Image by: tshein
By: Ken Lucas
Simple is certainly always better, as many of you business experts may know. There’s just something so convenient about executing a task that requires as little effort as humanly possible. Some might call that laziness, and depending on the situation, I would agree. But for business men, the fact is managing your time, schedule and company in a methodical and straightforward manner will save you lots and lots of time–which in turn will supersede into new ideas, more revenue and less time stressing over the myriad of tasks you have to perform.
Now don’t get me wrong, when running a business there will always be minor annoyances you will inevitably have to tend to. The idea isn’t to ignore or postpone the tasks that need to be done, but to minimize and simplify them in a manner that will be beneficial to your business. The key word here today is streamline, which means to make (an organization or system) more efficient and effective by employing faster or simpler working methods. And guess what? Today I’m going to help you out with that!
#1) Find a CFO
A chief financial adviser is a senior executive with responsibility for the financial affairs of a company, corporation or another institution. Although CFO’s can be quite expensive–the prices sometimes surpassing over 1,000 or day–the sophistication they will bring to the workplace will add both focus and add a great deal of profit to your business–especially if its flourishing. Although the price can range to over a thousand a day, a CFO’s services are typically few and far between, averaging as little as one visit a month.
#2) Hire Selectively
There’s nothing worse to an employer than having to wade through dozens of applications that don’t even remotely fit the bill of the position which needs to be filled. It not only wastes time, but also lessens the chances of you actually finding the ideal employee to uphold the position. Instead of sacrificing your time, patience and business deciding between endless applicants, you want to create an online application form that has elimination criteria related to scheduling, salary and educational level. Doing this will allow you to preserve more time not only because you are already well aware of what credentials they have, but also because you’ll hire more promptly and hurry and get back to whats most important.
#3) Stick to the Agenda
I know from personal experience that creating a schedule for your employees takes an enormous amount of time and effort; its tedious, complicated, and very time consuming. Fortunately, we live in a world so modern that we have the option of making our computers execute the deed for us. With software packages like Asgard, TimeClock Scheduler and TimeCurve Scheduler that allow you to scan for scheduling errors and track employee hours in real time, technology makes your business that much more convenient to operate.
Scheduling packages can be quite a pricey investment, though, the cheapest packages starting around $120 and the most expensive sometimes surpassing even a thousand dollars depending on what you need in the software and the size of your staff. Quite pricey, but given the mount of time and energy you’ll save using this, its well worth the bucks–especially if you’re involved in fast food or retail.
#4) Interact Directly with the Customer
These days, TV ads and billboards are a thing of the past and more and more entrepreneurs are starting to market their products to the customers on their own via the internet. Yes, its the year 2014 people and less and less people are watching cable television in order to spend their time aimlessly browsing the sea of information that is the world wide web. As an entrepreneur, it is your duty to take advantage of this adaptation and start a website that will garner mass clientele.
A website may require a great deal of patience and mileage to become even the least bit successful, but if you apply a moderate amount of time and energy into upholding it, or hire somebody to do it for you, then the benefits of the attention you will receive from any videos or blogs you may run will far outweigh the big bucks you’d be spending on T.V ads.
#5) Outsource
Outsourcing: any task, operation, job or process that could be performed by employees within your company, but is instead contracted to a third party for a significant period of time.
Regardless of the size of a company, outsourcing, if panned and prepared efficiently, can be greatly beneficial to a business–even restaurants and small businesses. Entrepreneurs spend a large portion of their time doing payroll and benefits administration–which means they’re also, if payment deadlines aren’t met or the files are incorrect, risking penalties. Yea, penalties and fines sound pretty scary, but the great thing is when you invest in an outsourcing company, you are essentially paying for the benefit of their mistakes on their dollar.
There are countless ways to make your business efficient, lucrative and simple. Got any advice you want to share with the masses as to how to make your business even simpler? Don’t hold back, share with the world!