6 Productivity Tips to Help Small Business Owners Save Time

As you grow your business, being efficient each day becomes a top priority. Learning how to save time, streamline tedious tasks, and make progress on daily goals are ultimately the ways you can increase your overall productivity.

Maybe one to two of these tips will be the magic solution to scale your small business in the months ahead. Now, get inspired.

1. Work with your body’s natural rhythm.

Learn a bit about when you are most mentally sharp and focused. Is this first thing in the morning? After a workout? Late into the evening?

In The Power of When, author Dr. Michael Breus explains that working with your individual body's natural clock (circadian rhythm) and learning which chronotype you embody, will help you best learn this information.

Plan to use those moments for your most influential tasks – like writing a project proposal or reviewing a detailed contract. When your brain is most alert and ready to process data, you'll get more work done in less time.

2. Contract with a freelance pro.

If you’ve been wearing all the hats, delegate the most tedious daily operations (like generating invoices, packing shipping boxes, or managing social media) to someone who adores those vital business tasks.

And yes, you can bring on a freelancer temporarily, to get through a growth spurt or holiday season rush. Simply pay them hourly or per project with the help of Roll. Just chat “Hire employee” and Roll will guide you through each step. So you can focus on your core competencies that truly move the business forward.

3. Take more breaks.

Ok, this tip initially sounds counterintuitive, but how many times have you been staring at the screen, late into the afternoon or evening re-reading the same thing over and over? That’s not making progress. That's wasting time. In fact, the American Psychological Association (APA) shares that our attention spans are shrinking. We need breaks.

Instead of pushing forward throughout the day, take a short walk or nap (if you work from home). When you're mentally refreshed, dive back into your tasks with fresh eyes and watch your productivity increase. It’s the quality of time, not the number of hours, that you invest in your business that makes the greatest impact!

"Now payroll takes me about 30 seconds. And, Roll reminds you as the deadline is getting closer. That’s pretty useful, especially for someone like me who works a lot," Charlie Osborne, Owner of OSMEAC Solutions shares.

Roll can easily give you much-needed time back in your day — for work, or breaks!

4. Check in with your team.

Whether it’s one partner or a budding staff member, candidly and ask them how they use their time. Is there too much or too little on their daily agendas?

You might learn that someone is actually bored and would love a new challenge. Mentor them on a task you usually manage, then let them run with it. This ultimately saves you time and grows the skillset of your team members.

5. Schedule all your tasks.

If you’re in the habit of “going with the flow” or checking items off a numbered to-do list, raise the bar and attach a time value to each task by using time blocks on a digital calendar. This ensures you not only complete each item, but that you schedule yourself appropriately each day based on your time available and energy levels.

Grinding for endless hours eventually leads to burnout. (If you're starting to feel a bit crispy, peek at these tips.)

6. Use apps as assistants.

If your business doesn't have the budget for adding staff, a freelancer, or bringing on a virtual assistant (VA), use your funds to pay one-off fees for a few apps that can work for you day after day. There are apps out there to help you pre-schedule your social media messages, record notes from your meetings, automate email marketing sequences, and more.

Try Roll by ADP, a chat-based payroll processing app that you can use on the go, from anywhere. Our app will seamlessly calculate all things related to paying your people, setting aside money for taxes, initiating raises, setting up deductions, and so much more.

Learn more about Roll by ADP and how it can help you gain back more time each day by automating and expediting your payroll processing. After all, you have a business to run and customers to impress.