FIVE TIPS FOR SIMPLIFYING YOUR BUSINESS SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES
A recent CTV report gave Canadians promising news last week. It described how a group of researchers in Ontario discovered a way to shave 20 minutes off the 90-minute time period it usually takes to get heart attack patients into surgery.
The report says that one of the key changes involves allowing paramedics to speak directly to the cardiologist on call at the hospital and then letting the patient completely bypass the emergency department and proceed directly to the procedure room. Dr. Sheldon Cheskes, the medical director of the Sunnybrook Osler Center for Prehospital Care, who led the research, explained that they now bypass anything that causes delays in the system. According to Cheskes, “From a mortality point of view, our mortality rate before we started our program was about 6.5 per cent. Our mortality currently is 2.1 per cent, which is a huge, significant increase.”
So what does this have to do with online business? Well, the life of a business often depends on the efficiency of its systems and processes too, and building a simpler yet stronger foundation can breathe new life and vigor into your work as a Virtual Assistant or online professional. For example, are you spending an excessive amount of time billing and invoicing when you could be out there networking and meeting new clients? Do you have a system for handling your clients tasks, or do you have to backtrack every time and try to remember how you did the same thing before?
Well, here are some quick tips for simplifying your business systems and processes:
Write a list of all the tasks you do more than once – According to Pam Ivey, six-figure Virtual Assistant Extraordinaire, everything you do more than once should have a system created around it, so start by determining which tasks need a system and which ones can be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Talk to a mentor or a “Systems Chick” like Kristi Pavlik, creator of systemschick – If you don t enjoy outlining systems and processes, it is possible to find others who do, so don t hesitate to find an expert who will sit down with you and figure out how to streamline your activities.
Put together a manual with templates and checklists – For tasks like responding to new RFPs, responding to FAQs or providing welcome packages to new clients, it helps to create a resource that allows you to quickly build customized content. Not only does it speed up these processes, but it also allows you to hand over your business activities to someone else if you need to take time off.
Find the best productivity tools for your business – Especially for activities like time tracking, invoicing and billing, it is imperative that you find a tool that works best for you and allows you to perform these tasks quickly and accurately. FreshBooks is an example of a great online invoicing, time tracking and billing software that can meet the needs of many types of virtual businesses.
Sign up for our newest VAClassroom Training Program, the “Virtual Assistant Business Success Blueprint” course – We are thrilled to have partnered with Pam Ivey to bring you this innovative new program, which is designed to help you develop the right systems, tools and templates for quickly growing your business heading into 2011. This program is ideally suited to both newbies as well as existing VAs who would like to improve and enhance their business systems and marketing strategies. It is both a start-up and a business-building program!
We hope these tips will help give you a plan of attack so you can grow a thriving and successful online business. With the right systems in place, your work as a Virtual Assistant or online professional will become much more enjoyable, and you may even free yourself up to take some much-needed time off!
If you have any other suggestions that have worked for you, please comment below.
Post a Comment