Starting a business is an exciting venture sparked by a single, unique idea. It’s the passion of a new business owner that sets them up for the hours of hard work to get their company off the ground. This early phase is somewhat of a honeymoon period where business owners are filled with adrenaline to succeed.
It’s when the administrative realities of owning a business kick in that business owners face the challenge of tackling admin while remaining productive. New business owners work an average of 50 hours a week, and only a third of this time is dedicated to growing their business.
The rest of the time is spent dealing with daily situations and administrative tasks. Drowning in admin will stall your efforts to establish your business. If you want to speed up your success, take control of admin with these five tips.
1. Hire early.
New business owners are constantly trying to cut costs while they wait for their income to roll in. While it makes sense to be careful with costs in the early phases of business, you have to spend money to make money in the case of business admin.
The problem with admin is that it will keep rolling in, no matter how much you try to stay on top of it. The cost of hiring someone to take control of business admin is offset by the freedom it gives you to focus on your business. The more time you spend on strategic business growth, the faster your business will begin generating income.
2. Train new employees well.
A poorly trained employee is an administrative headache.
As your business gets moving and you take on more employees, you must train them well if you want them to hit the ground running. When an employee is well-trained, you can begin to delegate immediately.
No matter how ‘right for the job’ your employee is, they will not understand the ins and outs of your business right away. Effective training ensures they’re not just aware of their responsibilities, but they’re also aware of your expectations.
Assuming a new employee can step into the role without proper training will only create more admin as you rectify mistakes and constantly re-explain responsibilities.
3. Outsource administrative functions.
Outsourcing is commonly referred to in a manufacturing sense. However, you can also outsource almost all functions of business administration. Get someone else to do the work for you.
Virtual assistant
If you haven’t got the space to hire someone just yet, take on a Virtual Assistant to clear your inbox, manage your diary and take care of the jobs you simply don’t have time for.
IT
IT issues have the potential to shut down a business completely. Unfortunately, in this case, ctrl-alt-delete doesn’t solve the problem. Outsourcing your IT will keep your business running smoothly and provide essential software protection.
Data entry
Don’t waste a minute punching numbers! Send your data entry to an external company and ensure data is always accurate and up to date.
Marketing
Getting your business off the ground will require a solid digital marketing strategy, but attempting to do this yourself will create more non-business-related work without any guarantee of success. Find an external digital marketing company that will tackle the technicalities of optimising your site, and enable business growth.
Accounting
Keeping your business accounting up to date is extremely important. It’s also extremely time-consuming. Balancing the books requires daily recording, and paperwork can quickly pile up. When it comes to accounting, the consequences for cutting corners are costly. If you don’t have the time to do it right, have someone do it for you.
Tax management
Business tax is sporadic, but it chews up your time and your business cash flow when managed poorly. External tax specialists manage complicated business tax, giving you more time to spend on your business and ensuring you meet your tax obligations.
4. Invest in time-saving software.
These days, digitalization is key to successful business ownership. There’s simply no time to be shuffling paper and searching for physical files when trying to grow a business. This kind of admin is a significant setback in your timeframe for success.
Digitalization is essential, even if you’re planning to outsource areas of business administration. You will still need a digital space to manage projects, secure documents, record expenses and streamline your business processes.
New business owners often avoid investing in digitalization due to implementation costs and lack of technical knowledge. But the pros of digitalization far outweigh the cons. Here’s what you can look forward to by investing in time-saving software as early as possible:
- Removal of human error
- Automated processes through software integration
- Improved business decision making
- Enhanced productivity
- Time and project management
- Document security and sensitive information protection
- Data collection for business evaluation
5. Manage business admin from the get-go
When you’re hit with the administrative reality of running a business, it’s easy to let admin get on top of you. But business administration doesn’t need to be a constant headache. Create strategies to manage admin as early as possible in your venture and give yourself a better chance to focus on business growth.
