To iterate, entrepreneurs engage in a variety of activities while building their ventures. It is easy to get consumed in the operations so much that you often don’t take time to distance yourself from the routine demands and think strategically about the business you are developing. Managing your time remains a serious problem as one often substitutes time invested in building with monitoring routine operations, instead of hiring a manager who can allow you to free your attention.
A useful yet neglected aspect by most entrepreneurs during this time is the use of productivity software. There are several software which help to improve productivity by structuring different aspects of your business. On one hand, these softwares help reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks, and on the other, they also provide a rough process outline for the execution of certain activities. Additionally, they also become repositories of knowledge that may otherwise disappear as one may forget to pass on all the information to the next person taking charge.
For example, taking up a customer relationship management software may simply allow you to map the flow of your leads towards customers better. Capture the important points from discussion with a specific sales lead. You could also diagnose when more attention needs to be given to a specific stage of the sales cycle, and where bottlenecks may exist.
It is better to begin using this software after a few physical conversions and a rudimentary process, as you begin seeing the benefits clearly and also appreciate what the software may provide you through the formalization of the process. Make it a point to do your own digging for software to see what fits you and your needs., given that there are a plethora of softwares and features to choose from.
Ask some entrepreneurs who would have tried these tools and study the one which is contextually useful to your business. Do not use just the freebies, try to get the paid features if you feel that they are worth it. If you feel unsure about paying for premium features, try out a few before you finalize while ensuring that you can migrate content across different platforms.
The shifting may look a bit time-consuming in the initial phases. This temporary overhead will give you benefits of having spare time over the long run. Bear with the transition challenges, and you will surely find it rewarding.
Ask yourself:
What is my routine set of activities which take away substantial time which I could employ to think and build strategies for the venture?
What areas are these activities typically in – Marketing? Sales? Accounting?
Are there softwares that could help standardize the process and reduce my time consumed in managing and monitoring the progress?
Whom could I speak to about this software and shortlist the potential list which I could evaluate myself?
What are the issues that do not get addressed in each of this software?