Running a small business is not a small endeavour.
When funds are limited and teams are small, small business owners tend to get too involved in the details and lose sight of the big picture. And because they try to do everything (or almost everything) on their own, they become disorganised which affects their productivity. To catch up with an ever-expanding to-do list, they take short-cuts, which leads to further disorganisation and confusion, and an even more serious productivity loss. This then becomes a vicious cycle that is very difficult to break.
Q: What is the only way to prevent such an occurrence and keep your business on the right path?
A: Become more organised!
If you are a small business owner, it is in your own interest to be more organised. Of course, organising your business is not just about clearing meeting room clutter, untangling wires or getting rid of unnecessary paperwork. It involves creating new systems and procedures, getting rid of outdated technology and even implementing new ways of thinking.
Today’s Tuesday Tips article provides 3 simple strategies to help you organise your business and take better charge of your productivity. You can either try one strategy at a time for slow and sustained improvement, or you can adopt all three and make sweeping changes to completely revamp your organisation’s approach to operations and productivity.
1. Organise your paperwork
The world may be turning digital but this does not mean a complete elimination of paper. In fact, paper is one of the biggest sources of disarray in offices all over the world.
Small businesses in particular generate a lot of paperwork but are unprepared to deal with the volume. So if you don’t yet have a physical filing system (files and cabinets still work quite well) or even better, a digital document management/archiving system, implement one!
Take a look at the paperwork lying around on desks, in drawers and in conference rooms. And implement some or all of these ideas:
- Make a ‘keep’ pile and a ‘discard’ pile; identify the types of paperwork that will go in each
- Move all the ‘keep’ papers to your filing or archiving system
- Shred or recycle all the papers in the ‘discard’ pile
- Scan and digitise all important documents and move them to your digital system
- Use software to digitally sign documents like contracts. Check what other software you can use to digitise your office
2.Organise your technology
If you do the bulk of your work on a computer, you already know that it doesn’t take very long for your machine to become a cluttered morass of icons, applications, documents, emails and downloads.
This kind of clutter slows down your computer’s performance and also affects your productivity. The same is true of your team members.
Here are some things you and your people can do right now to get your computers organised:
- Clear your desktop of everything but the most important apps/softwares
- Delete all documents, softwares and emails you no longer use or need
- Install the latest versions of applications (including security software like anti-virus, firewall, anti-malware, etc)
- Set up a digital filing system to organise everything either by utility, type or priority
- Regularly scan for viruses, malware and other issues that may be slowing down your computer
- Back up your data
- Run a regular maintenance schedule to keep your system running smoothly
- Organise your email inbox: create folders, archive old emails and delete emails you longer need
3. Take charge of your productivity with the right tools
Every business uses certain apps and tools to manage operations, to hire staff and to manage relationships with clients/vendors/contractors, etc.
Take stock of the apps and tools you are using in your business. Do they still meet your needs? Are they outdated? Can they be replaced by better/cheaper/lighter alternatives?
A number of tools are available to help small business owners boost their productivity outcomes. Do your research and figure out what you need. Here are some areas you might want to address first:
- Intra- and inter-office communication
- Training
- Accounting and bookkeeping
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Travel and expense tracking
- Invoicing and billing
- Email management
- Project management
- Social media management
Many of these tools are free. But even if you have to invest in paid tools, the investment usually pays off very quickly. In other words, the expense will be worth it!
Conclusion
These tips will surely help you organise your small business and improve your productivity. Pair these activities with a resolution to take charge of your productivity and you will be able to prevent your business from running away from you.
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