Have you ever felt like you’re wasting your time in business? Many times, we sit down at our desk and simply go through the motions. But at the end of the day, when we push back from our desk and head home, we think, “What have I really accomplished today?”
The sinking realization we often have is, “I’ve done nothing profitable.”
It’s a terrible feeling. To make our business succeed, we feel like we have to make huge efforts, engineer massive deals, or find dream clients.
In reality, all we need to do is a few simple moves, smart tactics, and quick tricks. Here are some ideas — seven things you can do today to help your business succeed.
Work for five minutes on that project that you’ve been putting off for so long.
For some reason, it’s tough to start our biggest and most important tasks. Because it seems so important, we often avoid it by accident.
The secret is to commit to working on it for five minutes. You can accomplish some of it in five minutes.
What you’re really doing is tricking your brain. The brain needs the promise of a short-term reward to get started on the delayed gratification of a long-term task.
Once you get started, the five minutes will probably turn into fifteen, or fifty…and before you know it, you’ve made some serious headway on the massive project that was obstructing the progress of your business.
Reach out to an old colleague, and schedule coffee.
The best business opportunities are within your existing network. Get in touch with an old business colleague — someone whom you haven’t seen or talked to in a while.
Just schedule coffee or a phone call, catch up with them, and find out how you can help them.
Outsource one task.
Here’s all you have to do: outsource a single task. Just one! It can be little. It can be menial. It can be whatever. Just outsource it.
You’ll spend ten minutes to an hour on the outsourcing part of it. But what will you gain? You’ll gain dozens of hours over the long term. And what can you do during those hours that you gain? You can create exponential value by advancing your business, moving in new directions, and planning extraordinary feats.
A small outsourcing move is leverage — leverage to do even bigger things.
Here are some quick ideas:
- Hire someone on Upwork. Upwork has a network of tens of thousands of freelancers. I guarantee that you can find someone to do what you want them to do.
- Post an ad on Craigslist. It takes ten minutes, but it can generate dozens of applicants. The more specific your job posting, the higher quality of applicants you’ll gain.
Make a hire, pay them their fee, and you’re set.
Disable notifications on your phone.
There’s an easy way to boost your productivity. It will take you less than a minute to put this plan in place, but it could save hundreds of hours in productivity.
Turn off the notifications on your android or iphone.
According to productivity researchers, “it takes an average of 25 minutes to return to the original task after an interruption.” Further research has shown that we check our phones anywhere from 85-150 times a day. Phone users receive push notifications — the random reminder or message, for example — 10-20 times a day.
You can begin to see the productivity problem. And it’s actually a business problem. How can you sustain focus or engage productively with a task if you’re so distracted?
You can’t.
Simple solution: turn off push notifications, and make your business bigger and better.
Take a nap.
Naps are good for you. And that’s not just me speaking from experience. That’s science speaking from research.
A short nap “will boost your memory, cognitive skills, creativity, and energy level,” according to WebMD.
Sounds like a business improvement waiting to happen.
Exercise.
Physical exertion is one of the best business activities you can engage in. Why?
Exercise, specifically aerobic exercise, helps to encourage neurogenesis, which is the growth of new neurons. Neurons, as you’re probably aware, are brain cells.
So, basically, exercise makes you smarter. All the other benefits — increased attention, more reliable memory, higher productivity, greater energy, improved mood, and sharper decision making — can accrue to enhance your business.
Read an article that will give you an idea.
Some of my best breakthrough moments in business have come on the heels of reading a great article.
I’m a huge fan of content marketing, but not just for the way that it has grown my businesses. I’ve benefited from the content marketing of other businesses, too!
Here’s what I occasionally do. I do a
One of my Google searches might be this this: “lower saas customer acquisition costs ideas.”
Instantly, I get a list of articles with ideas and inspiration. If I read one of these articles, and put one idea into play, then I have just benefited my business.
Conclusion
Taking the next step in your business doesn’t have to be some huge effort with massive results.
Often, the best way to grow your business is through regular habits. If you turn one of the above ideas into a regular habit, what kind of business success do you think you’ll enjoy?
The results could be greater than you ever dreamed.
What are some small changes that you’ve made that have helped your business succeed?
