Image by: Craig Rodway
By Michael Sterling
Time is always chasing us, and many business owners think that it will ultimately defeat us. This doesn’t have to be true. Time can be our best friend if we make it, all it takes is a smart plan, an attainable goal, and a detailed strategy on how your company is run. We may be smart businessmen, but we can never fool Father Time. Still, that doesn’t mean we can’t use him to our advantage.
#1) Supply Chain
Knowing where your products are coming and going is of vital importance when it comes to maintaining a great company. More and more consumers are becoming environmentally aware, and they want to know where their products are made and what they’re made from. Think of it as taking inventory, and without proper time management, it can be nearly impossible.
It’s crucial to set deadlines for yourself as far as shipping, and sacrifice time to personally test the efforts. Tell a family member who lives across the country to purchase something, and let them tell you how long it takes to get there.
Keeping track of deadlines is the fundamental root of success in online businesses today. Your customers are picky, and have plenty of other options besides your company. So don’t give them any excuses to complain. Setting aside valuable time and money to properly manage the supply chain will eventually prove itself to be incredibly valuable.
#2) Goals & Timing
Every business owner wants something different form their company. Setting goals are a sure way of shaping the company with your own hands, and pointing it towards a proper direction. The crucial thing here is being smart when it comes to delegating your priorities.
Think of your business as a board game, the finish line being the ultimate dream. You will never reach it until you’ve walked the whole path, sometimes getting knocked back a few spaces along the way. It’s always a good idea to set smaller goals along the way, each of them acting as a step towards the finish line.
Give yourself a time and date to finish each “small goal.” Focus on which sector needs the most attention to achieve it. By focusing on these sectors, not only are you forced to deliver proper time management, but you are unconsciously paving the way towards the bigger dream.
#3) Schedules Get Things Done
It’s incredibly easy to shift deadlines or decide to operate under a different schedule. Though this might seem like you’re protecting your own sanity, for most men it proves to be a subliminal act of procrastination. It’s incredibly easy to slip into this kind of approach. This is why schedules should be made as a tool, not just a thing to do at the beginning of the week.
The lack of a proper schedule will also directly affect your profits. According to the National Safety Council, US. companies lose between $200-$300 billion a year due to absenteeism, tardiness, burnout, decreased productivity, worker’s compensation claims, increased employee turnover, and medical insurance costs resulting from employee work-related stress.
Sticking to your schedule will allow you to follow the plan towards high goals. It helps you to stay productive, which prevents you from overstepping deadlines. Use this practice not just for yourself, but for your entire company. Every division should have a schedule – and all of them should be heading down the same direction.
#4) Communication Is More Valuable Than Data
We often forget that we’re human, not machines. Because we’ve spent so much time in front of a computer, we begin to communicate as such. Workers respond well to articulate descriptions of their tasks, not a written memo they have to read. This, in itself, will save loads of time. Organizations with real-time analytic and decision management capabilities perform better.
According to Gartner, by 2016, 70% of the most profitable companies will manage their business processes using real-time predictive analytics. Improved situational awareness leads to better and faster decision making and superior customer service, revenue growth, cost reduction and risk avoidance.
As an entrepreneur, communication is key at articulating your targets, and it’s the only way your company will truly show its potential. Communicating well with your staff and consumers saves much more time than you think. It solves all dilemmas, keeps confusion at bay, and allows them to ask questions without wasting time feeling anxious.
#5) Each Detail Brings You Something
When structuring your platform and business plan, it’s crucial to take a few minutes to decide what kind of result you want to attain from each detail. This will help you know what success looks like before you even start, while unconsciously slowing down time for you to see the bigger picture of each detail.
Whenever thought is put into the layout, financial decisions, consumer interaction, and shipping details, it is very readable on the end of the consumer. Your company, then, becomes a vast mural. Every decision is carefully executed, leading to a giant domino effect towards consumer approval.