Eliminate the Negative To Streamline Your Workflow
Step #1 - Eliminate
“Never automate something that can be eliminated, and never delegate something that can be automated or streamlined. Otherwise, you waste someone else’s time instead of your own, which now wastes your hard-earned cash. How’s that for incentive to be effective and efficient?”Timothy FerrisLook, everyone wants to runs their business efficiently, where there's no scrambling, everyone on both sides of the computer screen knows where everything is, and money flows easily back and forth. Sigh. That is the goal. And on the way there, we get overwhelmed by the day-day to day tasks of running our gig, all the stuff we did not sign up for - endless emails and phone calls that need to be returned in a never ending time battle against client priorities that HAVE to be met. And we do the best we can, with the tools that we have to get all done, even if it takes too much time, or doesn't completely work, but it works well enough...right up until the moment where it doesn't anymore.And you look at a quote like Tim's up there and think, "Yeah, that sounds good and right and true. But where do I start from where I am?"Read: Simplify to Amplify
Start by eliminating what's NOT working, or no longer serving your business.
Define that as a task or payment that's costing you money and time, but isn't doing much, if anything, for you. For example, I upgraded Dropbox last year when I worked with a client who needed me to have more storage, so I paid for it myself because at the rate I screenshoot things, why not more storage? Last month I was still being charged for it, but I don't need it. What are you paying for monthly that you don't really need? I had contracts based on templates that needed massive amounts of edits every time I sent them out. I finally took the three minutes (yeah) to save the latest revised contact as a new template and eliminate the old one.Think about the last payment notice or task that popped up and irritated you, because, once again, you forgot to change or cancel it. Trust me, when you see it in those terms, you will definitely have a list! Make that list, eliminate them , and then burn it.
Eliminating the "negative" creates more time and money to concentrate on positive impacts on your business.
Downgrading dropbox means I can spend that money upgrading Calendly. Using a new template means less time spot checking contracts, so I can get them out, get paid, and get to work faster. What can you eliminate because you're already doing it someplace else in your business? Redundancy is a huge efficiency pothole. Free up your time and your money and take a deep breath.What else do you need right now to simplify your client workflow and create more time in your day? Contact me to schedule a free consultation and we'll figure it out together.I'll talk to you soon,Elizabeth