Here are more tips for using good office management to control chaos in your small business (continued from the previous page).
5. Schedule the scut work.
It’s too easy to put off things that you don’t like doing, and I don’t know very many people that enjoy scut work. Unfortunately, an office, like a kitchen, won’t function well without a certain amount of scut work being done. If you are a small business owner who’s in the position of not being able to assign whatever you view as scut work to someone else, force yourself to get to it regularly by scheduling time each week for it. Take a morning or afternoon, for instance, and spend it making the cold calls or catching up on the accounting (or updating the records).
6. Delegate and outsource.
In a perfect world, everyone would only be doing what he or she had time to do and did well. As the world is not perfect, instead a lot of people are doing things that they don’t have the time or talent to do well. Delegating and outsourcing can not only improve your small business’s office management, but free you to focus on your talents as well, thereby improving your bottom line. Virtual assistants can handle many of your office or administrative tasks. For more on delegating, see Decide to Delegate.
7. Make business planning a priority.
Many small business owners spend their days acting and reacting – and then wonder why they seem to be spinning their wheels. Business planning is an important component of good office management and needs to be part of your regular office management routine. Successful small business owners spend time every week on business planning, and many use daily business planning sessions as a tool for goal setting and growth. If you have staff, involve them in business planning, either formally or informally.
Don’t let chaos interfere with doing business. Once you start applying these seven principles of good office management, you’ll be amazed at the difference good office management makes – and how much more business you do.
