If you are a business owner, you know the struggle of having to work long hours and still not even making enough profit to pay your monthly expenses. It may seem impossible, but there are things such as risky business mandela effect that can be done in order to increase productivity and make life easier for yourself.
In this blog post I am going to highlight some of the easiest shortcuts that will take your business from barely scraping by to thriving! There is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to find these time saving tips helpful.
1. Create a workflow and stick to it.
Go through each day of the week and do your routine. Getting organized will save you so much time in the long run and help you stay focused on your schedule. For example, if you go out for dinners with friends on Friday nights, make sure to have dinner plans for the following Monday so Friday isn’t just a pig out night.
2. Print documents before leaving for work
When you leave for work every day, you can set up your own system for printing out documents that need to be read or referred to throughout the day, such as emails, contracts, business cards (much easier than now doing it all by hand) and all those spreadsheets that usually really pile up.
Make sure you have the printer setup and add it to your daily routine so you don’t forget.
3. Travel light
Do you ever feel like when you travel it feels like more of a hassle with all the luggage and having to wait for your bags at baggage claim? Try traveling light by packing only one or two suitcases (depending on how long you are going for) and only carry-on everything else. Lighten your load by eliminating extra weight in terms of clothes, shoes, toiletries etc. You can always stop at a grocery store on the way if needed so there is no reason why you can’t get everything out of one suitcase.
4. Buy in bulk
If you have the ability to buy in bulk, you can save a lot of money by buying in bulk on items such as paper, hygiene products and food. It is much more cost effective to buy 200 paper towels instead of having to buy 10 packs of 10 each time. When it comes to everyday hygiene products like toothpaste or shampoo, you are better off buying the biggest one that will last you a long time (3-4 months) rather than having to pick up smaller packages every two weeks. And for foods like cereal or crackers etc., it is usually cheaper to buy a large tub/bag instead of purchasing one pack at a time.
5. Use technology as an assistant .
If you don’t have the time to plan your schedule, you can use technology as an assistant by making a to-do list on your phone. This way, if you are looking at it, something that needs to get done is already there and in your mind.
6. Create a calendar for appointments.
Once you figure out your daily routine and what things need to get done should be on your calendar and not on your computer desktop. You should set up an electronic calendar where all your appointments are stored so when it comes time for the appointment, swipe across and the app will give you directions as well as show where to park within walking distance of the office/residence (with many apps like Google Maps these days).
7. Get rid of paper documents.
Delete those paper documents from your life and switch over to ones that are digital copies. You can use software like Dropbox or Google Drive where all the information is stored online and accessible from any device. Your information will be backed up so if you ever lose a device, you won’t lose your data as well, which is much more convenient than having to worry about losing a file on your computer or USB stick.
8. Get a scanner.
Instead of scanning a document by hand and then having to save it on your computer, you can purchase a scanner so you can scan all your paper documents and have them stored within the same area as your other digital files. It is also much more convenient to be able to quickly search for what you need rather than having to go through every single file in order to find it.
9. Get a Dropbox account (or any other cloud storage)
Dropbox is probably the most popular cloud storage service at the moment with over 200 million users worldwide and constantly growing. Even if you are not a Dropbox user, you are most likely already using some kind of cloud storage.
10. Harvest ideas.
If you have some time on the weekend or late at night, go to your computer & look for articles on Facebook or Google+ (which is similar to Twitter). Go through the articles that are trending and see what those topics are so in the future you will know what is trending and what could be useful tips for your business.
Conclusion:
These are just some of the many shortcuts that can be done in order to save time and increase productivity for your business. Whether you are a business owner or just an employee, this information is beneficial to both.
