/U/U – USA;/U/U – AUS;/U/U – NZ;/U/Productivity;/U/U – AUS/15-03;/U/U – NZ/15-03;/U/U – USA/15-03;/U/U – UK;/U/U – UK/15-03;

If you said yes, then great! You’re ready. I’d be surprised if anyone actually said no. Especially considering the the workload many of us face from day to day, we should forever be looking for ways to streamline all of our business operations in order to align both our efficiency and our effectiveness in our roles and for our business.

Tips to streamlining your business operations

1. Modernize your current systems – ensure you’re keeping pace with competition within your sector.
2. Utilize the ‘Cloud’ – With the ability to store everything online, this has not only bettered our environmental impact – but eliminated the need to write everything down and go through screeds of paper! Less paper = less filing = a de-cluttered mind!
3. Improve across the board – If you are involved in a business that operates across multiple locations, make sure that you improve your operations across the board. Not just to a select number of sites.
4. Have fewer staff meetings – The less you have, the more thorough the ones you have should be. They are more productive and the likelihood of full attendance by all members is much higher.
5. Limit the number of suppliers you use – The more streamlined this can be, the less double handling you have. Get as many products from as little suppliers as possible, for the most cost effective prices.
6. Decide what to outsource – If outsourcing some of your resources is going to be more cost effective, free up more of your time and in the end make you more profitable – you should definitely go down this route.
7. Seamlessly integrate your financial data into your everyday operations – The best technologies should be prevalent in your day to day business. Ensure figures are easily accessible at all times so you know exactly how you’re tracking.
8. Data mining – Select the numbers that are most important to you and your business. What figures give you the most transparency and reflect truly on what your financial situation is.
9. Communicate in real-time – I’m beating the technology drum again. Technology is your most effective path to communicating effectively to all business members despite the impact of time zones and geographic location.
10. What’s your biggest return? – Your knowledge of your either single or multi-location business should be so up to date that you could recite what one is providing you your greatest return. You always want to be able to identify your best performers and emulate their strategies in your lower-performing sites.

So there you have it.

We’re all about bettering your business and helping you to find ways to cut costs and streamline your operations.

If you’ve fallen back into old habits, it’s time to recommit.

Simply setting a goal to become more organized can seem anything but simple. Living in a world of clutter can leave you feeling increasingly overwhelmed and stressed out—and no one has time for that.

Use the following tips to break bad habits and move toward a more organized work life in the new year, and beyond.

1. Start with Home Base: Clear Up Workspace Clutter 

Take a moment and look at your desk. Can you see the top of it? 

A study from the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute shows that physical clutter negatively impacts our ability to process information and focus. Make straightening and organizing your desk a top priority.  

Above all else: Don’t be a hoarder. Throw away anything that you no longer need, and store items of importance in folders or designated drawers. Hold yourself to a system that works for you and helps keep the clutter from creeping back and taking over your workspace. 

2. Employ a Virtual Teammate: Leverage Technology Where You Can

Simplify your life by automating part of it. Today’s job management, financial and email marketing tools enable different levels of automation that can simplify and speed up delivery of crucial aspects of your business.

Some automation ideas to consider include:

• Employ all-in-one job management software so that data can seamlessly (and automatically) flow to all aspects of your organization (i.e. from business development to project management to finance).
• Automate the generation and distribution of performance, financial and employee reports.
• Create automated invoice email reminders that get sent to clients, vendors or partners who are overdue on their payment.
• Set up automated bill pay so you don’t have to worry about keeping bills organized and paying them on time.

3. Define Daily Priorities: Always Know Which Tasks to Complete

For some, disorganization comes from not knowing which projects to prioritize.

Start your day with a hard look at your assignments. Consider deadlines, ROI potential or importance to a teammate’s responsibilities. Then, order your tasks from most-to-least important.

Also, consider when your brain is working at its peak (e.g. first thing in the morning, right before lunch, or even at 2 a.m.). Prioritize your more challenging tasks for these times, and tackle the less brain-intensive tasks for the parts of the day your brain may not be firing on all cylinders.

Let the transformation begin!

Becoming more organized doesn’t have to be as stressful as it can seem. Use the tips shared above, and take each task (regardless of how big or small) one small step at a time. Work to clear clutter from both your desk and your mind, prioritize your workload and focus your to-do list for greater efficiency in the work days ahead.