Whether you like to call yourself an Entrepreneur, Mumpreneur, Fempreneur or just One Savvy On-her-game Business Woman, there is always room for more freedom and more profit. As women and business owners, we like to be in control. It’s in our DNA and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Managing the day to day running of our businesses knowing what is happening and when it is happening.
But in all that managing, we can lose sight of the reason we went into business in the first place. Those reasons are Freedom and Profit – Freedom from the 9-5 grind and generating a profit so we can contribute to the household income or, even better, become the breadwinner. So how do you manage the freedom and the profit that so many speak of yet seems so hard?
I’m going to let you in on 3 secrets that were absolute game-changers in my business that have afforded me the freedom and profit that I so fondly speak of.
Get ready to systemise
Systemising your processes and creating templates for everyday tasks that you do will save you hours of time and even allow you to outsource (we’ll get to that later).
Take a look at all the processes you do in your business and think is there a better or more efficient way I could be doing this. If you are managing your own social media, look into one of the many Apps and programs that can schedule posts and even generate content for you. This will save you hours on your phone and you can have your account ticking over all week with content pre-planned.
A project management system like Asana is great for setting tasks with deadlines. All team members can see the tasks and comment on them, making it open and accountable. As a business owner, you know exactly where things are at and how tasks are tracking. Deadlines are clear and the calendar schedule leaves no room for doubt. Even if you don’t have a cast of thousands working for you just yet, you can still use Asana in your day to day business operations as a notepad and task manager. Think of it as one big sticky note pinned to your computer monitor that you can’t ever lose!
Once you have everything systemised and documented, you can use this as your on boarding tool when taking on help. It makes it easier for them and you when explaining new tasks and you can carry on doing what you do best.
Prepare to delegate
The key to moving toward your ultimate goal is to identify what you can delegate and by delegate I mean outsource. Think of what you can have someone outside of your office space do for you. With most things being online, it is a lot easier to outsource virtually than it used to be. Spending hours on your social media accounts is fun, but a complete time sucker. Hire a social media expert to do it for you. Writing your own blogs? I have one question for you, why?
There is a world of Virtual Assistants out there just waiting to take on your work. A lot come highly skilled and the best part is they may even do something better than you! You need to research your potential VA’s though and check their references as it isn’t a highly regulated industry, so there are some who may not suit. Shop around for the best fit for you and when you find them, hold onto them like you would your own child!
Some places you can find a VA are Upwork, Fiverr and Freelancer where you can chose a VA from almost anywhere in the world or you can look closer to home.
With a trusty VA taking care of the tasks that are taking up a lot of your precious time, you can focus on scaling your business and working toward your freedom and ultimate profit goal.
Now we can automate
Let me ask you this, how long do you spend sending emails or replying to emails? And how often are you writing the same thing over and over again? This is another time sucker that won’t have you travelling anywhere near your goal. Systemising your processes will make tasks like this seem so much easier.
Scheduling emails in an email organiser like Yesware will save you countless hours. You can create templates that you can easily copy into your email, edit as needed and send. What would normally take you 5 – 10 minutes is done in literally 1-2 minutes. If you work late at night but don’t want to invite your clients emailing you back at midnight, schedule your emails to go out the next morning so you set a routine for them and you.
In the modern day we can automate almost anything thanks to technology and computers. You can even automate your income so you can still generate a profit without being anywhere near your business… but that’s for another day!
So, the key takeaways in working your way to freedom and profit are: Systemise. Delegate. Automate. Start with these 3 key tips and watch your business soar into another realm.
