The responsibilities of a small business owner can feel like a never-ending cycle. It’s no wonder why a lot of entrepreneurs feel stressed and overwhelmed by their job.
While it can feel like there’s no escape, learning how to track and manage your time more effectively can help you avoid burnout and boredom, as well as increase productivity and satisfaction with your work. Here are four time tracking strategies for your business.
Take Care of Your Time
Time is a precious commodity. All business owners need to take care of their time. Otherwise, they’d end up spending it on less important things.
As a business owner, you need to track where you spend your time. The best way to do this is to make an activity log.
Activity logs track how much time you spend doing specific tasks. It also helps you determine which areas of your schedule need altering.
For example, maybe you’re spending too much time chatting with employees in the break room during lunch. Or you might be spending two hours answering emails and calls and marketing your small business instead of doing more important things like finalizing seasonal reports or managing your team.
Once you determine these flaws in your schedule, you can carefully rearrange them, so it doesn’t continue hurting your productivity. You might even find yourself more time to play and have fun.
Delegate Tasks Effectively
A common issue among small businesses is that they rarely have enough people to take care of different responsibilities. Usually, each person in the company will have to do jobs that would take three people to complete in a day. Being in this situation is what leads you to burnout and stress.
Figuring out a way to delegate tasks effectively is a great first step when trying to manage your time. The fewer hours you spend taking care of things out of your jurisdiction, the more time is opened up for you to address more important matters.
There are several ways you can go about this. A few common methods that business owners use nowadays include:
- Outsourcing work to freelancers
- Creating ways to manage PTO (paid time off) properly
- Finding professional partners (e.g., bookkeepers, accountants, etc.) to take care of repetitive administrative tasks
Solutions will vary widely depending on the type of small business you run. Look for the one that best suits your needs and preferences as a company.
Integrate the Right Tools in Operations
Modern society has blessed you with various productivity tools and applications to manage your time. Nowadays, many companies use technology in their day-to-day operations. Asana, Trello, and Slack are some of the most widely-used CRMs in the industry. Zoom and Microsoft Teams are also two popular video conferencing tools businesses use worldwide.
These applications and software have improved companies’ productivity and allowed many workers to continue working remotely from home.
Studies show that allowing employees to continue working remotely leads to increased productivity and satisfaction at work. Thus, unblocking remote work challenges is essential for every company seeking to improve its bottom line.
Allow Time for Rest
Overworking is the best way to sabotage company growth. Stressed and burnt-out staff are less likely to complete their responsibilities on time. Such a situation can lead to poor productivity and negative customer relationships. This may ultimately cost you your business if you don’t take proper measures to keep things under control.
Allow your employees some time off to pursue interests or hobbies. This is an excellent way for you to express gratitude toward your employees. Furthermore, it also keeps them energized enough to continue providing you with impressive results and effective services.
When it comes to work, multitasking can be the killer of productivity. You might think you’re getting more work done by doing everything all at once. But in reality, you’re simply wearing yourself and your employees down.
To save yourself and everyone else the struggle, try controlling the amount of work you tackle daily. This helps you and your employees focus your efforts on tasks that need the most attention. As a result, you’ll be able to meet more deadlines and provide your customers with more impressive results.
The Bottom Line
Time can be tricky to manage, especially when you don’t have much experience doing it effectively. Luckily, it’s never too late to learn how to allocate your time and resources efficiently.
Focusing on one assignment at a time can also help increase productivity. It may also improve the results and solutions employees can create for consumers.
All that said, ensuring everyone is allowed to rest is important. After all, a team of overworked and stressed employees is useless to a company seeking success and profitability.
Stressed about finding time for marketing your business? The experts at Fisher Green Creative can lend a hand. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help.
Bash Sarmiento is a guest writer and educator from Manila. He writes about education, lifestyle, and wellness. His academic background and extensive experience in teaching, textbook evaluation, business management, and traveling are translated into his works.
