Yesterday I discussed with a close friend about what it takes to make oneself financially free.  This friend has been undergoing a lot of personal development over the years and has a very clear view of what he wants to achieve in a short period of time.

My argument was that to become financially free via the traditional methods (not winning lotto or getting an inheritance), you need to work really hard.  His response was “it’s not about working hard – it’s about working smart”.

Upon reflection, I realised that it comes down to interpretation. Perhaps ‘hard work’ need not be difficult – I see it as persevering to achieve an outcome, and doing what it takes to reach it.

So let’s explore whether working hard is enough to make your business successful these days.

Well, are you currently letting your business run you? Are you reacting to clients, staff and suppliers instead of being proactive… do you often find yourself in a state of disorganised chaos?

OR… Are you in control of your processes, functions, and have systems in place to manage things in a calm and consistent manner?

People who run around busily each day without a clear goal or purpose are creating a lot of noise and flying papers, but they aren’t getting anywhere.

While those who link their daily activities to their strategic goals are creating less waste and inefficiencies, are finished sooner, and could be defined as working ‘smart’.

What Does it Take to Get Ahead?

The key to working smarter is to be really clear about what direction you are heading in.

-       What are your business goals and objectives?
-       What are the timeframes you want to achieve these within?

THEN, look at your daily activities and ask:

-       Are these activities linked directly to my strategic goals?
-       Or am I doing lots of ‘stuff’ without really achieving anything?

You’ll realise fairly quickly from your business results what the answers are.  You’ll also know from your internal sense of achievement.

The key to working smarter (and not harder) is to align your daily tasks and activities with your larger strategic goals. Then to use systems, technology and processes to make it more efficient and take the load off you.

That’s where a highly automated Email Marketing and CRM system comes into it, just like Infusionsoft.

“I know I put that number somewhere here… I have to call that guy back, where is that bit of paper?”
“Where did I put that Project Alpha file? It’s somewhere in this computer!”
“Seriously, would those spammers stop sending emails about their Indian SEO service?”

If these types of comments or thoughts sound familiar, it might be time to look at your work style efficiency. We’re not all natural-born brilliant organisers, and the time we lose on these little things does add up. It’s time that is not billable, and it’s moments like these that distract you from your core tasks.

With a little bit of forethought these inefficient habits can be replaced by new habits and new software rules. Let the software do the work, not you.

5 Work Efficiency Tips

1. While on the phone with a client, bring up your CRM system and find the client’s name. You can still jot notes if you prefer, but ensure you enter the notes and date while the conversation is fresh in mind. Walah – already in the system, never to be lost.
2. Each project should have a folder in your main documents. Never save working files haphazardly and try not to have more than four tiers of folders.
3. For emails that come in, spam filters can only catch so much. Set up some Rules so that those with certain words will get deleted or sent to junk. (In Entourage, select Tools-Rules, usually select email (POP), then specify the words commonly found in the message of these spam emails; in Outlook select Tools-Create New Rule).  If you have new rules set up, I suggest you check your deleted items/junk folder every two days to ensure that those you want to see are not going there (then adjust rules if it’s catching the good emails).
4. All e-newsletters which you subscribe to can be set up to go to a Newsletters inbox folder, with a new folder and a rule (Entourage: Add criteria: subject contains: newsletters; Add action: move messages – select newsletters folder). Any new newsletters that come in can then be added with a right-click, Apply Rules (Newsletters).  Then you only see these low priority newsletters when you want to ‘research’ or ‘play’.
5. All your bulk emails should be handled by an automated Email Marketing system, thus freeing you up from sending and receiving various emails, dealing with subscribes, unsubscribes or bouncebacks, etc. This system is held “off-site”, but you can easily upload any existing contacts.

I hope these few tips have given you a good start on making your work time more efficient. Please speak to Aveline for further personalised advice and systems consultation.