6 Productivity Tips For Small Business Owners
Small business owners have a lot of balls in the air at any given time. They are juggling their own needs and wants of their staff and the needs and wants of their customers—sometimes all at the exact same moment.
When you are so busy taking care of everyone else’s responsibilities, it can be challenging to find the time to get your work done. But if you want to be successful, you must make sure that you put your own needs first.
That calls for ensuring that you have a strategy for doing everything inside the allotted time (and, in some cases, before). If you have a small business, here are six productivity tips for small business owners that can help ensure that you stay on top of it all.
1. Don’t Waste Time Searching For Information In Multiple Places
More information sources mean more work and wasted time. Many entrepreneurs feel forced to have social media, news, and business network accounts, but they seldom use them. Wastes time. If you don’t need multiple news sources, don’t subscribe.
Don’t waste time searching for information in multiple places. Ensure you have all of your data in one place and accessible from wherever you are. You can use a database program like Excel or Google Sheets or get organized with an app like Evernote or Trello to help increase your productivity.
2. Don’t Get Sidetracked
When you’re working from home, it’s straightforward to become sidetracked. If you’re struggling to stay focused, it’s easy to get distracted by less important activities, such as playing with your cat or scrolling through Instagram. But if you want to get things done, you need to keep your attention on the task at hand and avoid distractions.
Stay away from the “following your friends” trap if you use social media. It could take hours to break yourself out of it. If someone posts a link, look only at the first two sentences and find something that piques your interest before moving on to the next post.
To help keep yourself on track, create a daily schedule that includes work-related tasks and personal ones. Then stick to the plan!
3. Work Smarter, Not Harder
You know that time is precious if you’re a small business owner. And if you’re an entrepreneur, you know that time is even more special—especially if you’ve got a family to care for. So it’s no wonder that when someone tells you to “work smarter, not harder,” it sounds like precisely the kind of advice that will help you get things done without putting in extra hours or doing extra work.
This means spending more time on the things that will yield the results you’re looking for rather than doing more of what isn’t going to help. As a small business owner, no one will pay you if you don’t generate revenue – so if it’s not adding value, get rid of it.
4. Write Things Down Even When They Are Easy to Remember
It’s a simple tip, but it can make a huge difference in your productivity. If you’re trying to remember something important and you don’t write it down, you’ll quickly forget what’s important and what isn’t. And then you’ll waste time trying to remember things that aren’t that important.
Nonetheless, if you jot down everything that needs to be done, you will always have a record of what has been accomplished and when.
5. Hold Yourself Accountable by Scheduling Time on the Calendar
Scheduling in your day is more important than you think. When you have a calendar, you will consistently advance and accomplish tasks in your day. If some study doesn’t get done by 7:30 am, it isn’t going to happen that day but will likely happen the next or the next after that.
To enhance your career, it’s crucial to get a better handle on your time and priorities to delegate wisely.courses.
6. Commit What Needs to Be Done Today, Tomorrow, and the Next Day Right Now
This is the lowest hanging fruit of productivity tips for small business owners if you’re having a bad day. On our walk out the door at night, we’ve all been told to jot down three tasks we need to accomplish. In the morning, when you get up, not only have you written down these three things, but they’re also done and off your plate.
The Takeaway
These tips should be enough to help you get back on track and get your small business up and running again. The key to remember is to keep going! If you’re not feeling super productive, that’s ok—keep working on the little things until they add up to significant accomplishments.
Whew, that was a lot of information! But we know you’re a superstar, and you can handle it. You should also check out tips for green business sustainability now that you know what to do to get your small business up and running efficiently. Check out our blog for more business-savvy tips.
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Meet The Writer!
Hello! My name is Kat and I hold a degree in Master of Science in Biology. I authored scientific journals about molecular biology. To take a break from the scientific pieces I'm working on, I am distressed by writing about lifestyle, business, tech, even general articles. Read my articles and you might learn a thing or two! You can connect with me through Twitter: @KatSarmiento007.
