Ever wonder how the top selling and very successful entrepreneurs manage to get so much done? Are they superheroes who don’t sleep? Do they work through lunch and dinner and even the kids’ hockey games or swimming meets? Have they somehow figured out how to clone themselves?

Quite frankly entrepreneurship and growing a business does often require you to work through lunch hours or even to work through the night and I have done so many times especially in the early stages of the business. But what I do know through my experience is this: The secret to greater productivity and being able to take lunch hours — is in having systems.

In fact, I’d be willing to take a bet with you that you can save hours of time every single day, just by putting a few simple systems in place.

SIMPLE EXCEL SHEETS

Business owners often shudder at the mention of systems and it is normally because they think systems are going to be very costly and mind-blowingly difficult to learn and implement, which is not the case at all! If you have not started recording all your clients’ information yet, a simple and effective EXCEL sheet will do. Excel is great for all types of documentation and saving of information. All my clients’ information, data, research and the business’s income & expenses have been captured on Excel which I have then saved in a well-good organised filing system. I did an Excel course to help me use the program more effectively and this has saved me huge amounts of time. I can even create graphs on Excel and a whole lot more.

AUTORESPONDERS 

Business is all about ‘KLT’ – the Know, Like and Trust factor, but to develop trust, credibility and resonance with your clients, it is vital that you stay in contact regularly with them. You can easily build powerful relationships with your subscribers on autopilot, just by creating an email sequence that goes out to each and every new subscriber on specified days. Autoresponders are a great way to do this.

Again, this does not require a sophisticated and expensive system. Mailchimp is extremely popular, easy to use and free for up to 2000 subscribers … AND Mailchimp works like a dream. In addition, there are many amazing social media gurus in your neighborhood who host very helpful workshops on how to use Mailchimp. I am by no means highly techno savvy, but I grasped Mailchimp pretty quickly.

If your business does rely heavily on Internet marketing and if you are selling a lots of products and services online with a large complement of subscribers, then a sophisticated campaign builder such as Infusionsoft will take your automations to the next level. Once these powerful autoresponder systems are up and running it’s totally hands off for you until you create a new campaign, BLOG or you want to send a once-off special broadcast message to your clients.

SYSTEMATIZE YOUR BUSINESS FOUNDATION

Are you ready to put the power of systems to work for you? Microsoft Word have a series of business forms and templates to help you manage every aspect of your business, from invoices to flyers, brochures, CVs, business cards etc.

You can download the done-for-you forms and templates which are fully customizable to create what you need for your business with minimal time and efforts and no cost. Start creating all the foundational documents that your business needs and save them in a folder called ‘Business Forms & Templates’ so that they are ready for you at a drop of a hat. Your business will run much more smoothly and will be much more predictable as well when you have all the documents you need on hand .

Contrary to what you may believe or have been told, setting up systems for your business can be inexpensive, even free and easy and fun to create and implement. The only thing for you to do now is … START! You will not regret it. Systems is a great time-saver and will relieve you from lots of stress and pressure that you may already have experienced.

Bottom line is that your business needs systems, no matter whether you are a start-up or established business. So, the sooner you start, the better.

Good luck and enjoy the simplicity and ease of what systems can do for you!

In Your Support,