Five quick wins to get more organised and nail your business goals

by Laura Parker of Shoreway Business Support

Well, the past six months has been quite the ride hasn’t it?

Is there any business owner out there who hasn’t been put in a tailspin from the Coronacoaster?

If you have been pivoting, multitasking, thriving, panicking, peaking, reacting (or maybe a combination of all of the above, maybe sometimes all of them on the same day!) I’ve pulled together some strategies to help you feel more in control and start creating time in your day:

Create a winning morning routine

Do you know exactly what you need to do every day or are you winging it? I always recommend to my clients that they create a morning routine that sets them up perfectly for the day ahead.  This could include: checking your diary for upcoming calls, blocking time out for any urgent tasks, creating a ‘Must Might Maybe’ List for the day, scheduling in some time to take a break from the screen – whatever works for you to help make you ready to hit the ground running.

Make your inbox work for you

Do you send certain emails regularly (more than a couple of times a month)? Then you need to start using templates to save time.

Some ideas to get you started are: onboarding emails, quoting, chasing payment etc.

Here’s a quick tutorial on how to do it if you use Gmail and one for MS Office.

Automate whatever you can

What do you do regularly and on repeat in your business?  It could be onboarding new clients, answering FAQ’s…whatever it is, I guarantee there is something in your business that can be streamlined. 

As you run through the tasks you do within your own business, think about whether there could be a way of making this easier, as getting automated is the key to creating more time in your day.

Are you going backwards and forwards with clients when you set up calls?  Why not share a Calendly link or create a Doodle?

Can you use tech to simplify the process? For example, I use a Dubsado workflow for Discovery Calls, which means clients reach out, schedule an appointment, complete a questionnaire, get confirmation and a reminder without me lifting a finger.  Revolutionary, right???

Whatever it is, look at ways in your business that you can streamline a process and shave five minutes off little tasks here and there.

Get clever with your social media

Creating content can be a major cause of stress for most business owners. But there are ways that you can get savvy to make it easier and more enjoyable. For example, have you got a treasure trove of blogs that you’ve only shared with your audience once?  These are perfect for when you’re having a busy week. There are sooooo many options of how these can be repurposed…

• Turn them into new, relevant social posts
• Add to LinkedIn as articles
• Reshare the blog on your Facebook page (you’ve likely got new followers since originally published, or existing followers may have missed it)

Outsourcing is the smart business owner’s secret weapon

Whether you invest in a cleaner, bookkeeper, VA, OBM, Social Media Manager, there is someone out there that can help reduce your workload so that you can focus on what you do best – serving your clients and winning new business!

​If you want even more tips, check out this blog from a couple of months ago with ten apps to help you work smarter. 

Laura Parker is a Hampshire based Visibility and Productivity Expert, and the founder of Shoreway Business Support.
She works with businesses and non-profits around the world writing websites, marketing materials and content that attracts their ideal customers and increases their leads and sales.
She works with overwhelmed and overworked solopreneurs, to help them be consistently visible and figure out a roadmap to make all of their dreams for their business doable. To download her FREE ten page guide to Getting To Grips With Instagram head this way.
When she’s not working, you could find her glued to a podcast, or maybe busy in the kitchen as she loves baking.

Hero Photo by Marten Bjork on Unsplash