When you’re a business owner, time is money. Everything you do to improve your operations and free up your own time is a benefit to you, your employees, and your customers.
If you’re just starting out, you may feel the pressure to do it all on your own. But you don’t have to! There are plenty of services you can utilize starting today that will have a positive impact on your overall operations.
Time Savers
Your time means the difference between business success and failure. Free some up, and you will be more available to focus on your bottom line.
Social Media Management
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last 15 or so years, you already know that social media is one of the main driving factors behind most businesses. As such, it pays to devote time to managing your social media — but it does not have to be your time. Hiring a social media manager may be a smart move, even at Glassdoor’s estimated salary of around $53,090 per year.
Business Formation
In the early days of running your business, it’s easy to get bogged down with the details. One of these may be forming your LLC. Creating an LLC for online business can help you save time and money because there are some tax advantages and relatively little paperwork involved in the process. But it does require research, so outsource the legwork to a formation service to save time and skip the attorney fees.
Chatbots
Have you ever logged into a website and had an automatic pop-up with a special greeting welcoming you to ask questions? If so, you are already familiar with chatbots. According to customer experience software designer Freshworks, a chatbot can handle simple queries and, with a few modifications, can emulate a human conversation with your customers.
Streamlining
By streamlining certain aspects of your business, you will be more efficient, and your customers will appreciate their products and services being delivered on time, every time.
Workflow system
A workflow system is a piece of hardware that allows you to see where each of your projects is in the pipeline. Utilizing this type of service takes a ton of guesswork out of your business. Technology Advice recommends several different workflow solutions, most of which seamlessly integrate with your existing services, such as your email or cloud-based drive.
Document Management
Paper is virtually a thing of the past, and this has been a godsend for home-based and virtual businesses. But you still have documents to handle and utilizing an online service, such as Google Docs, will ensure everyone has an opportunity to access, modify, and distribute company-wide documents as needed. With Google Docs, you can even collaborate with team members from across the globe in real-time.
Accounting
Accounting, like social media, is a necessary but time-consuming process. Consider outsourcing your accounting or hiring a freelance bookkeeper to take this off your plate. Not only will this free you up to focus on more important issues, but it will ensure a streamlined billing process. Your accountant can also help you keep up with accounts payable so that you don’t accidentally miss an invoice to a vendor and risk running out of valuable raw materials.
For just about any aspect of your business, there is a service, freelancer, or software that can get it done on your behalf. Those listed above, including document management and business formation, will help you save time and channel your energy into your area of expertise. No matter your budget, there’s likely a solution for you. All you have to do is search.
