How to Deal with Time-consuming Tasks in Your Business like a Pro

One of the dilemmas you’ll face as a small business owner is how to deal with time-consuming tasks. Because inefficient processes could put you among the firms losing 20 to 30% of revenue annually.

In case you are wondering what the statistics got to do with your business. Repetitive, time-consuming tasks are among the leading causes of business process inefficiencies.

Inefficient business processes also translate to decreased employee productivity levels. It happens when your employees spend too much time engaging in repetitive tasks that have little impact on your profitability.

Let's change your story today by discussing creative ways to deal with time-consuming tasks in your business.

Review Your Processes

Reviewing your processes will help you definitively identify your time-consuming tasks. From there, you can effectively identify the repetitive tasks that need automation.

Moreover, you can automate some of your business processes but have still not achieved your desired efficiency levels. Reviewing these processes will help you understand those business processes that require to be streamlined for more efficiency.

Automate Where Possible

One of the top solutions to dealing with time-consuming tasks in your business is automation. Many businesses are doing it and they have found success. It is time to wake up and smell the coffee if you still haven't kick-started automating most of your business processes.

You will be surprised to know that most time-consuming tasks in your business are repetitive. Such tasks are generating invoices, payroll management, or email marketing

Your business has no reason to lag in adopting the common business automation trends.

Automation will reduce the time wasted on repetitive tasks and improve the efficiency with which they are performed. Automating time-consuming tasks will also save on your business operating costs. Now, this is a point you cannot choose to ignore, especially in these tough economic times.

Consider Outsourcing Some of Your Tasks

Sometimes, the best solutions are the simplest ones. For example, you can delegate repetitive tasks, a process that’s been done and worked for thousands of businesses.

You don’t have to delegate to employees within your business. You can save on costs by delegating the tasks to independent freelancers who are experts in their respective fields.

For example, you can hire a social media virtual assistant to handle your social media management tasks. That will take a huge load off your plate and allow you to concentrate on other core business tasks.

For greater efficiency, hire an online business manager. Such a move will relieve much pressure in running your business because you can entrust them to make operational business decisions without consulting you.

Seek a Professional Opinion on How to Deal with the Time Consuming Tasks

You’re right if you think entrepreneurs are expected to be problem solvers. But at the same time, there is not much you can achieve when all you do is pressure yourself with the challenges.

It is sometimes harder to look at a problem objectively when you are on the inside. You may never realize the time-consuming tasks in your business until it's too late.

A secret you may not know is that your competitors are hiring business efficiency consultants to address the efficiency challenges their business faces.

Another advantage of hiring a business efficiency professional is that the expert will help you brainstorm creative solutions. The expert identifies the productivity challenges your business faces and suggests solutions to help you deal with the inefficiencies.

Moreover, you can always turn to collaboration platforms or other entrepreneurs for suggestions on dealing with time-consuming tasks. Such collaborations are always good as you will learn of practical solutions that other business owners have tested.

Learn to Prioritize Tasks in Your Business

As George Orwell puts it, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." The same can be said of tasks within your business.

All tasks are important in contributing towards profitability and business growth. However, it is upon you as the entrepreneur to prioritize the tasks that matter and have a larger impact on your business.

Prioritizing tasks helps inform decisions like outsourcing tasks to the virtual assistants you hire. It also specifies the tasks you need to allocate more time or other resources.

Create a Plan and Remain Committed to It

There is no changing the fact that time will always be a scarce resource for any business. However, you can maximize the scarce resource by planning and remaining committed to your plans.

Having scheduled start and completion times for tasks within your business will eliminate inefficiencies. Having a task completion schedule in place means that even your employees will plan their schedules to align with the main plan.

That also applies to your independent contractors. Make sure to sufficiently address the issue of deadlines in their contracts to ensure they are not the reason for inefficiencies in your business processes.

Improve Your Employee Productivity

It becomes easier to monitor your employee productivity levels once you have fully automated most of the repetitive tasks in your business. At least you can be sure that your employee is engaging in more productive work.

Getting your task priorities right and having a plan are also the right ingredients to boost employee productivity. You will be able to set performance targets on tasks with higher priority and have performance metrics in place to monitor how your team is achieving the set goals.

Your mission to boost employee productivity will offer you insights into other time-consuming tasks that are better outsourced.

Hire a Business Efficiency Consultant to Help You Manage Time-consuming Tasks

Please don't wait until it's too late to hire a business efficiency consultant to help you deal with the inefficiencies you are experiencing. Get in touch with us today for a comprehensive review of your business processes to identify time-consuming tasks and develop innovative solutions to streamline your business automation systems.