What does it mean to streamline your business? And how exactly do you do it?

There are countless strategies that you can apply with the intent of streamlining, or optimizing your business, all sharing the same goal of improved efficiency.?

?As a business owner, it’s far too easy to become bogged down by the day-to-day operational requirements of your business, and before you know it, you’re working one hundred hours a week, with little to show for it (other than mental and physical fatigue). The to-do list seems to never end, someone will always need something from you, and there are a million things that you need to do before you can sit back and relax for a minute.?

There are only so many hours in the day, and as much as you may not enjoy admitting it, you’re not an expert at everything. All too often, running a business while you’re overworked, leads to wasted time and less than optimal results.?

Streamlining your business is an effortless way to effectively manage your business, increase your time and resources, all while improving the operational efficiency of your business.

What is streamlining?

Briefly, streamlining your business is about improving your business processes to ensure you’re operating as efficiently as possible. This is especially important for businesses with limited resources, where inefficiencies can have a significant impact. The good news is that with the right tools and methods, you can streamline your business processes to save time, cut costs, and give you room to focus on growth.?

Effectively, streamlining allows you to work SMARTER, not HARDER, and that is a win for everyone.?

A process can be considered streamlined once it is simplified. This simplification process is usually achieved by removing unnecessary steps. There are multiple ways to streamline a process that includes various approaches and modern business information technology platforms that help organizations thrive.?

Streamlining involves anything that reduces your workload and makes your business more efficient. It can increase your productivity, lower your expenses, and even help you become more engaged with your work.

What are the benefits?

It’s human nature to weigh up the pros and cons of any new process, so let me manage that for you! Here are just eight of the many benefits that streamlining can bring to your business.

• Increased Cost Efficiency
• Optimized Productivity?
• Improved Communication
• Efficient Time Management
• Risk Mitigation
• Natural implementation of a culture of Innovation
• Process Consistency?
• Elimination of Time Wasters?

To streamline effectively, you’ll need to analyze your business, as well as individual processes. Once both have been optimized, the benefits will speak for themselves.?

?How do I streamline my business, holistically??

• Task Automation
• Do yourself a favor and spend time performing an analysis of tasks that are the most repetitive, and the most time consuming. (I know, the list is endless right?)
• Some examples could include Email follow ups, sending out invoices and statements, reporting schedules, staff management schedules, social media posting etc.
• As all these tasks are different, they each require a different skillset, and therefore, a different approach to automation. This is the ‘busy work’ that can make any business owner feel like a glorified admin clerk.
• Using automation tools (that are widely accessible) can drastically reduce the amount of time that you spend on these mundane tasks. Examples of this type of automation include, content management scheduling, email automation programs, and automated lead generation campaigns. All this work can be done well in advance, and scheduled, freeing up valuable time for you!

Centralized and Collaborative Tools

• Whether you’re running your business alone, or managing a team of one hundred staff members, there is an immense amount of value in communication and collaboration, with clients, vendors, prospects, and staff.
• No matter how important communication is, it is one of the most time-consuming tasks known to the business world. Time constraints lead to emails being unanswered, and calls being unreturned.
• Centralized, collaborative communication tools like Slack, Trello, or Google, eliminate this problem by giving your entire team a shared platform to work in. You can set up groups for each project for easy messaging and file sharing. Device integration, push notifications and other helpful features ensure that your messages don’t fall through the cracks.

Don’t be afraid to outsource

There are some tasks that you shouldn’t handle yourself, but that you can’t entrust to an automated program, either. This is where outsourcing comes in!

No matter what type of project or task you want to outsource, be sure to thoroughly vet a potential contractor before making a hire. Take the time to look over their portfolio or to get referrals from their past clients. Doing your due diligence now will help you find a quality contractor with whom you can form a lasting relationship.

This will allow you to save even more time in the future should you need help with similar tasks again.

• Delegate!

Unless you are running a solo operation, delegation can quickly become your best friend. This might be the scariest part of streamlining for any business owner. How will you know that the job will get done if you do not do it yourself?

In the same breath - how will the job be completed if you are completely overwhelmed and burnt out?

Start off simply - here are the easy-to-implement principles of delegation.

- The right task

- The right circumstance

- The right person

- The right direction?

?Make your life easier and streamline your business processes!

It can be difficult walking this journey alone. Emotions get in the way, fear of failure grips the throat of the business owner, and tasks keep piling up.

This is where I come in.

?I can help you navigate all of this, from streamlining to optimizing – I have you covered.

?Book your call with me, or visit my website, www.daphnethomson.com , to get the process started.

You can book your call with me here!