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Small business owners typically put everything they have into their company. According to one survey, they typically work twice as much as their staff. Additionally, a shocking one in four entrepreneurs reported working more than 60 hours a week.
If you're passionate and love what you do, this intense work schedule can feel manageable at first. However, the non-stop grind can eventually lead to burnout. Harvard Business Review found that entrepreneurs are at a high risk of burnout because they're so passionate about what they do- while also being socially isolated and feeling like they have to make their business work at all costs.
So, what's the answer? Most small business owners know they should cut down their hours, but they don't know where to start. That's where the famous "work smarter, not harder" phrase comes to mind. Keep reading for seven productivity hacks that can help any small business owner succeed.
1. Know when to delegate
When your small business is your livelihood, it's hard to let go and trust others with tasks. Your company is your passion project — it's a reflection of who you are — and you don't want anything to be completed to less than your ideal standards.
While that is understandable, it's still important to delegate. You're only one person, and you simply don't have the time to do every task in a day. You also have to evaluate what your time is worth. If you're doing tasks like counting inventory and bookkeeping, is that really the best use of your time?
Look into hiring assistance for many of your more straightforward tasks. Understandably, the average small business owner can't afford hundreds of staff to perform every business function, but you can contract out some workers. Look at where you can outsource and hire contractors and freelancers. For example, you can hire a virtual assistant, a bookkeeper, a social media manager, and more. Doing so will ensure you focus on the tasks that are most important to your business.
2. Set goals and track progress
Your small business requires a lot of attention that can pull you in many different ways. If you don't set clear intentions, you might focus on tasks that don't significantly impact your business. Be more productive by goal setting. First, set long-term goals (one-year, five-year, and ten-year) for your business. Make these SMART goals, so you know they're realistic and achievable.
Now that you have identified your goals, start tackling the work that will get you there. At the start of every week, make a list of tasks you want to complete in the next seven days. Then every morning, make a list of priorities for the day. By breaking your goals down into actionable items on a daily and weekly basis, you can ensure that you stay on the right track. Having a plan for each day and each week reduces wasted time. Additionally, people who write down or picture their goals are 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to accomplish them versus people who don't follow this practice.
As you make progress towards your goals, don't forget to track them. Crossing items off your list or adding to a tracker makes you feel accomplished and motivates you to keep going.
3. Work in time blocks
If you've ever researched tips for how to be more productive, you have probably come across the concept of time blocking. This time management trend has grown in popularity thanks to business leaders like Elon Musk, who swear by this practice.
Time blocking goes hand-in-hand with our goal-setting tip. After writing a list of priorities for your day, schedule a time for each task. For example, you may schedule an hour to answer emails. When that hour finishes, close your inbox and allow yourself to focus on your next item. This method will enable you to hyper-focus on one task at a time and ensure that you get to all of your priorities in a day.
Don't forget to time block with breaks, as well. Set yourself up for 50 minutes to tackle one task with a 10-minute break before moving on to the next thing. Additionally, make sure you schedule breaks with your family and a hard stop to your workday in the evenings to avoid burnout.
4. Avoid multitasking
It can be very tempting to multitask throughout your day. Perhaps you stop your inventory count to answer an important email from a client. Maybe you work on balancing your books while an educational webinar plays in the background. Often, when it feels like there isn't enough time in a day, we want to do many things at once.
However, numerous studies have shown that multitasking isn't the best option. Research shows that only 2.5% of the population can actually multitask, while everyone else just switches their focus between tasks. When you multitask, you usually make more mistakes, which only requires you to come back a second time to fix them. Do yourself a favor and give one task your full priority at a time.
5. Make meetings short and impactful
As we've highlighted several times, your time as a small business owner is precious. You'll always have more to do than you can fit in a day. As a result, the last thing you need are meetings that waste your time. Have a strict policy that all meetings with you should have a clear agenda, and decline meetings that don't follow this rule.
Before scheduling anything, ask your employees and partners to consider this question: "Can this be an email?" While this practice may seem difficult to enforce at first, your employees will appreciate it in the long run. Even better, it'll leave you with fewer meetings to attend in your day and more time to focus on your business.
6. Hire the right people
A survey of business owners found that they had difficulties delegating because 30% felt they were the "most capable option" for the task, and 20% felt that "their employees didn't have the right skills." If you can't trust your employees to complete their jobs, you'll never be able to delegate. You'll also never be able to scale your business if you continue to do every little task.
Take the time to hire the right people you can trust who have excellent skills. Frankly speaking, you likely don't have all of the abilities your business needs. You can't be an accountant, a marketer, a salesperson, a receptionist, a CEO, and an operations manager. At least, you can't do all of that for long.
When you hire people with skills you don't have, you can learn from them. Doing so is also investing in your business because you're hiring people who can bring something new to the table and positively impact your business.
When it comes to hiring, slow down and take your time. The right candidate can take time to find, and hiring should always be a thought-out decision. However, it'll be worth all the effort when you find the right person.
7. Automate processes
In a world of self-driving cars and AI-enabled home speakers, it's clear that automation is the way of the future. Take a careful look at your business and identify any areas that can be automated. Can you implement a workforce management schedule that syncs with your payroll? Perhaps there is a point-of-sale system that can link to your accounting software. Even small tasks, like having a repeating inventory reorder, can free up hours of your day.
Moving forward
The most important thing to understand is that being productive takes effort. It's easy to get distracted and focus on the wrong things. Always challenge yourself to improve and free up your valuable time. As they say, time is money — and the hours in a day are limited. As you learn to manage your time better and stay productive, your small business will ultimately benefit from it.
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BBB of Southern Piedmont and Western N.C. contributed this article.