How To Stop Regretting Wasted Time In Your Small Business

Do you want to know how to stop regretting wasted time? In small businesses, time really IS money. So, it is really unfortunate that most small businesses are wasting a lot of time either knowingly or unknowingly.

If you can reduce the amount of time that is needlessly wanted in your company, that time can be diverted to important tasks.

The tasks need to be completed, as this will help to make your business more valuable. 

Here are a few things you can do to stop regretting reducing wasted time in your small business and change your life for the better.

Cutting The Red Tape

Of course, there is lots of paperwork if you run your small business effectively and lawfully.

However, there are also a lot of administrative tasks that are not truly necessary. These tasks take up more time and resources than they have any reason to. It’s the biggest cause of regretting wasted time in your small business.

If you want to reduce wasted time in your small business, it is, then, a really good idea to conduct an audit of your administrative processes.

Do this by identifying those which are essential and those which are useful.  And even those which are not delivering much in terms of results and eliminating the latter category as a starting point.

Keep evaluating your admin tasks and paperwork periodically until you have eliminated all the waste and your business will run like a well-oiled machine going forward.

Use Appointment Reminder Software To Stop Regretting Wasted Time

Appointment Reminders for EMRs, small businesses, and other organizations are an excellent tool for any company that manages a lot of appointments with customers and clients.

By sending out a reminder, you can ensure that customers and clients do not forget that they have an appointment with you.

However, this means you waste less time twiddling your thumbs waiting for them to show up for an appointment, and your whole company can run more efficiently as a result.

Outsource Is Another Way How To Stop Regretting Wasted Time

Something that can reduce a lot of wasted time in your small business is outsourcing various tasks that take up a lot of time. These are most necessarily the main roles you and your employees are trained for.

For example, outsourcing your bookkeeping to a professional accountant will ensure that the books are highly accurate. This is done in a fraction of the time and money if you do it unless you have accountancy training.

The same goes for a myriad of tasks from copywriting to graphic design.

If it would take an employee far longer to do a more mediocre job than it would outsource to a professional, and the job is not a permanent one, then consider outsourcing it to reduce waste.

Automate It To Save Time and Money

If a particular process can be automated, then do it. You won’t regret it.

Automation usually saves a lot of time, not to mention human error, and although it can be more expensive to buy automation software, robotics, and equipment upfront.

However, it will usually save you more in the long term thanks to increased efficiency and lower staffing costs.

In my business, I love using Jasper AI to help me write content faster.  I can get more done in less time. However, I do edit the copy they produce when I put in inputs for the writing.

Any tool that can save you time may be worth the money!

Automate with AI tools for writing to save you time which equals money.

Ditch Those Meetings To Stop Regretting Wasted Time

Many business owners think that meetings are far more important than they really are. If you have important information to impart, think about whether it can be done via email or messaging apps in the first instance.

Many communications in the office can be conducted remotely via email. This can save a whole lot of time that would otherwise be eaten up by meetings. As well as, ensuring that employees can read the information carefully when they have the time.

If a meeting really is essential, do whatever you can to distill the information into its purest form. Writing an outline of what you want to say and a detailed timetable of the meeting agenda will help you to stay on point.

Furthermore, this will reduce wasted time significantly over the course of a year.

Keep The Office Organized

This may seem like a small point. However, the more well-organized the office is, the more time you will save each year.

Even if it takes one employee an extra 3 minutes to find the file they are looking for each day, over the course of the year, that could add up to more than 17 minutes of wasted time on one task alone.

Multiply that by the number of employees you have and the number of other tasks that take longer than necessary due to disorganized office space.

You will see how a lack of organization can result in a lot of waste, and annoyance, over the years.

Make Informational Posters

A good, and very low-tech way to reduce waste in a lot of small businesses is to make and hang posters. Include various pieces of information that employees will need to refer to regularly. You might think that this will only make a small amount of difference.

However, those extra few minutes they spend looking for the information. The time spent finding a lost file will add up over the months.

Just make sure you hand posters close to where the employees who may need access to the information are sitting. Or it could end up not saving you any wasted time at all.

Encourage Employees To Take Breaks

You might think, if you want to reduce wasted time, you should cut employee breaks. However, this is really the wrong way to go about things.

You see, the more people work, the less productive they get, the more time they will actually waste being inefficient. By taking more breaks people are motivated, refreshed, and work hard which reduces wasted time.

Taking breaks in nature is a great way to be inspired every day and it helps you to generate new ideas for your small biz.

In Conclusion How to Stop Regretting Wasted Time and Energy

As you can see, there are so many ways you can start to reduce wasted time in your small business.

So why not implement as many of them as you can, where applicable, in your business today?

Your bottom line will thank you for doing so. I’d love to hear how you are able to stop regretting wasted time in your small business. Please drop a comment below so we can discuss it.