Building a successful business takes time, but how much time is required is, in part, in the organization’s hands. By working efficiently, developing businesses can ensure that all the necessary parts are in place as soon as possible — and that will provide the foundations upon which success is earned.
Ultimately, provided the quality of the output is the same, it’s much better to have everything completed and ready to go in six months rather than twelve months or more. In this post, we’ll run through some effective time-optimization strategies that will help your blossoming business get off the ground as quickly as possible.
Find the Time Wasters
It’s common for new businesses to adopt what is, in effect, a go with the flow attitude. It makes sense because they’re still figuring out how they will operate. Once established, however, this casual approach can have a negative impact on the company’s time use and productivity.
Taking some time to figure out which tasks are a good use of time and which are not is a useful first step for speeding up your operations. Some of these things will be obvious — it’s clear when holding multiple meetings a day is wasting time. If they’re invariably simply people talking with no action points, then they’re a waste of time.
Other things that need changing may be less obvious but just as damaging, if not more so. Chasing perfection, instead of recognizing when progress is being made, can prevent businesses from making speedy progress.
Automate Where Possible
There’s often a DIY element to young businesses. While the founder may mostly spend their time on product development and growth, they may also be forced to wear multiple hats at the same time. For example, they might also be in charge of invoicing, scheduling, marketing, and accounting. Even if those tasks don’t individually take all that much time, collectively they’ll probably be classed as time-consuming. Plus, having to shift focus to these tasks can’t interrupt any momentum you’ve developed for other, more important tasks.
Using automation tools for repetitive tasks is a tried, tested, and effective way to free up your time without experiencing any loss in quality.
Outsourcing Production
Young businesses, especially those that deal with complex products, often have a slow journey towards success. And that’s not necessarily because there’s no demand for their product, but because they simply don’t have the facilities to scale the production of said product.
In that instance, they may have to wait longer for success — or even risk missing out on it, if a competitor comes along — for purely logistical reasons. In that case, it’s best to look at outsourcing some tasks, such as production, to external companies. A toll manufacturing company, for instance, offers a time and cost-effective way to scale product production, ensuring young cosmetic brands can get the quantities of their product they need, even if they don’t have in-house capabilities. An eco-friendly pet accessories brand, meanwhile, may outsource the manufacturing of the products they’ve designed in-house altogether. Ultimately, this approach helps businesses stay in control while receiving the support they need to go to the next level.
Focus On Growth Activities
Young businesses have a lot on their plates, but not all of them will have the same level of impact when it comes to supporting the journey towards success. Some tasks will take the business one inch closer in that direction. Others will move them a mile down the road. Exerting the most time, energy, and money on the growth activities makes more sense than treating all tasks as the same.
If you’re not sure how to prioritize tasks, then focus on the ROI. If a task offers minimal ROI (or none, in the case of admin tasks), then push it further down the list or outsource it. Working to improve your product or putting together a slam dunk marketing strategy, on the other hand, can have a significant impact on the company’s growth.
Make Data-Driven Decisions
The businesses’ success depends not just on the decisions they make, but when they make them. It’ll take longer for a business to reach the top if it’s delaying making the decisions that it needs to make to get there.
Of course, making the wrong decision is more dangerous than making the right one too late. Businesses can speed up their decision-making process by making data-driven decisions. Sales figures, customer feedback, and other data related to KPIs can help guide you in the right direction. If you struggle with making strategic decisions, then you can also consider hiring a fractional CFO. They can offer experience and expertise without breaking the bank.
Have a Culture of Open Communication
There will always be obstacles that businesses have to overcome on their way to success. But how long it takes for them to overcome such issues is, in part, in the hands of the business. Organizations that have a culture of open communication tend to solve problems much faster, purely because they become aware of them much sooner. This culture, of course, doesn’t develop just on its own — it has to flow through the entire company, from top to bottom.
Empower Your Employees
As we mentioned above, there are some activities — such as meetings — that are clear time wasters.
Poor productivity, on the other hand, is arguably just as damaging, yet less easy to identify. One common cause of poor productivity is disempowered employees, which is a familiar problem for young businesses. Working to empower your employees can have positive impacts, for example, it can reduce second-guessing and having the staff needing to check with management what they’re doing. This approach won’t just save time, but, if you’ve hired correctly, it’ll also simply lead to better work.
Conclusion
Ultimately, there’s no fast-acting bullet that’ll generate success overnight. It’ll be a process regardless. With that said, the tips above should make it easier for businesses to find their footing and put themselves in a position where success is possible.
