Time is the critical factor in growing a business, and most entrepreneurs don’t have much of it. Time works for you or against you, so it’s critical to know how to free-up time to focus on tasks that will have a long-term impact on growing your business and sales revenue. As a busy entrepreneur, everything you do should always add long-term value to your business, while at the same time ensuring that your business runs smoothly within reasonable operational costs. Here are some tricks we’ve learned from successful entrepreneurs we know about saving-time and scaling the growth of their company:

Recruit & Empower Talented People: One of the best approaches taken by successful entrepreneurs in freeing up time to focus on growth is hiring talented professionals to run the departments of their business on their behalf. Although at times a Founder/CEO may not favor the idea of giving control to a another person, the fact is that a business cannot run very well without experienced employees who can do the job better than anyone else. Small business owners don’t have many resources, so it is advisable to hire extremely talented employees.

Use Technology to Automate Operations: Using software technology can help improve operational efficiency and free-up time, so you can focus on architecting scalable growth for your business. Technology can help automate inefficient processes in many departments like lead generation, marketing and Customer Service. When using technology make sure to get technology solutions that are tailored to suit your industry & type of business. Internet software & the loud has made finding cost-effective technology solutions to automate business tasks pretty easy & affordable.

Outsourcing: Outsourcing is the process of allowing another company (or person) to deal with the work-load in your business. Outsourcing is cheap, effective and a trending approach that a lot of small business owners are using to help them grow. The Internet makes it very easy to outsource a wide range of tasks to remote workers in the U.S.A or overseas.  Business owners can outsource tasks such as social media marketing, scheduling appointments, handling customer service emails and market research. Websites like oDesk & Freelancer.com make it easy to find qualified & affordable workers from all over the world with just a few clicks.

Crowdsourcing: Crowdsourcing is a modern business practice that involves soliciting professional services from a significant number of people (referred to as a “crowd”). Crowdsourcing is a very good way of not only getting tasks done in time but tap a broad diversity of skill-set and creativity for numerous individuals. Crowdsourcing can help you get a job done in the shortest time possible, while at the same time keeping operational costs reasonable. A lot of businesses these days have innovatively used Crowdsourcing as part of their business. For example, 99designs.com helps business owners crowdsource the design of a new logo for their business.

For Short-Term projects, Hire a Freelancer: Every business has a number of tasks that don’t need full-time professional attention. For these tasks, it is wise to consider hiring freelancers on as-needed-basis. It doesn’t make sense to hire someone on a monthly salary to undertake tasks that don’t come up very often. Activities such as designing a website, marketing materials and a host of others can be easily handled by a freelancer that will help you not only save more time, but money. oDesk & Freelancer.com are good places where you can find talented freelancers for short-term projects.

Prioritize Like Crazy: Although every task in a business may seem important, there is no doubt that some tasks take higher priority than others. It’s crucial to clearly identify priorities in your business and allocate time/resources for them accordingly. There is no way you can do everything in your business. So you must be ruthless when prioritizing tasks to help you focus on things that will help move your business forward.

Avoid Unnecessary Interruptions: Every minute you have is just as important as the business itself. When you put in 8 hours of work every day, it is extremely important you make sure to get the most out of them. In order to do this, you must avoid any unnecessary interruptions. If you need to get a proposal to client within an hour, close your email & forward your calls to voicemail until you’re done. The simple act of deliberately cutting-out distractions will help you focus on what’s important and focus your free time on activities that will help you grow your business.

Every entrepreneur wants to grow their business so they can make more money and have enjoy more free time. However, there are a lot of hurdles one must face along the way to achieving this. The tips highlighted in this post will have been collected from some of the most successful entrepreneurs we know and hope that sharing them with you will help you in your endeavor to grow your business.

 

Written by Andrew Bermudez

Andrew is the co-founder & CEO of Digsy, a free online platform that helps local business owners save time & money finding their dream office, retail & warehouse space. Before Digsy, Andrew was Senior Vice President & Principal of Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services in Irvine, California. He's a 12 year commercial real estate brokerage veteran specializing in representing tenants, buyers and landlords.