Ecommerce

6 Ways Business Owners Can Save Time

By Tinuiti Team

“Every year is getting shorter, Never seem to find the time” – Pink Floyd, Time

Time is never on our side. Maybe when we are sick, time heals. But each ticking minute is one less we have on our biological clocks to create the business reality we want to see.

A lot of us, including myself, like to pile on the responsibilities. I liked to think that only I could do the 20 – 30 different tasks on my to do list the right way. Others wouldn’t be able to understand, or do them with as much grace as I.

It was a naive opinion. Those tasks which would range from managing client accounts to writing blogs to going to conferences, sending out newsletters, writing white papers, coordinating webinars, finding products, suppliers, building websites, making music, videos, and tending to a girlfriend and family, all suffered ever so slightly when I added just one more thing to my list.

Just one more. It can’t hurt to add just one more thing.

But it does, and each additional responsibility adds another stress weight on our mind.

What many of us find when simplifying our responsibilities, is that we’re more productive.

We’re happier. Healthier. We re-instill that passion into the things we actually love to do instead of taking on all the things we can do.

The following five things are a few of literally thousands of things you can do to save yourself time and make more money in the process.

1. Hire an intern

At around $10 / hour, this is an extremely cost effective and scalable way to build out your business. Interns are hungry for these types of jobs as well, which gives them decent pay and experience on the front lines of a business.

2. Automate your email marketing

Check out services like mineful.com and Mail Chimp that help you do just that.

3. Make failure plans

Don’t go without a safety net. Scrambling to boot back up your website or marketing campaigns can waste time and have non-desirable results. Have a solid back up plan in place beforehand to save yourself time (and headaches).

Here’s some quick ways to find weaknesses in your marketing campaigns.

4. Get to know the right people

This is a gimme, but you’d be surprised how many people think they know the right people or find people similar to them that don’t really help their business. Mentors, consultants that have worked with large companies, and groups & forums can give you access to a new set of people and ideas that can help propel your business forward.

5. Delegate or outsource

Don’t try to do it all alone. Is your time best spent creating a data feed or finding products? Analyze your time each day, and prioritize how much of that time should be spent on high-value tasks. If you find that you’re doing 12 or more large, highly-different tasks, it may be time to look at which ones you can delegate internally or outsource so you can focus on initiatives that are more important to your business.

6. Workout, read, eat healthy

Simple, easy changes to your routine can do wonders to how much you enjoy your life, and how productive you are. You could go on a brisk one-mile walk around the block. Read just 10 pages of an interesting book or two (currently one of the favorites I’m reading is EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey), and have some fruit in the morning instead of the usual heavy eggs, sausage and toast.

Little changes build momentum which lead to big changes in productivity. In health. In time savings.

Take a few moments to analyze where you spend your time. What can you do to save it?

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