Many people dream of starting their own small business and no longer having a boss. It’s a hard dream to achieve, but more and more people are taking the plunge and starting their own business or company from scratch.
Unfortunately, even those who become successful soon realize the struggle continues — and becomes magnified — as you move beyond survival mode. Yes, it’s incredibly rewarding to no longer be scraping by, but the challenge of growth can often feel just as daunting as those early days in a cramped cubicle.
But there is some good news. These days, a wide range of tech tools have made it easier than ever before to manage employees, collaborate on projects, and keep customers happy. The following strategies reflect a few best practices to scale your dream business in a way that allows for better remote management.
3 Time-Saving Solutions for Growing Your Home-Based Business
1. Time Management Solutions
Keeping workers on task and productive throughout the day is a constant struggle. Consequently, many small companies are turning to time management solutions that offer an array of benefits; after all, the primary function of time tracking is to keep better tabs on your employees and prevent them from slacking off so they’re focused on the job at hand.
But a secondary gain is that managers can come to better learn how long certain tasks actually take. By having a precise figure attached to each assignment, it will allow the company to more accurately assess the cost, time and overall resources needed when similar jobs need to be completed in the future.
2. Project Management Tools
Staying organized is difficult for small businesses, especially as they expand beyond the home or coffee shop and come to depend on more people. That’s why centralizing project and task management can go a long way toward overcoming these hurdles and keeping everyone on the same page.
To that end, applying some sort of tech solution has the added advantage of cutting down on the need to send tedious emails back and forth or schedule constant phone calls and meetings.Â
Widely used in the software development world, a variety of kanban solutions are becoming popular in all fields for their simplicity and effectiveness. Others prefer using Microsoft Project for its integration with other Office products.
And then there are the many note-taking apps, including EverNote, OneNote, Zoho Notebook and Bear, that can be expanded out for collaborative projects. Regardless of which option you use, most are cheap, easy to implement and very helpful.
3. Customer Experience Success
Maintaining effective and efficient communication between you, your customers and business partners is critical for small-business success. One great way to centralize communications and eliminate barriers between departments is by deploying a call center in the cloud. This is a surefire method to cut down on common delays and help ensure you provide customers with the right answers as quickly as possible.Â
Using a call center to streamline customer service has long been a key strategy used by large corporations to improve both accuracy and speed. And today’s providers are now advanced enough to offer the same service on a small-business scale. Thus, taking advantage will quickly enhance any company’s ability to attract and retain customers.
The Path to Growth
Growth will never be easy, as it’s often the stage where small businesses stagnate. Moving from a one-person dynamic to a large team requires a different set of skills than what inspired you to follow your passion and ingenuity in the first place.
But by learning to better manage your time, projects and communications, you’ll find you have a lot more attention to devote to the true goal of scaling up.
Ultimately, there’s no silver bullet to reach this goal, but following the key tactics outlined above will greatly improve your chances of success.
Identity Magazine is all about guiding women to discover their powers of Self-Acceptance, Appreciation, and Personal Achievement. We ask that every contributor and expert answer the Identity 5 questions in keeping with our theme. Their answers can be random and in the moment or they can be aligned with the current article they have written. In that way, and as a team, we hope to encourage and motivate each other, thus inspiring you to Get All A’s.
1. What have you accepted within your life, physically and/or mentally? Additionally, what are you still working on accepting? Now, we’re not talking about resignation, rather stepping into, embraced, and owned.
I’ve accepted that for the foreseeable future, I will probably never have a home that will be featured in a Martha Stewart magazine–with kids, a hubby and 5 pets we have a lot of “stuff” in our home. I’m still working on accepting that my kids are getting older and some day they will move out….which means maybe I will get a shot at that Martha Stewart photo shoot one day!
2. What have you learned to appreciate about yourself and/or within your life, physically and mentally? On the other hand OR in contrast, are there elements of who you are that you’re still working on appreciating?
I have learned to appreciate that I’m a good friend to people and that I’m always there for them when I need them. I think I’m still working on appreciating how stepping on Legos at 2 a.m. in bare feet just means you have happy kids in the home who enjoy playing with their toys.
3. What is one of your most rewarding achievements in life? Tell us not only what makes YOU most proud but also share the goals and dreams that you still have.
My most rewarding achievement by far is being a mom. My two sons make me so proud and I love being with them. As for goals and dreams, I would love to rent an RV one day and drive around the country with my family.
4. Of course, we all have imperfections, or so we think. In truth, we are all perfectly imperfect. What are your not-so-perfect ways? Likewise, what imperfections and quirks create who you are–your Identity?
My main imperfection that comes to mind is that I’m not great at getting enough rest. I have one son who is an early bird and one who is a night owl and so to spend time with each of them I’m typically up early and up late.
5. “I Love My…” is an outlet for you to appreciate and express all the positive traits that make you…well…YOU! In fact, sharing what you love about yourself will make you smile, feel empowered, and uplift your spirit and soul. (We assure you!) Therefore, Identity challenges you to complete the phrase “I Love My…?”
A dear friend of mine once told me “You should never say anything about yourself that you wouldn’t say to a best friend or your mom.” I really took this to heart and strive to avoid all negative self-talk, even when said in jest. I love my positive self-talk!
