You didn’t start a business to spend all day at your desk.

As business owners, our priorities run the gamut. Some of us want to be out there looking for opportunities to grow. Some of us want to be on the floor, engaging with our customers. And some of us just want to be at home, spending quality time with our families.

Whatever it is you want to be doing, there are better uses of your time than menial tasks and busywork. If you want to take back your time and get back to what you really value, we’ve gathered some tips to help you do just that.

Use business software

As the owner of a small, growing business, you’re probably responsible for way more than just the direction of your company.

Business software is designed to help you deal with in-house tasks quickly and easily, so you can get back to working on what matters.

Management software

Management software can help you handle your bookkeeping, keep track of your workflow, and communicate with your team. But that’s just scratching the surface.

• Monday.com is like a to-do list for your whole company. It allows you to input tasks, then set a deadline and assign a team-member.
• Xero is an accounting platform that lets you send invoices, visualize cash flow, pay staff, and file taxes. All at the click of a button.

Marketing software

It’s almost impossible for one person to be an expert on all the different skills needed to market a product. That’s where marketing software comes in. These intuitive platforms allow anyone with basic computer skills to create professional-quality marketing materials.

• Canva is a drag-and-drop design tool for creating signage, labels, or any other visuals your company needs.
• Hootsuite helps you plan, schedule, and post content across all of your social media platforms, in one place.

Start outsourcing

All that software is great for cutting down the time you spend working on in-house tasks, but what if you didn’t have to work on them at all?

Outsourcing allows you to give all that tedious work to someone else, so you can spend your time focusing on what you’d rather be doing.

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is when a company hires a third party to perform tasks, provide services, or handle operations. If you’ve ever hired a freelancer, contractor, or third party, then you’ve already outsourced parts of your business.

Benefits of outsourcing

Outsourcing is used by businesses of all sizes to lower costs, improve outcomes, and save time.

Outsourcing works so well because the third-party provider is fully dedicated to the type of task you’re giving them, which means they can do it cheaper, quicker, and better than you could in-house. 

Not only will you get better outcomes on that task, but you’ll also be able switch your focus back to your own core-competencies; the things you can do cheaper, quicker, or better than anyone else. 

Hire a new employee

If outsourcing isn’t for you, then it might be time to bring on a new team-member. After all, your business can’t keep growing unless your team grows with it.

Benefits of hiring new employees

The obvious upside to hiring is that your new employee can take some of the work off your plate. With another hand on deck, you can offload all those non-essential tasks that were taking chunks out of your day.

Another advantage to hiring is that you can bring a new skill set to your team. You might need a marketer to bring in more customers, an accountant to balance your books, or an operations manager to keep things running smoothly. Whichever it is, hiring a specialised employee will bring fresh ideas and give your business new opportunities to grow.

Speaking of growth, new hires are essential to keep scaling your business. You’ll need to expand your team if you plan on selling more products, taking on more clients, or entering new markets. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to do it all yourself.

If you’re thinking about hiring more staff but don’t know where to start, check out our guide on finding and hiring great employees.

Don’t want the risks of hiring?

Ask arnocas how we can help you take back your time, without the hassle.