Feel like you don’t have enough time?

You’re not alone–Many business owners feel like this.

As business owners, it is hard to figure out how to save time in your business. We are stressed almost all of the time. For me, I know I need systems to help me save time, or else I will lose my mind. Luckily, I have come across many tools and softwares that help me to make my day as productive as possible. Here are a few of the tips I will be discussing in the video today:

1. Digitize Your Documents
2. Download a Scheduling App
3. Get an Online Payment Processor
4. Keep Track of Your Passwords
5. Schedule Out Content Ahead of Time

Let’s go over these time saving hacks so you can be less stressed and be more productive at work.

5 Time Saving Hacks for the Busy Biz Owner

For many of my clients when I start working with them, they have no idea how to save time in their business. Most are still using paper approvals, still getting checks mailed to them, and using physical contracts that require signatures. While these things still get the job done and can work well for some, not switching over to digital can waste a lot of time. It can take a lot of time recreating these documents over and over again. Not to mention, getting a check mailed to you can take three to five business days. After a while, all of the time spent on these things can add up.

Think about what materials you use with your clients. Do you have contracts that are signed by both you and your client in-person? What about proposals or payment methods? Do you have a digital system for sending your clients quotes? If you don’t have these things digitized already, you need to consider doing so. One service I love is called PandaDoc, which allows you to create templates and customize them with tokens for each client. Then, you can just email the document to your client, have them give an e-signature, and send it back to you.

Scheduling apps are great for adding a plug-in to your calendar to keep track of your availability. A free one that we have used for a while is called Calendly, and we love it! These apps are especially great if you are offering services and need to set up a time for when you will be meeting with your clients. A scheduling app will eliminate the back and forth done on email of who is or is not free at what time. All you need to do is send them a link to your scheduler, and the app will show them the times you are available. Then, your client can decide which day and time works best for them. You can even ask them questions like their name, email address, and what service they are wanting. This method makes scheduling so easy, that clients will be encouraged to set an appointment with you, which can make you even more money!

If you have been on the Disrupt Ordinary website, you will be able to see all of our services. From there, you can add the services to your cart and checkout without needing to wait on me or someone on my team. This not only saves us time, but it also saves our clients time. For this checkout system, we use Blue Commerce as a plug-in for our WordPress website.

If you’re not ready to put your services and prices online, there are other options for you. You can use PayPal, Stripe, or QuickBooks to charge custom quotes. Once you have gathered the information you need, you can send them an invoice for your services, and they can you pay very quickly. No matter what type of payment processing method you use, making it digital will save you so much money. You won’t have to wait around to receive a check, and your client won’t have to take time out of their day to send you one. It will be all online and almost instantaneous.

When I was first starting out, I wasted so much time trying to find the passwords to the 20 different softwares I was using. I have even had clients who have taken weeks to get their social media passwords to me because they couldn’t find their password book! This truly is a waste of time and it can be very stressful if the passwords are lost for good. Something that we recommend using is called LastPass because it safely stores all of your passwords, and it allows you to send your passwords to others very easily. This way, you don’t have to text or email your passwords, you just send over the LastPass access token. Keeping your passwords in a digital password book will save you time, stress, and will ensure the security of your passwords.

Whether if you are using our tool or not, scheduling your content is the best way to save time while staying consistent online. If you are not scheduling your content ahead of time, you are likely needing to set aside time every day to post on social media. You have to think about what to post, find an image that properly reflects your brand, come up with a caption, decide on hashtags, then finally schedule it. Sounds like a lot of work, right? Here at Disrupt Ordinary, we get a month’s worth of content scheduled in about five hours. This goes for taking pictures, shooting videos, and creating graphics. So for you, it might take as little as three hours!

If you aren’t sure how to schedule out your content correctly, we have a membership that will make scheduling your content much easier. Our Finally Visible Academy will let you organize your post ideas, add your images and captions, then transfer them over to your scheduling tool. Then, your content will be scheduled automatically throughout the month. Please go check it out if you are wanting to save some time with maintaining your social media presence.

Links Mentioned In This Video:

• Finally Visible Academy
• Woocommerce
• Calendly
• PandaDoc
• LastPass