If you’re feeling overworked, overwhelmed, or just not as efficient as you know you could be… it might be time to learn how to streamline a business.
Luckily, streamlining your business can happen in just three simple steps, but you need to start now before the process becomes insurmountable.
Take a look at how I’ve learned to streamline my business, and how you can too.
How To Streamline a Business in 3 Steps
1. Use Technology & Automation
When I was a little girl, everyone used to talk about technology as if it was going to put an end to work. You might remember what it was like: we’ll be able to automate a ton of what we do now with computers, so we can all relax and enjoy life more.
Well, that didn’t quite happen since everyone is still working and we haven’t been replaced by robots…
But there are definitely ways that we can use technology and software to save time in our businesses.
I personally use software to schedule appointments, handle order fulfillment, and send reminders to myself and others.
What can you hand over to technology to streamline your business?
2. How To Streamline a Business Using Systems
Systems are a bit of a foggy concept, so I like to talk about checklists and manuals. These might not sound very sexy, but if you’re wondering how to streamline a business – it won’t happen unless you have systems in place.
Simply start writing down the step by step process that you follow to do things in your business.
You can write down how you go about publishing a post on your blog and sending your newsletter, how you schedule a webinar, how you put together a launch or marketing campaign… These are all things that you’ll do over and over again in your business.
Once you have them written down you can just repeat them, without scratching your head and wondering what should happen next.
I like to use Asana and clone projects that we’ve used in the past, so we don’t even have to re-create the tasks… let alone re-inventing the wheel.
3. Delegate What You Can
Once you have systems in place, it becomes much easier to start delegating.
I’m a reluctant delegator myself, so I totally understand if you’re resisting this step. But trust me, once you get into the groove of handing off tasks and entire “systems” of work, it gets way easier and you can really see the power.
The trick is to have enough documentation and detail in your checklists and manuals that you don’t have to be included in all the little details.
This frees you up and removes you from being the bottleneck in your business. It also gives you an idea of what’s possible for your business when you focus on the high return activities that only you can do.
That’s my streamlining advice… what are you going to do about it?
As with any great idea, it’s worthless unless you take action. So commit to making time to start streamlining your business, and you’ll begin to see these results take shape.
Leave a comment below and let me know what you took away from this quick “how to streamline a business” video!
