4 Things All Entrepreneurs Should Be Doing...

Do you find yourself often thinking, “Why is this always such a process?!”

As entrepreneurs, especially Virtual Assistants, that we excel in establishing in our client’s lives to make their day-to-day easier, but that we don’t do for ourselves! It’s definitely easier sometimes to organize other people’s lives, but yet we curse ourselves as we work through way too many steps in the exact same process.

We’ve uncovered 4 crucial things we should all be doing in our OWN business that you need to implement NOW:

1 – Set up a booking link. There are many free options for this so it only requires some time spent on the front-end to set it up, but it will save you countless hours down the road. Going back and forth via email or text is such a waste of time. Once your meeting options are set and your calendar is linked, you can simply send someone the link and tell them to find a time that works best for them. We will express a word of caution, though: if you decide to go this route (which you ABSOLUTELY should)- make sure you keep your calendar up-to-date! Bonus: add a line in your email signature with something like “Schedule a Meeting” and link your online scheduler.

2 – Schedule Maintenance or Upkeep Tasks in your calendar. This has been a massive game-changer in keeping our own business organized. Every Friday afternoon, we spend 30-60 minutes cleaning out our inboxes, complete any data or receipt entry tasks, and prep for the following week. It’s topped off with a quick office tidying and we wrap up our week on a high note, allowing the following week to begin on the right foot. Bonus: in your calendar meeting, include the list of what all is to be done so that you never have to think twice about it. Set it up so it occurs weekly at the same time and it shouldn’t be more than 60 minutes. If it doesn’t take you that long to complete, you’ve just found some free time – ENJOY IT.

3 – Implement a Project Management Tool. If you are still flying by the seat of your pants when it comes to task management – you’re ABSOLUTELY wasting a ton of time trying to remember #AllTheThings. Using a PM tool like Asana or Trello is an easy way to keep your reoccurring tasks and one-off’s organized. This isn’t just for VA’s, either. It’s a tool that literally all business owners should be using to ensure nothing is forgotten and keeps your business in check with its competition. Bonus: include a board dedicated to your own business, with information like your Business Number, GST number, links to all social profiles and websites, a summary of your Brand Assets (fonts & colour codes).

4 – Use a Password Manager. There are still some people out there who rely on a notebook to track their passwords. We kid you not, we still see it today. This is not only one of THE biggest time wasters (“What’s my password, again?!”) but it’s not necessary! There are many secure password keepers, such as LastPass, that allows you to store and organize them all. Bonus: if you need to share a password with someone else, it’s secure and so freaking easy to do! You can revoke access at any time, keeping your passwords much more safe than sharing via email, text, or a sticky note!

There are enough daily challenges with being a business owner, but keeping your basic business needs organized shouldn’t be one of them. You might have to invest some time and a little bit of money upfront, but think of all the time you will save down the road having all your information right at your fingertips! We’ve recently onboarded a new client who we are SO freaking excited to work with, and one of the first things we did was set up a booking link. Why? Because meetings and presentations are a main part of their business and so much time was wasted going back and forth trying to find a time that worked. No word of a lie, we likely just saved HOURS per month of email coordination by taking 30-minutes to get it all set up.

Lastly, if you truly are unsure of where to start with some basic organization for your business or the simple thought of it is just too much right now – outsourcing these setups is always an option! There are VA’s who LOVE doing this type of work (us included!) and who do it often enough that it isn’t a large investment on your part.

It’s never too late to get the back-end of your business organized; the important part is that you take the time to do it right so that you aren’t having to continuously go back and update/revise it. Annual checkups, just like with people, are important in keeping our businesses healthy!