Startup Guides > 6 Reasons Why Time Is The Business Owner's Most Scarce Resource

Are you flushing your money and time down the toilet? Not long after you start a business on your own, you soon realize that you need to get smarter about managing time. If you feel overwhelmed, you may need to rethink how you use your time, which is an entrepreneur's most valuable - and scarce - resource.

Stop wasting your time by doing these 6 things, and you'll become more productive and more successful as your business grows:

1. Piling up admin work

If you've spent 3 hours reconciling a bank statement, you're making poor use of your time. Too often, small-business owners pile up their administrative tasks, and then waste time on those tasks which they don't like or aren't even good at. Find a virtual assistant who can do these tasks for you... better.


2. Putting off quick tasks

If you can pay a bill or schedule an appointment in a couple of minutes, do it immediately. People often set emails aside for later and then have to search for them and reread them. What a waste of time.

3. Micromanaging employees

Small-business owners often waste precious time micromanaging workers just to make sure they do their jobs properly. It's not very productive if you have to guide an employee through every aspect of the job and he isn't making progress toward working independently. Firing people who are slowing you down may be the best solution for your business.

4. Putting out daily "fires"

Rather than thinking about strategies to expand your business, you're bogged down dealing with every issue that comes your way minute-by-minute. To maintain a productive schedule and stay focused on what really matters, try to block out time each day for your strategic priorities.

5. Trying to reinvent the wheel

Don't hang onto projects or products that no longer look promising. Stop and ask yourself, "How promising does this opportunity look?" Be honest with yourself and decide if it's time to drop it and move on.

6. Repeating the same things over and over again

Marketing is all about communication, but it can be a very repetitive and time-consuming task. Social media automation services like 40Billion make digital marketing easier by broadcasting and promoting your posts to its large network of several million users across the most popular social networking sites for businesses - including Twitter, LinkedIn, 40Billion, and even Facebook - at the same time.

Automated marketing services like promoted posts and promoted company listings were created for entrepreneurs who want to tap into a growing, active network online without spending a lot of time.

Customer and employee communications are important, but if you always have to post the same answers to the same questions from different people, you're not being your most productive. Automate routine tasks like marketing, or create an easily repeatable process that prevents you from having to start from scratch each and every time.

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