Unleash Your Profits

BW Wire BlogBeverly Brister

Time Hacks, Mindset Shifts, & Hidden Income Boosters

Let’s talk about 4 specific areas that are important to business owners:

  1. Time stealers
  2. Getting out of your own way
  3. Hidden money makers
  4. Avenues to multiple revenue streams

TIME STEALERS – If time is money, when you lose time, you’re losing money!

Small business owners wear many hats – you’re the visionary, the worker, the manager, production coordinator, inventory clerk, janitor, admin, PR department, and the list goes on. 

But you have to remember you’re human and there’s only one of you. If you’re stricken by an illness or unable to work, what happens to the future of your business?

Things that steal your time:

  • Repetitive tasks – restocking, cleaning, filing, etc.
  • Phone calls
  • Running errands – buying supplies, post office runs, etc.
  • Administrative tasks – bookkeeping, scheduling, follow-up correspondence

How to stop the hemorrhaging:

  • Automation – Setting up a system can solve many of these problems:
    • Order supplies online and have them delivered. Set aside a specific day/time to do this.
    • Schedule your marketing efforts. There are plenty of tools to set up and schedule your social media posts and email campaigns.

Automating these tasks could easily free up as much as 3 hours of your time in a week.

  • Hire an assistant – Either in-house or a virtual assistant. 
    • They can run your errands.
    • They can handle phone calls and bookings.
    • They can handle administrative tasks.
    • Possibly even handle bookkeeping and correspondence.

This could easily save you another 3 hours of time in a week.

GETTING IN YOUR OWN WAY – Be on the lookout for common actions that are counterintuitive:

  • Working on non-revenue earning tasks during revenue-earning hours:
    • Making aesthetic changes to your website
    • Reorganizing files or parts of your office
    • Not staying on task
  • Not utilizing staff properly – If you find yourself saying “No one else does it right so I have to do it” you’re defeating the purpose of having staff.

The Remedy:

  • Block off a set day and time after your business hours to work on non-revenue producing tasks.
  • Delegate – Don’t hold everything so close. Groom some of your staff to take on select tasks according to their strengths.

Doing so could save you another 2 hours of your time within a week.

GUESS WHAT?!!

You just gained an 8-hour day of your time back! A whole day’s worth of productivity! 

HIDDEN MONEY MAKERS

  • Consultations – Since the start of the pandemic, for many of us Zoom has become our best friend. Stop giving the farm away for free. If you’re providing in-depth help, how-to sessions, spending 30+ minutes, charge for your time and expertise.
  • Create pay-per-view videos – If you find you’re repeating the same set of instructions to your clients, why not create a video of it. If what you explain is sharing some of your company’s secret sauce, charge for them.
  • Create downloadable media for lead generation (your carrot) – To complement those consultations, provide your audience with how-to guides, instructional material, FAQs, and any other process that you can document. Turn these into downloadable media and eBooks (PDFs). Gate them to gain leads.

AVENUES TO MULTIPLE REVENUE STREAMS

  • Use an online scheduling tool – Reduces phone calls. This allows your customers to schedule time with you when you’re available. Even allows you to take payments while scheduling time with you. I like to use Setmore.
  • Have a functioning website – Make sure your site is working for you. Has up-to-date info, ways you can be contacted (particularly scheduling features as mentioned before), showcases your current products or services with working payment buttons. 
  • Optimize your Google Listing – Google allows you to have a full featured search listing FOR FREE! Besides your location and hours, add photos, video, products, services, and links for customers to purchase.

MY FAVORITE PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS:

  • Social media management – Later
    • Manage all of your social platforms in one place with analytics (Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube Shorts, and Pinterest).
  • Calendar scheduling – Setmore
    • Powerful scheduling tool that integrates with Square, Stripe, and PayPal.
  • Gating your content and capturing leads – Constant Contact
    • Full stack digital marketing tool for email campaigns, lead generation, SMS marketing, and so much more.
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