How to Create Efficiencies in your Business

How to Create Efficiencies in your Business
We’d all love to have a little more time in our day and a lot more wiggle room in our budget. One way to do this is by evaluating our processes and getting serious about business efficiencies. It might sound like corporate-speak, but when it comes to running a business, some practical streamlining will save you time and put more money back in your pocket. Who wouldn’t love that? Let’s dive in! 

Delegate, delegate, delegate 
We’re willing to bet that at some point you’ve rolled up your sleeves and done most, if not all, of the tasks in your business yourself. While this might work to start with, it’s not a sustainable long-term strategy. You started out because you have a valuable skill and you’re a rockstar at what you do. It might be tempting to be a jack-of-all-trades, but as your business grows, it’s not a financially savvy option. Focus on the high value work that’ll really bring home the bacon and delegate anything outside your core skill set to someone else. 

Outsource to an expert 
Outsourcing is a fantastic way to get jobs done and it’s almost always cheaper than hiring permanent staff. It’s a topic we at IBS know a lot about. In fact, our own team is made up of local and overseas members, from Queensland to Canada to the Philippines! We’ve been using Virtual Assistants for over 6 years, and we now have them as part of our service offering. If you’ve never hired a VA before, here’s your opportunity to give it a try without the commitment of a part time or full time contract. We’re offering 50% off casual VA services for the month of July - an absolute steal! Find out more HERE

Automate your processes
If you want to really get serious about optimising your business, automation is a fantastic way to go. We all know humans make mistakes, it’s how we learn and grow after all! But that ‘learning and growing’ can sometimes contribute to costly mistakes on the company dime. Automation reduces the risk of human error by lowering the touch time. And if errors still occur with an automated process, it’s much easier to detect them! 

Time-consuming or overly-repetitive tasks are great candidates for automation. You can decide how much automation is right for you depending on your portfolio, even a limited amount can often help out in a huge way. 

Map your workflows
Your workflows and processes probably live in your head rent-free, and we’re guessing you know them back, front, sideways and upside down! However, being the keeper of all the knowledge is not the most efficient way to roll. Take some time to really map out your processes and document them, and cull anything unnecessary that could be slowing you down. Having a documented workflow ensures that other team members can take on the task and do it correctly, every time. 

Get flexible 
Covid-19 put working from home on the map in a big way. There’s plenty of perks for employees (no commute time and rocking the PJ uniform for a start) but business owners can benefit from a remote workforce, too. Lower operating costs, more flexibility and the option to really harness the productivity of your team. Early birds might get the worm, but they might also hit the wall by 2pm! A night owl can handle a day shift, but imagine if you could tap into the peak of their productivity? 

Communication is key 
Good communication isn’t just good practice, it’s vital to ensure your people are on the same page. Without it, staff may be left feeling unsure, directionless and wasting company time by dragging projects out unnecessarily. An efficient business is one where everyone is working towards the same goal and is clear on their place in helping achieve it. 

Writing job briefs is a great way to set expectations and be crystal clear about what each job requires. The clarity will give your staff more confidence, more autonomy and the end result will be much more aligned to your vision. 

Train your team
Investing time in upskilling your staff is likely to pay off in a huge way. They’re already working from a solid base of knowledge, so make sure you’re the business that benefits from it. Not only will you gain a loyal employee who will appreciate the advancement, they’ll be much more likely to stick around long term.