An entrepreneur cannot spend more valuable currency than time. Entrepreneurs rarely have a minute when they are not overwhelmed with more meetings, formulation of strategic decisions, marketing, and management of teams. Time is money especially when you are starting a business. It is important not only to develop a business but also to have a good work-life balance and a long-term sustainable company to learn how to do its best and waste the minimum of effort.
This paper has outlined twelve useful and workable time saving short cuts, which could enable the entrepreneur recover a few hours of his or her day, as well as increase productivity and concentration levels.
1. Group Together Similar Tasks in Batch
Multitasking may be efficient on paper however studies have always indicated that it does increase errors and completion times. Rather than keep alternating between various activities, you should attempt to bundle your similarities together. As an example, you can plan all your painting on Monday, your meetings with clients on Tuesday afternoons, and administration work on Friday. The process of batching will also reduce switching in the mind and you should be able to maintain the work rhythm.
2. Automation of Repeated Processes
Automation does not simply mean buzzword. It is among the strongest assets that an entrepreneur can utilize. Sites such as Make.com, Zapier and IFTTT help you to integrate tools such as Gmail, Slack, Trello, Google Sheets and CRMs into making automated workflows. It does not matter whether one is sending a follow-up email after a form submission, posting on social media, and updating databases; automation will save one time and minimize the chances of human error.
3. Establish Time Lines on Tasks
The tasks usually last as long as you give it. This is what is called Parkinson Law. Do not think that you have all the time in the world to do something but use time limit or deadline. An example is when you can spend half an hour writing a proposal or 15 mins reading emails. You will be astonished to know what you can manage under pressure and how many things you can also discard of unneeded perfectionism.
4. Outsource or Delegate unessential duties
You need to concentrate on high impact tasks of an entrepreneur as a strategist, an innovative person and a leader. Data entry, customer support, creating a posting schedule on the social media platforms, or even graphic design may be allocated to virtual assistance or a freelance worker. One can find talented specialists on such websites as Fiverr, Upwork, or Toptal. Delegation will open you to time to make decisions and work in areas that are growth-related.
5. Repeated work: use Templates
In case you tend to send the same types of email, make a presentation or create a proposal, then begin to work with templates. Templates such as emails, bills, social media captions bank, and proposal outlines enable you to be able to work quicker and even be consistent. It is a particularly successful hack when used by a sales team or content creation staff that has to generate mass amounts of repetitive work.
6. Plan The Night Before
Planning a day in advance is also one of the most productive time-saving habits that consist of about ten to fifteen minutes each day in the evening. Rank your three priorities, put important tasks in your calendar and get ready materials you may require. An early morning is a busy morning. It lessens decision fatigue and allows you to jump into action instead of finding yourself without a clue in what to do.
7. Make use of Calendar Blocking
The calendar blocking method implies allocating certain time blocks in your calendar to each work or type of work. This makes your timeline proactive as opposed to passive. As an instance, book 9 AM-2 hours on deep work tasks, 2 PM-3 PM on emails and 4 PM-5 PM meetings. This will reduce any distractions, prevent overbooking, and will make you organize your day according to what matters to you.
8. Where to use Voice Notes and Transcription Tools
It may be tedious to write long emails, blog entries or notes on meetings. Alternatively, tools namely Otter.ai, Google Voice Typing or simply use the recorder via smartphone. Record your voice in free conversation, later you can dictate it or edit it. It is particularly convenient when it comes to material writers, teachers, or entrepreneurs who should talk to people regularly and effectively.
9. Reduce Paper Work E.g. Eliminate Low Value Tasks
Everything to make your business grow is not the same. Weekly analysis: Carry out a review to determine and get rid of low value activities. Question yourself on what you could drop, outsource, or automate. Identify the time sinks, like the redundant meetings, reiterating or over-moderating the amount of scrolling on social media. When you eliminate what is not important, you make room to what is.
10. Establish Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Library
Written guides that explain how to undertake some given tasks within your business are known as Standard operating procedures (SOPs). The opportunity to record your work habits (how to get a new client, how to make a blog post) will help you to transfer knowledge to your new members and teach them quicker, be consistent, and reduce repeating explanations. Development of SOP library involves certain investment in time but the benefits of SOP library are multifold as it saves a lot of time by eliminating the necessity of delegation and other quality control related interventions.
11. Say No More frequently
Time saving does not only mean working faster but it also means establishing boundaries. A common pitfall that most entrepreneurs experience is that of a yes man or woman. Begin uttering the word no to whatever is not in line with your plans or adds minimal results. Time is an asset that should be respected and safeguarded unlike other resources you can have. Whenever you say no to something that does not matter, you say yes to something that is effective.
12. Cure Decision Fatigue
Entrepreneurs take decisions hundreds of times every week. This continually made decisions are due to product design to employment decisions and cause exhaustion and slowness of thought. In response, you might want to do so by streamlining minor daily choices. Put on a normal workwear, have an ordinary breakfast or follow a routine in the morning. More to the point, establish transparent decision-making models of business decisions, including criteria on hiring, launching, or investing. This eliminates tension and time wastage.
Conclusion
It is not being busy that shows one is productive. The clever entrepreneurs have grasped that the most valuable resource with which to work is time. These twelve hacks can help you save time to eliminate burnout and enhance performance to sharpen your efforts towards the growth of your business. Applying even only some of these will have a multiplicative effect and liberate hours per week and make you much clearer, efficient, and happy as an entrepreneur.
Start small. Choose 2-3 of these hacks and give them a test during the seven days that follow. Quantify the time you save, and what a stronger feeling of efficiency you have. When you have the positive results in terms of the time saved, you would find it relatively easier to develop additional time-efficient systems that would help in your long-term giving.
0 Comments