Southeast Financial

6 Ways To Be More Productive

You’re busy. I’m busy. As small business owners, we’re all busy and we’re all looking for ways to get more done in less time. And that means doing everything we can to increase our productivity. Below are six ways that I’ve been able to be more productive. I’d love if you could share your own tips.

1. Use the right tools.

One way small business owners kill their productivity is by using the wrong tool for the job. They keep using their pen and notebook when they should be using a tool like Evernote to trap and record their ideas. They waste time manually entering receipts into QuickBooks instead of using something like Shoeboxed that can quickly handle their accounting for them. As a small business owner, it’s worth it to spend some time finding the tools that you need to better run your business. Don’t try to hack a tool to do something it’s not supposed to do. We live in an economy where it’s pretty easy to find free, online productivity tools. Don’t be afraid to use them.

2. Stay up to date.

Read voraciously about your industry; invest in training opportunities; and talk to the experts in your field to get their take on what’s going on, what’s changing and what you need to know. The more information you can collect about your industry, the better you’ll be able to respond to changes and take advantage of new trends. Sometimes we get stuck in seeing things “how they have always been” and miss out on the new opportunities that could really help us. For example, if you’re ignoring social media and tools like blogging because you haven’t invested the time into learning about them, then you may find yourself falling behind your competitors who are hot on the trails of industry trends. If you’re still using yesterday’s keywords, then you may be missing out on potential conversions from new, more popular terms.

3. Automate what you can.

You don’t have to remember to send that invoice the 15th of every month; you can use technology to automate that. You don’t have to remember to tweet your blog post twice a day; you can use technology to do that for you. Part of finding the right tools is also looking for ways to automate the repetitive tasks that suck time from you every day. You don’t want to bog down your mind with little details that you can set and forget. You want to focus on your business. If you can take something off your plate and trust it to a program or application, do it. You want to give the appearance that you’re always in your business. You don’t actually have to be there.

4. Sleep.

You need to sleep. If you’re not sleeping, then your mind isn’t fresh, you’re making sloppy mistakes and you’re hurting your business by working slowly. While it can sometimes be hard to force yourself to stop and go home, sometimes you have to force yourself to stop and go home. Also, listen to your body, when possible. If you’re not naturally a morning person, maybe you can set your schedule so you can sleep in. Science has proven that you can’t force yourself to be a morning person simply by getting up early. You either are one or you’re not. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to decide their own hours, but if you do, it’s something to think about.

5. Experiment.

It may seem counterintuitive that you can actually be more productive by taking yourself out of your business to experiment – but it’s true. By training yourself to chase new experiences and learn new skills, you allow yourself to make mistakes and pick up new approaches to the same old problems. While this experimental approach may not increase productivity right out of the gate, in the long term it will help you grow and save time.

6. Say no.

As small business owners, we want to help everyone. Sometimes it’s OK to say no. Don’t be afraid to. You have a business to run, too.

Those are some quick ways I think small business owners can increase their productivity and squeeze more hours into their day. What tips work for you?

The Difference Between Those Who Succeed and Those Who Fail

For some time now I’ve been thinking about ways to take action, but not just any action – EFFECTIVE action!

That is really what you must demand from yourself (most importantly!),your employees and those around you.

But what often gets overlooked is something else I’ve found just as important that can mean the difference between success and failure.

I can sum it up in a single word: Endurance.

If you are working on a project/business or a sale that is worth working on, the only kind right, then you must to determine to endure and to adjust until you win. If your proclamations end with phrases such as:

• “right?”
• “at least I hope so”
• “don’t you think?”
• or “that’s what should happen”

Then you’re not “sold” on the idea yet and the reservation in your heart and mind is spilling out of your lips and tripping up your feet.

You must get the “reservations” out of the way before you invest time and energy. And I mean really get them out of the way. Don’t move past “Go!” until you are determined that what you are doing is really worth doing.

I know this past year or past couple years has been hard but you can not dwell on the past you have to keep your mind, body and spirit focused on the future.

When you determine that what you are engaged in is worth your effort, and I mean really determine it, then it is up to you to maintain and protect that vision.

Many times, the failure to commit is your spirit telling you that this project or business is not right for you. But, most of the time, the people that I see that never commit and never pay the price. As a result, they never really accomplish anything.

Since I believe that everyone can accomplish great things, it cannot be that some of our spirits stop us.  NO. It is just our own fear that we have not overcome yet. It is the fear that we will not succeed; thus, we never start anything or instead we dream of accomplishment so great that “any human being would have failed at that!!! So it can’t be my fault.” Self Sabotage.

Success will only come when you become determined to take enough accurate effective action with the fortitude necessary to overcome every hurdle that you encounter. You must jump over them, push them down, find another way but you cannot quit.

In addition, you must determine to learn, become relevant, and remain relevant by continuing to learn, meet new people, and overcome objection.

It is hard to build a business or to go to the next level in your business. It is hard but it is possible and worthwhile.

But back to fear and to commitment. If you cannot-determine way down deep inside of you that this idea/project/business/marriage/relationship is worth having, fighting for, crying about, and spending just about all of your time on until it is DONE then you are not ready to start.

The question for you today: What are you doing that needs adjustment, improvement, more effort, more accuracy, and more endurance?

Find it. And change it and then commit to it or stop.

To your success,

Southeast Financial