Your Business Should Be Like A Greyhound
The greyhound approach to your small business, what is it? Think about what a greyhound is. It’s small, lightweight, fast, can change direction in the blink of an eye, it has amazing endurance and doesn’t have an ounce of at on its body.
Be quick, adaptable, motivated and lightweight. That last one, ‘lightweight’, that’s the one most small business owners struggle with. When you’re trying to expand and grow from a small to medium-sized business, it’s difficult to not put on a few pounds.
The pounds will be new employees, new logistics, more capital, more storage space, more production, etc. of course it makes sense to have all these things because you need bulk so you can do the heavy lifting a larger business requires.
But remember, trim the fat where you can. If you can keep your business lightweight then make sure you put in the effort to make it so. Here are good reasons to eat a salad once in a while and maintain size and weight.
#2 Repetitive tasks solved with automation
Repetitive tasks are a giant time-eating chore for your business. Things that should be done quickly are often left in their mundane and complex state.
Wherever you can simplify things that you do every single day and frequently, make sure you do so with automation. For example, if you are creating invoices for your clients or B2B customers, make a template with all the relevant information and details needed.
Your employees can fill in the invoices in just a few seconds and within a few clicks send away the invoice.
Another repetitive task is email marketing. Your business is sending promotional messages to customers and clients alike.
Rather than writing your promotional emails for every single send-out, you should again make one file or a series of templates which can then be dragged and dropped into an email.
This will require an email marketing campaign software. It frees up staff to be more useful and productive.
#2 Data compiling and servers
Data is a broad word for so many things. Don’t think of data as ones and zeros, instead, think of data as the currency that your business lives by.
Data is customer details, client information, product design details, marketing campaigns, contracts, financial details, etc. Every time you add something new to your database you have to engage with a server, firewall and encryption portal. On top of this, you’re always trying to not take up too much space in the server you have as you’ll have to physically buy more.
However, with a windows vps, you have your own private server which can be used from anywhere. Obviously, it’s virtual and not physical meaning you can add more servers without needing the real-world space.
You can, therefore, continue to use as much bandwidth as you like. You’re also not affected by natural disasters. A VPS allows you to lightweight and adaptable just like the greyhound.
#3 A list of standbys
Small businesses are able to mold to any situation but the large business has them beat when it comes to versatility in talent. Obviously, you don’t have as many employees so you won’t have as many skills available to you. Outsourcing should always be an option for entrepreneurs.
Fill the gap with outside talent where you can’t with your own workforce. However, you never really know why or when you will need a freelancer to work with you. That’s why keeping a list of freelancers ready to be contacted at any moment is crucial.
Make a library of all the verified and trusted freelancers you believe you could outsource tasks to. If you’re ever in need of skills you don’t have, you can simply reach into your library and find the names of those who do.
Categorizing them by their abilities and reputation with you helps to simplify things. For example, if you need someone to make a marketing video ad, your online library path will be something like ‘Outsourcing – marketing – media, ads, design – media – (freelancer names) – previous relationship.
Even if this is simply a file with folders on your desktop, it’s better than randomly searching for freelancers online when time is short.
A small business that is seeking to out-last, out-pace and out-adapt the competition needs to first start off by automating mundane repetitive tasks. With just a few clicks employes should be able to get simple things done.
If you do require outsourcing then have a contact list of trusted highly skilled freelancers you can rely on in your time of need. Don’t waste time on physical servers, virtual server services allow you to expand your bandwidth when needed and also have protective services included.
What are you doing to automate parts of your business?
