Ask any small business owner what they need more of, and the answer (probably) won’t be money – it’ll be time. And they’ll mean the kind of time that lets them plan ahead so they’re not constantly playing catch-up, or so they can have a bit of a break between jobs rather than always running from one to another.
The problem is that when you’re running the show, it’s easy to feel like every task is urgent, and stepping away from anything can feel risky. That’s why it’s a good idea to learn how to free up time (without cutting corners), and with that in mind, here are a few ideas to help you – read on to find out more.
Know Where Your Time Goes
It sounds obvious, but many small business owners don’t realise just how much time is eaten up by repetitive admin, and a few minutes here and there answering the same questions, or a couple of hours dealing with accounts each week soon adds up.
So if you find yourself regularly pulled away from core work – the thing your business is really about – it’s worth stepping back and asking what’s actually essential for you to be doing. In that way, you’ll know what you focus on and what to potentially hand over to others, which brings us to our next point.
Let The Experts Handle It
One of the best ways to reclaim at least some of your time is by trusting others with the tasks that don’t actually need your personal touch. And when you do that, you’re not shirking your responsibilities as a business owner – far from it, because it’s actually a strategic, and perhaps even vital, move to make.
You might want to hire a virtual assistant, for example, or you could bring in someone to manage your bookings, or it could be that outsourcing payroll is the right thing for you to do, but whatever it is, delegating tasks can take a massive weight off your shoulders. Plus, it means the jobs get done faster and very often better because they’re in the hands of people who specialise in that exact thing.
Focus On What You Do Best
Freeing up time isn’t just about doing less, by the way – what you’re really doing is making space to do more of what matters, which could be anything from building new client relationships, to planning your next move, to just having the time to think a bit more clearly.
The point is, when you’re not drowning in admin, your business starts to feel a lot more like the one you imagined when you first launched it, and very often that’s going to mean you get a lot of your motivation back and you can go a lot further.
Keep Things Running Smoothly
Of course, letting go doesn’t mean you’ve got to lower your standards – and it actually shouldn’t. It just means trusting that with the right systems (and perhaps with the right people), things can run smoothly without you having to do absolutely everything.
And when you have that all in place, you’re not cutting corners, but instead you’ve found a better way of running your business, and that’s fantastic.
