of tea or take up too much of your time. It’s far less expensive in the end.
Micromanage employees: Are you wasting precious time hand-holding employees to make sure they do the job you want properly? Stop doing it; it’s a waste of your very precious time. Harsh as it may seem, if someone on your team can’t work independently, find someone who can.
Reinvent the wheel: If you find it hard to let go of projects that looked promising at one point, but no longer are, ask yourself what you’re hoping to get out of them. It just might be time to drop a project and move on.
Repeat same things over and over: If you have to answer the same question from customers over and over, create a template for a standard reply. Streamline tasks like email responses to common queries, client letter, meeting agendas and invoices with templates.
Porter offers a few other tips and you can read them all here. Next time you find yourself saying, “I’m wasting time on this,” stop and think about how you can change the situation.
Any recommendations you’d like to offer from your own experience about saving time during your day?