Like it or not, as an entrepreneur, you only have a limited amount of time each day to get things done. But then again, you likely have an almost endless list of tasks to do—so you find effective ways to improve productivity for both you and your team
In this post, we gathered some growth hacking techniques for small business owners so they can get more done in less time. These are some tips you can use to improve and maximize productivity and revenue at your small business.
Top 19 Ideas for Business Growth Hacking
- Prioritize YOUR ITEMS on your to-do list
Clearly one of the most important hacks for small business owners is to go through a to-do list and determine the most important tasks that only YOU can do or that are imperative to your day-to-day operations.
These are the most urgent tasks that should go at the top. More long-term projects and plans can go on a separate list so that they don’t distract or overwhelm you from those more urgent items. Identify what those duties are and proceed to #2…
- Do the most important tasks, and DELEGATE the rest
Delegating work to your team members can give you more time to concentrate on your CORE FUNCTION. Find team members or professional virtual assistant services who can handle the mundane assignments that would otherwise take up much of your day like answering phone, replying to emails, calling prospects, etc.
- AUTOMATE your email communications
Automation of emails is heaven-sent and is always at the top of productivity hacks. Email marketing improves your communication with your customers and followers. For example, every time a visitor signs up to your newsletter, they receive an email that you prepared in advance.
By automating these pre-customized emails, you enhance your engagement with page visitors and build stronger relationships with them while saving loads of time on manual sending. One thing to remember is, do not use your personal email for marketing.
There are tons of email marketing tools online with ready-made email templates, like MailChimp, Constant Contact or Klaviyo. The process is totally straightforward; you customize a template, create triggers, and program the email to send at your preferred time.
- Get the LEAST desirable tasks out of the way before lunch
Another growth hacks for startups is to do what you don’t want to do. Everybody dreads something in his or her job and anything that you dislike is going to cause you more stress than other tasks.
So it’s best to get those things out of the way early. Commit to finish those pesky items before lunch so that you can take a break as a reward for completing them.
- Do ONE thing well
Instead of trying to do it all, it’s better to do one thing exceptionally well. Start with the most effective strategy when you’re constrained by time and resources. If you focus all your efforts to one piece that you are particularly strong at, it will make a difference for your business.
- Learn to say NO to offers that don’t fit with your objectives
When you take on extra projects that don’t fit with your business’s main goals, it can be a huge drain on your time and resources. It might be difficult to say “no” but it’s necessary to ensure that you and your team stay as productive as possible. Small business hacks include saying NO even to your partners or other collaborators and focusing only on the most essential activities.
- Set a timer for time-consuming tasks
First, outline exactly how much time you plan to spend on tasks that take too long to do at once. If you have those ones that need to be broken up throughout the day, set a timer when you start doing them so you don’t get caught up and forget to look at the other items on your list.
- Schedule your social media posts
Leveraging social media is another growth hacking marketing that a small business owner should take advantage with. Promoting social content online should couple with frequent and consistent posting.
Scheduling tools like Hootsuite and Buffer allows you to create your posts in advance and set up a publishing time. Facebook also has its own internal scheduling tool. This way, you maintain an active social presence by increasing engagement and reach. Truly, it’s a one-stop-shop for this type of work, maximizing your productivity.
- Complete quick and easy tasks right away
When you have small tasks like quick phone calls or emails that inevitable, do them right away. It can help your productivity to get those things and cross them out your to-do list early. Or again, hire virtual office assistant to do these basic, repetitive tasks so you can focus all of your energy on just one or two major projects throughout the rest of the day.
- Be like Facebook: Evolve
Getting and keeping customers is pure hard work and dedication. If people are coming in the front door and leaving through the back door, that’s bad marketing. Try to do something that Facebook, the social media giant, does. They have created a series of additional addictive features so the users keep on coming back.
- Manage your email inbox
Boomerang for Gmail schedules emails to automatically send based on criteria you set.
- Collaborate and manage projects
At Virtual Assistant Talent, we use Trello to manage our workflow. It’s a great tool for file sharing, project management, automation and centralized communication. Also check out Slack or Pivotal Tracker as alternatives.
- Stay off social media during the day
Rather than checking your personal accounts constantly, it can be beneficial if you stay off of social media throughout the workday if possible. And for any business related accounts, you should set aside time to schedule posts and respond to inquiries on social media.
- Focus first on acquiring customers. Then make the product addictive
Instead of putting all of your energy into traditional marketing avenues that a Fortune 500 company would invest in, like utilizing media and running ads, use that money and time to add value to your product.
In the early days of a growing business, the best thing a company can do is make its product more addictive and add make it viral into the experience.
- Make sure all meetings have clear agenda
Avoid getting trapped in unproductive meetings by cutting out those that don’t have clear agendas. Meetings can be absolutely necessary for keeping your team on track and your clients happy. But unfortunately, they can also be huge time wasters.
Not only should every meeting have a purpose, but it should also have a strict schedule that outlines which items to discuss when.
- Get clutter off your desk
This one is a no-brainer. Clear and organize your workstation so you can find an important document easily whenever you are on a project. It can even be difficult to get started on some projects if you’re distracted by messy surroundings. So set up a simple filing system and try to keep your desk as clear as possible.
- Give your team a clear direction from the start
As a small business owner, you can only get so much done on your own. But your team can help you accomplish much more, if you allow them.
Give them clear instructions for their specific duties and projects so that they can work more independently instead of constantly coming to you to ask questions or get approval. This way your productivity and theirs can go smoothly.
- Schedule breaks and exercises
You also need regular breaks throughout the day to keep your mind sharp. It’s helpful to schedule a few quick breaks everyday to get up and walk or stretch. You can do a series of 90 minutes of work and a 20-minute break. You can even set an alarm or timer so that you don’t forget.
- Unplug completely when a beating a deadline
Last but not the least, when you’re working on tasks that are approaching strict deadlines, it may be necessary for you to avoid potential distractions online. What you can do is log off on your social media accounts and other interests so you can potentially get more done if you work offline for short periods of time until you get those projects completed.
Interested in utilizing virtual assistants but not sure where to start? Check out our VA services and see how our highly qualified and trained virtual executive assistants can assist in your everyday tasks and objectives. CALL 1-866-596-9041.
We would love to hear if these growth hack ideas worked for you! If you have questions or any Small Business related success stories, please leave a comment below.
Reference:
https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/02/improving-productivity-small-business.html
https://www.wix.com/blog/2017/01/useful-hacks-for-small-business-managers/
https://www.salesforceiq.com/blog/ready-to-grow-your-business-in-2017-5-growth-hacking-tips
https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/productivity-tips-small-business-owners/
