There are many steps that entrepreneurs can take to help enhance their business success. There are also things you should stop doing in your business to help amp up your success and here are some that I recommend to my coaching clients:
- Stop mixing business and personal funds. You need to keep your personal finances and your business finances separate. This goes for your expenses as well as your income. Set up separate bank accounts and deposit client payments into your business account.
- Pay bills online when possible. Writing checks takes time and also costs you money. Also, if you’re waiting for the bills to come in the mail you may miss a payment date and incur fees.
- Don’t get “lost” on social media. We recommend that your business have a social media and blogging presence, but you need to either hire a social media manager or if you’re doing it yourself, you need to budget for the time you’re spending online because it’s easy to go down a social media rabbithole and find that you’ve wasted hours online and neglected your business.
- Turn off email alerts. Contrary to popular belief, multitasking is not a productive use of your time. If you’re involved in a client-centered task, devote your energies to that. Turn off email alerts and get on a schedule of checking your email at the top or bottom of the hour — chances are your email replies can wait an hour, right?
- Don’t micro-manage your staff. If you hired well, let them do what you hired them to do. Trust their skills and expertise and let them do their jobs.
- Take time off. Working 24/7/365 leads to burnout and if you’re a solopreneur, your business will suffer. Schedule downtime and time off. Schedule time away from the computer for lunch as well.
Owning your own business is a dream come true for many of the individuals with whom I work. I caution them to look at these top six mistakes and make certain they aren’t making any of them!