When you’re running a business, hard work and determination is the foundation of success. But what happens when you’re working to capacity already? Sometimes, implementing smart ways of working to complement your hard work improves efficiency, boosts productivity and enables you to run your business in a healthy, balanced way.
As Virtual Assistants, we work with a range of small businesses with the aim of making their day to day working lives simpler by implementing smart working tactics.
Check out our top tips below for working smarter when you’re already working hard…
How to Work Smarter
Getting Your Priorities Right
Working smarter starts with getting your priorities right. With so many tasks on your to-do list, it can feel like you’re drowning in a never-ending workload. You may even feel the need to extend your hours after the working day to keep on top of things.
Effective prioritisation, however, gives you a clearer picture of what needs your urgent attention, and what can wait. Take the Eisenhower Matrix, for example – this highlights tasks that are both urgent and important, allowing you to focus on these while other tasks can be scheduled for a later date.
Prioritising in this way helps to reduce your daily workload, and thus feelings of overwhelm. It can assist you in building a manageable work schedule and stops things spilling over into your down time. All tasks are still completed, just in an order than best suits you and the urgent needs of your business.
Definitely a smarter way to work as far as we’re concerned!
Sharing the Load
While it’s normal to think you should be able to manage everything yourself as a small business owner, that definitely doesn’t have to be the case! In fact, some of the most successful businesses are those that rely on the support of others to make that success possible.
This is why outsourcing and delegating is a key aspect in working smarter. Your role as a small business owner is to work on the core aspects of your business, as well as those that you are most passionate about. This is where you will exceed. When it comes to outsourcing or delegating, it’s best to pinpoint those tasks that take up plenty of time but don’t necessarily have a direct impact on business success.
Take admin, for example. It’s important and needs to be done, but it isn’t what will propel your business to the next level. Therefore, consider outsourcing it. By doing so you’ll free up hours of your own time while still ensuring all admin is completed in a timely manner and to your high standards.
The same goes for tasks like marketing – you may not be an expert in this area which might mean it becomes a bit of a chore for you. Outsourcing this to a marketing professional again saves you time, meaning you can put all your energy into the parts of your business that spark joy for you.
Select outsource professionals or virtual assistants who are experienced in supporting small business owners to develop a smarter way of working.
Streamlining Processes
Sometimes it’s not the sheer number of tasks forcing you to work harder, but the processes involved in completing those tasks.
If your processes aren’t quite right or working well enough, it can really slow things down, causing hold-ups and potentially extra work for yourself that could be avoided.
If your processes are feeling a bit slow and stilted, sit down and review them carefully. Make small changes or tweaks, remove parts of the process that are surplus to requirement or delegate parts that are taking up too much of your time. By doing this, you should be left with processes that are streamlined, faster and easier to complete.
The goal here is to get from A to B in the most efficient way possible, reducing workload and freeing up your time and energy that can then be poured back into your business is different ways.
If your processes are making you work harder, take some time to streamline them.
Setting Achievable Goals
Setting big goals for your small business is natural. You want to strive for the best ad get there as quickly as possible. Sometimes, however, this can make work feel overwhelming, especially if your goals feel out of reach or unachievable in the moment.
In the spirit of working smarter to achieve these goals instead of harder, try breaking the goals down into manageable chunks. Or example, if you want to sell 1000 extra products by the end of the year, work out how many products you need to sell per week to achieve that. Review your progress at the end of each week and chances are, you will have achieved that goal. These small wins not only leave you feeling motivated and pleased with your progress, but they’re also allowing you to move slowly but surely towards your original goal.
You haven’t lowered your expectations or moved the goal posts; you’ve simply made achieving your goals easier in the meantime while you work towards you end goal – a simple way to work smarter with plenty of added benefits for your mindset!
Balancing Work and Life
Often, we think in order to achieve more, we must do more. More work, more hours, more goals, more challenges. And while hard work and determination are the foundation of any successful small business, tipping the scales in the wrong direction can have the opposite effect.
If you find yourself often run into the ground and overwhelmed with workload, you’ll know that your productivity levels during this time tend to drop off and passion and motivation for your business wane.
In this case, it can be more beneficial to take a step back and revaluate your work-life balance. Taking time away from work – even for a few hours – allows you time to rest and rejuvenate, clear your mind and feel more focused. This, in turn, will help you boost those productivity and motivation levels again when you get back to your business.
Working harder isn’t always about bleeding yourself dry for your business. You can work hard and be smart about it by maintaining a healthy work-life balance that benefits both you and your small business.
Small Business Support with The Edwards Company
Here at The Edwards Company, we’re all about working smarter. Our team of virtual assistants can step in to streamline your processes, reduce your workload and keep things running smoothly so that you can focus on the parts of your business that bring you joy.
For more information on our small business support packages, please do not hesitate to get in touch.