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A special series on time-management tips for small business

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The lead-up to Christmas can be a frantic period for most small businesses, but for time management expert&nbsp;<a href="https://www.timestylers.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kate Christie</a>&nbsp;it’s the calm before the storm.It’s in January that her phone starts lighting up; that’s when tired and overworked business owners usually contact her, desperately looking for ways to reduce their stress levels and reclaim their weekends as they head into the new year.“Most business owners are just in survival mode in the lead-up to Christmas. They’re just trying to get through it. And then they have a holiday in January, and realise they want to start working differently. They come to me saying: ‘I can’t sleep. I’m so tired of working at this unsustainable pace.’"

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“They come to me saying: 'I can't sleep. I'm so tired of working at this unsustainable pace.'”

By the time people approach Christie, many are exhausted. Some are managing so many aspects of their business that they feel paralysed by indecision; others feel guilty for constantly working at the expense of their families, and “all of them feel that they don’t have enough hours in the day”.Time management issues are nothing new for small-to-medium sized business owners, who are often juggling numerous tasks on tight budgets and with limited staff.But this year has presented unique challenges in terms of business productivity. COVID-19 forced many retailers and businesses to radically change the way they work, with some business owners pivoting their products or services completely. Other workers have struggled with remote working and the blurring of boundaries between work and home life, or the uncertainty of living – and working – through a pandemic.Melbourne fashion designer Elinor Joslin, of&nbsp;<a href="https://joslinstudio.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Joslin Studio,</a>&nbsp;admits that during lockdown her productivity faltered. “I’ve really struggled creatively this year… I didn’t design anything for four months. For me, trying to shut off my brain from COVID-19 news was the biggest challenge, alongside the financial and operational issues. It’s been incredibly hard and expensive.”

“I didn’t design anything for four months. For me, trying to shut off my brain from COVID-19 news was the biggest challenge.”

All of this – as well as the financial toll that COVID-19 has taken on the global economy – means that maximising productivity has been harder than ever during 2020. But Christie says there’s reason for optimism, too. “We have a phenomenal opportunity coming out of COVID-19 to create a ‘business as usual version 2.0’,” she says. “There’s an opportunity to reframe right now.”

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All references to any registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Afterpay does not endorse or recommend any one particular supplier and the information provided is for educational purposes only.

Take control of your time with essential time management techniques to help your business from expert Kate Christie.

Take control of your time with essential time management techniques to help your business from expert Kate Christie

Business Time Management Strategies & Techniques | Afterpay

How to take control of your time 

Feeling overwhelmed? Here's how small businesses can manage their time from four top coaches

Ernest Hemingway wasn’t a business consultant, but he knew that hard work alone doesn’t translate into productivity. “Never mistake motion for action,” warned the writer* in a line that’ll resonate with any small business owner who’s struggling to hit their targets and get everything done.

But how can you operate in a more effective way? Four leading business coaches share their tips.

<h2>Prioritise smarter</h2>“Many small business owners are busy but not productive,” says business coach&nbsp;<a href="mailto:https://miltoncollins.actioncoach.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Milton Collins</a>. The reason: they get sucked into non-essential tasks that chew up their working day.&nbsp;Collins’ solution to stay on track isn’t rocket science, but its simplicity makes it effective. Before you leave work, make a to-do list for the next day that’s broken into four categories.&nbsp;The first category is for critical tasks that only you can complete; the second is for important, but less urgent, work; the third is for jobs you can delegate to your team; while the final category is for anything you can park and reschedule. “It’s common sense,” says Collins. “But so many people don’t do it.”As a business owner, it’s important to maximise efficiency, he adds. “If what you’re doing isn’t growing your business or making money for it then, in many cases, it’s a waste of time.”&nbsp;

“If what you’re doing isn’t growing your business or making money for it then, in many cases, it’s a waste of time”

<h2>Be proactive, not reactive</h2>“Productivity is really about creating great habits and sticking to them”, says Pru Chapman, founder of&nbsp;<a href="https://theownerscollective.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Owners Collective</a>, which helps start-ups to grow.&nbsp;Take your early morning routine, for example. Do you sit down to work and immediately check your inbox for new emails? Wrong move, says&nbsp;Chapman.&nbsp;“Focus on getting one big thing done for your business before switching on your email or social media channels,” she advises.&nbsp;&nbsp;The idea here is to tick off one substantial task before you’re smashed by the day’s inevitable multi-car pile-up of distractions. Not only will this ensure you take control of your working day, rather than letting it get yanked in random directions, but it also helps you become proactive – not reactive.&nbsp;“When we're in that busy, busy, very reactive state, we're actually not very productive at all,” she says. “We're prioritising everything that's urgent over everything that's important. When you’re in a proactive state, you're in the driver's seat and deciding what you're going to do and why. That's what will really drive your business forward.”

“When we're in that busy, busy, very reactive state, we're actually not very productive at all”

<h2>Set and clarify targets</h2>Aligning your efforts and those of your team toward a collective goal is critical for your business to function productively. “You need to make the invisible visible,” says&nbsp;<a href="mailto:https://www.davidlennon.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer">business coach David Lennon</a>.&nbsp;When parachuted in to help a failing business, he often finds that KPIs and targets aren’t properly spelled out for the employees. “I work a lot with manufacturing clients and they're notorious for not having set targets positioned up in writing at each station,” says Lennon. “But sticking those signs up will help to clarify the goals of your staff.”The next step is to check in with your employees and ask them to reflect on what they believe is necessary in order to get their job done. This further step of clarification helps to ensure that your team’s energy is correctly invested. “It helps your staff understand exactly what they need to achieve,” says Lennon.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

<h2>Get out-sourcing</h2>If there’s one common complaint among the business owners and entrepreneurs that virtual business manager Rachel Caradine works with, it’s this: “They tell me there’s not enough hours in the day, and they have too many things to do.”And yet, she says, often the problem isn’t the amount of work; it’s that business owners aren’t delegating it. “Most of them feel like they are the only person who can do everything.”As a result, Caradine says that business owners often find themselves spending too much time working “in” the business instead of “on” it. Her advice? “Keep a diary for a week or two of every task you do each day. No task is too small,” she says.&nbsp;At the end of the period, highlight all the things that are working “in” the business (operational work, process-driven work, work that doesn’t make you money). Next, pick a different colour and highlight all the things that are working “on” the business (strategic and creative work, tasks that do generate cash) in another colour. Finally, take a third colour and highlight the tasks that only you can do.&nbsp;“This exercise should leave you with a list of things that you can outsource,” says Caradine. “Outsource process-driven, operational work first.”&nbsp;

Read time management tips from four experienced business coaches.

Read time management tips from four experienced business coaches on Access Afterpay

4 business coaches share tips for time-strapped retailers 

Looking to drive efficiency (and cost-savings)? We spoke to five Afterpay retailers about how they use technology to drive sales.

<h2>“A warehouse management system streamlined our business”</h2>

The Sheet Society shares how automation is setting their fast-growing business up for successWhen Andy and Hayley Worley moved their two-year-old linen business,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thesheetsociety.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Sheet Society</a>, to a larger warehouse in 2019 they imagined they’d be there for years.Instead, demand for their bed linen has been so intense that just months later, they’re about to move into a new warehouse that’s 10 times the size. The move also prompted them to automate their packing processes after realising that the old approach was holding the company back.&nbsp;“It was basically a complete ‘memory system’,” says Andy Worley of their previous process. “Nothing was barcoded, and none of the products had named locations. You had to remember where everything was. An order would come in, and you would print it off and then you would have a person – a ‘picker’ – go and get them.”

“It was basically a complete ‘memory system. Nothing was barcoded, and none of the products had named locations. You had to remember where everything was.”

That system worked fine when The Sheet Society was handling 20 orders a day. But when the e-commerce retailer started processing up to 1100 orders a day, the flaws in the ‘memory system’ became apparent. That’s when the business adopted&nbsp;<a href="https://www.peoplevox.com/en-us/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">PeopleVox</a>, a warehouse management system that’s streamlined the process – and removed memory from the equation.“Now, everything is completely barcoded, and you can pick up a wireless Android device and that will lead you around the warehouse in the most efficient route,” he says. “It’s taken a lot of human error out of the process.”Importantly, the business can now handle larger volumes and has even launched a same-day delivery service, knowing that the warehouse can manage it. “It’s really exciting. We know the product works. Now, we can really turn on the marketing and go for it. It’s really opened up the next phase for us.”&nbsp;

<h2>“We can check stock levels at the push of a button”</h2>

Elite Supps on how new software is driving efficiency&nbsp;<a href="https://www.elitesupps.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elite Supps</a>&nbsp;may have 40 stores, 100 staff and process thousands of orders for health supplements every week, but, until recently, the stocktaking process operated in much the same way as it did when the brand first launched in 2005. Back then, store managers would walk the shop floors to take notes and report back to headquarters on stock levels.It was a process that had its limitations, admits operations manager Miki Giampaolo. “If you’re [a sales staff member] working in a store 40 or 50 hours a week, you have a pretty good idea of what’s selling. But what about what’s not selling? Or what’s slowing down?”In October 2019, Elite Supps signed up to retail marketing and point-of-sale software system&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vendhq.com/au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vend</a>, which has transformed their inventory management and customer service.&nbsp;“Now, with a push of a button, I can see what’s selling and slowing down,” explains Giampaolo, who adds that it’s important to keep track of products that trend quickly – for example, after an influencer has posted about them on social media - so that stock levels can be adapted accordingly.

“Now, with a push of a button, I can see what’s selling and slowing down.”

Vend has also helped automate the point-of-sale process, by introducing automatic pop-ups to remind sales staff to collect customer details or to share special offers. Previously, says Giampaolo, memos about discounts or deals were emailed to each store to be printed out and kept beside the till. “It’s all very well to give staff a print-off, but if they don’t print it or it goes in the bin, it’s pointless,” says Giampaolo. “The promotions activator has actually made a big difference. Everyone is aligned about promotions, and it cuts down on all the correspondence.”

<h2>“We used to sit up at night waiting to set sales live”</h2>

Infamous Swim has turned to automation to deal with soaring demand&nbsp;Over the past two years, Gemma Crowe has watched the swimwear business she started from her kitchen table grow so fast that it took over her house, then her garage, before overflowing into a couple of nearby sheds. Next month,&nbsp;<a href="https://infamousswim.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Infamous Swim</a>, which offers a range of swimwear as well as matching mother-daughter sets, will finally move into its own dedicated warehouse.&nbsp;

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The business’s phenomenal growth – Infamous Swim handles 10,000 orders a month – has meant that Crowe and her team have had to rethink the way they operate, and automate where possible.Recently, they switched to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.shopify.com.au/plus/enterprise-ecommerce" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Shopify Plus</a>, which allows them to automate a number of processes, including scheduling sales “rather than us having to sit up till midnight, manually changing the price of everything”.&nbsp;With the help of consultant&nbsp;<a href="https://brynleyking.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Brynley King</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://infamousswim.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Infamous Swim</a>&nbsp;also signed up with&nbsp;&nbsp;Klaviyo, which collects browsing and purchasing data so that customers can be targeted with personalised emails and offers. “There’s been an increase in order values, average order size and customer [website] return rates.”

<h2>“We can target promotions more accurately”</h2>

Nourished Life has seen sales soar after adopting automation&nbsp;In the eight years since Nourished Life launched, it has not only become one of the country’s most successful clean beauty websites, but it’s also amassed an enviable database of hundreds of thousands of customers.The only problem? Until recently, the business wasn’t using this trove of data to its full potential, says e-commerce director Lani Barmakov.&nbsp;That all changed when Nourished Life signed on with&nbsp;<a href="https://emarsys.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Emarsys</a>, an omnichannel customer engagement platform, which pulls together customer data from a range of touchpoints, including browsing behaviour and purchase history.As a result,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nourishedlife.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nourished Life</a>&nbsp;now has access to insights into its customer lifecycle, and is able to target consumers with the most relevant products and promotions, using the most applicable channel for each customer – whether that’s social media, paid search, SMS or email.“We have 8000 products and lots of promotions going on at once,” says Barmakov. “We used to send out one email a week with all the same offers. Now, we can make sure that we’re showing the right product and the right promotion to the right customer at the right time.”

“Now, we can make sure that we’re showing the right product and the right promotion to the right customer at the right time.”

It’s a change that’s seen a dramatic rise in email-driven revenue over the past year and a “substantial uplift” in email open rates.&nbsp;Although there’s work involved in setting up automated software like Emarsys, Barmakov says “the upfront effort is repaid over time, as it goes on to generate revenue without much effort”.

<h2>“We automated from the start”</h2>

The Lash Room has taken on 15 staff in just two years – and credits a scheduling app for playing a starring role in its successWhen Jeanne Rerekura launched&nbsp;<a href="https://thelashroomgoldcoast.gettimely.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Lash Room</a>&nbsp;in 2018, she was adamant that the business would offer online bookings – and after plenty of research, she settled on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gettimely.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Timely</a>&nbsp;appointment software.“I’ve always worked in customer service so I know people don’t like talking on the phone,” says Rerekura, who was also conscious that working in a hands-on role, such as a lash technician, meant it could be difficult to take bookings during the day. “We don’t have the luxury of being able to answer the phone.”

“We don’t have the luxury of being able to answer the phone [while we're working].”

Two years on, and The Lash Room hasn’t looked back. The Gold Coast business now employs 15 staff across five locations and Rerekura already has her sights set on more salon locations.&nbsp;Recently the business took automation even further by upgrading their Timely subscription to allow&nbsp;them to capture credit information and send automatic SMS reminders to customers, both of which have reduced the number of customers who book but fail to turn up.&nbsp;Customers can also sign waivers through Timely, which saves time in store (and means customers don’t have to sign the waiver more than once, even if they receive lash treatments in multiple The Lash Room salons.) “We’ve also set up a survey through MailChimp, which is integrated with Timely, to ask questions about customer experience – for example why they didn’t auto-book.”These measures have improved <a href="https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/business/access/customer-retention/customer-retention-strategies" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">customer retention</a> by 60-80 per cent, says Jeanne, who admits that organisation has always been one of her strengths.Her only complaint? She wishes more businesses had Timely. “It’s so convenient!”

Looking to save time + money? Read how Nourished Life, Elite Supps & Infamous Swim use Timely, Vend and other software to grow business.

Looking to save time money Read how Nourished Life, Elite Supps Infamous Swim use Timely, Vend and other software to grow business on Afterpay Access