If you run a business, you know how difficult it is to keep up with all the aspects that need attention: strategizing, communicating with clients, human resources, budgeting, etc. To manage all of these important components of your business, you need to learn how to delegate tasks and manage your time as efficiently as possible.
If you struggle with constantly feeling behind, here are six tips to keep you more organized.
Table of Contents
1. Use an Enterprise Resource Planning Software
If you aren’t using enterprise resource planning (ERP) software already, this is a major way to organize your business for success and productivity. This software helps with daily tasks like:
- Accounting
- Project management
- Supply chain operations
- Procurement
Overall, this software helps budget, plan, and report on a business’s financial success. Essentially, ERP intakes all of your business’s data to check that all individual channels of the work are being done correctly and in a way that maximizes growth.
2. Keep Track of To-Do’s and Deadlines
Write down your to-do’s and deadlines and stick to them! Learn how to prioritize tasks in order of what needs to be done and stick to that plan.
Practice estimating the time it will take for you to handle your to-dos and meet deadlines. The sooner you can predict the workload behind your tasks, the more you can get into a good flow of an ergonomic work week.
3. Respond to Emails Promptly
Everyone hates emails, but it’s imperative to give them your attention as they come in. It sounds like a challenge for anyone who’s a bit scattered, and it’s easier to let the mailbox grow and deal with it later. However, being prompt will make your life easier in the long run.
Try carving out two times in the day to check your inbox so that you never have too many to respond to at once.
4. Use a Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant is a great way to pass off mundane tasks that drive you crazy to someone happy to do them. Virtual Assistants are self-employed freelancers ready to jump in and do tasks like schedule appointments, create slideshows or presentations, place orders, and more. This is one of the best ways to take the pressure off your shoulders every day at work.
5. Utilize the Cloud
Accidents happen all the time. Safeguard against those frustrating lost files or spreadsheets by utilizing the cloud for all of your programs and apps. This makes working from anywhere much easier. Many tools and cloud hosting sites offer business storage plans so you can affordably store your files.
6. Improve Your Time Management Skills
Time management is a difficult thing for most people and according to the Harvard Business Review, it’s about more than just life hacks. Improve your own time management skills by finding ways to be efficient with the time you don’t think of. If you take the train to work, use that as a moment to clear out your inbox before you even step into the office.
Also, don’t be afraid to take breaks throughout the day to give your brain a quick reset. The more you push yourself through the day without taking a moment, the more stress and physical discomfort your body will feel.
Conclusion
These six steps are just six of the many ways you can work on running an organized and successful small business. If you follow this guide, you will improve time management, communicate with others faster, and expedite your workflow.
The sooner you can use these skills, the faster you’ll see changes in your overall efficiency at work!
