You’re a business owner. But you’re probably also a parent, a friend, a sibling, and maybe even a dog owner. You have interests and hobbies outside of your business. 
But, these days, those relationships are getting increasingly neglected and those hobbies are a distant memory. You love your business but it’s taking up so much TIME!
If this resonates with you, you’re not alone.
Your business is an important part of your life and an important part of your community but it can sometimes feel like the only part of you that get’s any time! 
If you want to reclaim some of your valuable time to spend on yourself here’s how:
Automate – How long has It been since you did a real, thorough systems audit?
It is easy to get accustomed to certain tasks taking a long time.
But, what you might not realize is how much more efficiently you can run your team if you get the right processes lined up. From taking your business paperless to using a good workflow management tool, to just simply putting a time-saving filter on your email inbox, you can free up valuable time by streamlining.
Take some time to make an honest assessment of how much time your tasks are taking you. 
Recently at Accountix, we used a time tracker for a couple of weeks to see where things were taking longer than expected in order to make a similar assessment and it worked wonders in discerning where problem areas might be so that we could find different solutions.
There are also a plethora of different workplace management systems out there – schedule a few calls with reps from some of the ones that stand out to you (try searching industry-specific first) and then make a choice. Once you have everything in the right place you ensure that fewer problems arise from things being put on the back burner or simply forgetting steps. It helps with the all-important art of prioritization.
Having trouble assessing your own problem areas?
We get it, it can be difficult to self-evaluate. You can always reach out to a business advisor to do an audit for you and give great action steps. 
Delegate – Do you have a good #2 and a great team behind you?
As a business owner, there is no way that we are the first person to suggest delegation.
Many say that delegation is in itself the #1 tool in a managers toolbox. It is the key way that you can make time for yourself while giving your employees the opportunity to shine.
A good way to see if you have a good second-in-command is to ask yourself: If I leave for a week can the business go on without me? Where would potential problems arise?
If you don’t think it is possible to take a solid vacation, it’s time to look into the all-important art of delegating.
Once you have a good flow in place with people you can trust to handle some of the details that used to all be on your plate, the returns are threefold:
- You get to focus on the high-level decisions and business ownership components
- Your manager gets invaluable experience
- You can take much-needed time with friends and family
This can help to contribute to much better business owner mental health (which will undoubtedly deliver some happier employees and customers as well!).
Outsource – What are you doing every day that could be done by someone else?
Business owners like you take on A LOT of work.
You are sometimes a one-person team that replaces what, in a large corporation, is a whole team of positions. You’re the CFO, the CEO, COO, the recruiter, the salesperson, and occasionally the snack-provider to your hard-working team! But, you cannot truly do it all. 
That’s when it is time to outsource some of the back-office components. There are a lot of benefits to outsourcing but one of the largest benefits is the invaluable time that you get back.
What you do with this time is up to you, but once you’ve taken your hand off every single component of your operation, you get to reallocate that time.
Maybe it is expanding your startup, better managing business growth, spending time training new hires, or getting together with family. Maybe, it is getting a massage!
We think that the best place to start with outsourcing is your bookkeeping and accounting – you can learn more about our services all over the best bookkeeping website around!
Reclaiming your Time
It can be a long process of trial-and-error to reclaim your time as a business owner but it is the perfect moment to get started right now!