Almost every small business owner that I have worked with wants badly to become more organized and more efficient with their time. They know that the growth of their business is limited by a lack of organization and efficiency. But they just can’t seem to find a solution—which is normally why they call me.
In my experience, part of the reason that it’s so hard for business owners to “break through” and become better organized and more effective is because of the bad habits that are holding them back. Below are five habits that I have found to be especially common:
1) Stop micromanaging. Let your team do their jobs! You have better things to do than closely supervise the activity of your employees. Hire well, train your team, follow up—but don’t watch over their shoulder all day long. Spend less time micromanaging and more time on “high level” strategic functions.
2) Stop procrastinating important decisions. Another habit that is very common is simply procrastinating. We all have “big issues” that we don’t look forward to dealing with—perhaps laying off an employee, switching to a new vendor, or implementing a new billing system. But the longer you put off the decision, the longer it takes before you can move forwards.
3) Stop allowing yourself to be distracted. Distractions are fatal to productivity. Email is usually the worst offender, but there are plenty of additional interruptions that slow business owners down. Designate several blocks of time each day as “distraction free” and train your staff not to interrupt unless it’s an emergency.
4) Stop “drifting” through your day. Start each day by going over your to-do list and putting into priority order. Otherwise, you’ll find that you spend the bulk of your time on tasks that simply aren’t as important.
5) Stop putting up with disorganization. When it comes to disorganization, whether it’s regarding invoicing, collections, record-keeping, or whatever… stop putting up with it! Stop justifying it. An organized small business is a more profitable small business—I’ve seen this time and time again.
Questions or comments? Want to learn more? Please contact me today!