Joanna Price, Negosentro | Some of you might think that running a small business doesn’t require a ton of organisational skills. The smaller the business is, the fewer problems you will encounter, right? Wrong – businesses don’t work like that. Even a business with just a few employees needs to deal with paperwork, finances, project management, etc. Of course, on a lower scale. Big companies have everything figured out, but small business owners are still struggling with such problems.
So how exactly should you organise your small business; what are the most effective methods? To answer these questions and more, we have put together a list of tips that we find extremely useful when a business needs some cleaning and efficiency improvements. Enjoy.
Everything should have its place
Let’s start with a simple tip. Every office item should have a home. If your business deals with a lot of paperwork, then put this as your number one priority. If you often spend more than five minutes looking for a specific document, then your office is in dire need of reorganising.
Start by cleaning your desk. Gather all of the paperwork in one place and split it into adequate groups. Once you are done with that, you can label each document. This process will help you find any document within seconds. Lastly, find a place to store the paperwork, and make sure that every document is returned to its place once an employee is done with it. Of course, this method isn’t just for paperwork, you can also organise tools, office supplies, etc.
Software improvements
As of late, many small businesses have started using project management software to increase efficiency. If you don’t know what we are talking about, then let us explain.
Using project management software like Trello and Basecamp is a great way to increase communication and overall coordination between your employees. You can monitor the progress of every project, so you know exactly what its current state is and how close it is to completion. Just a heads up – it takes some time to set up this type of software, but once your employees get used to it, things will run much smoother.
Technology is your friend
Sadly, cleaning your desk and organising your paperwork won’t be enough. If you want to truly increase your efficiency and set your business on the right path, then you will have to upgrade a thing or two around your office.
For example, we already mentioned how important labelling is for finding documents. Well, you can get a Dymo LabelWriter 450 Turbo for your office and make this process a lot easier. This machine will not only print labels, but also postage, name badges, etc. Another great example is a tablet. If you hold a lot of presentations for your clients, then buying a tablet will make your life a lot easier. Store your notes on it, and you won’t need a cheat sheet.
Store in the cloud
Lastly, we would like to mention cloud storage. It’s hard to get rid of hard copies completely. However, cloud storage has brought us closer. If you want to reduce the clutter around your office and keep every document just a click away, then this is the way to go. Cloud storage allows you to store all your documents in the “cloud” and once you need them, you can print out a copy at any given time. Just get yourself a scanner, so you can turn your documents from hard copies into computer files.
There are many more ways to organise your small business, but these four are good for a start. As you can see, technology is the key to increasing the efficiency of your business. Sure, you can clean up your desk and get rid of clutter, but you will also need a couple of tech improvements to really keep everything in line.
