Simplify Your Business: 12 Secrets to Entrepreneurial
Freedom
By
Stephanie Chandler
Finding
balance between work and the rest of your life is not
always easy, but it is essential. Your business cannot
truly thrive if you are the center of everything, and
your family cannot thrive if the majority of your
attention is spent on your business.
Many
entrepreneurs say they own a business because they want
freedom and flexibility, yet when it comes down to it,
these benefits are few and far between. Without systems
and processes in place, the owner ends up like an
over-worked dog trying to swim against a current. It
becomes nearly impossible to get ahead.
You can
make the choice to change the entire course of your
business. By making a few important changes, you can
remove the handcuffs that are keeping you chained to
your business and rediscover the benefits of
entrepreneurial life.
1.
Step Away from the Electronics
It’s
easy to feel like the world might end if you couldn’t
check e-mail for several hours or if you turned your
phone off (gasp) all afternoon. But if you can break the
electronics habit slowly, you will discover that the
world continues to turn. Clients will still be there,
problems will not put you out of business and sometimes,
problems might even get resolved before you even knew
they existed. Most importantly, you will gain back your
most valuable commodity: time.
2.
Schedule Your Time
Jumping
between various tasks throughout the day makes it
difficult to focus and sabotages time management. Create
blocks of time in your schedule with specific days and
times for meeting with clients, working on your
business, taking care of paperwork, updating your blog,
etc. For example, you might catch up on paperwork on
Mondays, attend client meetings on Tuesdays and
Thursdays, work on business development on Wednesday
afternoons and make cold calls on Friday mornings.
3.
Get Organized
A
tremendous amount of productivity is lost due to
disorganization. If you no longer know what the top of
your desk looks like, it’s time to put some systems in
place. If you need help getting there, hire a
professional organizer. This service will pay for itself
in multiple.
4.
Create Templates
Anything you do repeatedly, such as developing proposals
for new clients or sending sales letters, should be done
with templates. Create an outline that you can update
and reuse over and over again.
5.
Develop Process Manuals
You can
dramatically reduce training time and ongoing support
needs of your staff by providing a procedures manual.
Set the expectation with employees that they must check
the manual before calling you.
6.
Create a Price List
Too
many service providers arbitrarily set prices. If you
are guilty as charged, your business will benefit from a
price list. The key is to be consistent, give some
serious thought and analysis to your pricing structure
and then stick to your prices. You don’t have to publish
your price list unless you want to, but use it as an
internal document.
7.
Set up E-mail Filters
When I
began creating filters for e-mail, my productivity shot
up. You can set up filters to route non-urgent messages
to various folders such as “Social Networking Requests,”
“Discounts,” and “Save for Later.” Schedule a block of
time on your calendar to deal with these messages once
each week.
8.
Manage Bill Payments
Put
your bills on auto-pay and minimize the amount of time
and energy wasted on this task each month. If you’re not
comfortable with that, at least take advantage of online
bill pay with your bank. This is a simple, effective way
to quickly get the bills off of your desk.
9.
Collect Payments Online
If you
invoice your clients for payment, consider sending
electronic statements. Most credit card processors
(including Paypal) allow you to send electronic
invoices. They’re quick and easy and as a bonus, can
speed up the time it takes to collect payments. Many
clients find it convenient to simply pay with a credit
card or check online in order to move the item out of
their Inbox.
10.
Hire a Bookkeeper
If
you’re doing your own books or worse, you are operating
on the “shoebox” method of accounting, you are not
taking your business seriously. This is why bookkeepers
and accountants exist. For a reasonable fee, you can
have a professional take care of the details while you
focus on what you do best. You don’t have to hand over
your checkbook, just your receipts.
11.
Get a Filing Basket
Since
filing is about as much fun as scrubbing a toilet, many
busy business owners let this task slide. If this sounds
like you, simply put a basket near your desk and toss in
all receipts, paid bills, notes, etc. that need to be
filed. Though the magic filing fairy doesn’t exist and
won’t swoop in to help, it will help clear up your
space. You can tackle the basket once each month and it
won’t be nearly as painful as you imagined.
12.
Get Help
One of
the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is trying to do
it all. Unless you have superhuman powers, there comes a
point when you must admit that it is impossible to do
everything for everyone every day. Decide at what point
it makes sense to hire help. If you can’t afford an
employee, consider hiring a virtual office assistant –
someone who performs administrative tasks from their own
home. You can also find subcontractors for all kinds of
work through Craigslist.org, elance.com or
rentacoder.com.
About the Author:
Stephanie
Chandler is the author of several business and marketing
books, workbooks and e-books including FROM ENTREPRENEUR
TO INFOPRENEUR: MAKE MONEY WITH BOOKS, E-BOOKS AND
INFORMATION PRODUCTS. She is the founder of
http://BusinessInfoGuide.com, a directory of
resources for entrepreneurs and
http://ProPublishingServices.com, a custom writing
business specializing in electronic newsletters.
*This article can be reprinted
provided the author bio is included.
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