A woman with blonde hair is sitting at a cluttered desk, pulling at her hair in frustration. She is wearing a white shirt and has sticky notes on her face, one yellow and one pink. The desk is piled high with stacks of papers and binders, — There is a lot more to running a business than just providing customers with products/services. Without completing essential tasks, your business won’t run, however, it can take precious time away from the creative side of your business and that is why you started your business in the first place, isn't it?
As I said it’s essential, but there are ways to help you reduce the amount of time you’re spending on your admin.

Delegate

This can be difficult, especially if you’re a new business owner who is used to working on your own. However, it’s important to shift some of that workload off you so that your business can grow. If you have a small team working with you, delegate some of these tasks or hire someone whose full responsibility is ensuring all admin is completed correctly and on time. Alternatively,

Hire a VA

A smiling woman with red hair wears a white tank top and black overalls with white flowers. She has a bee pendant necklace. The background is softly blurred, suggesting an indoor setting. — If you’re in a position to delegate any tasks to other team members or if you’re operating as a sole trader, then hiring a virtual assistant is a great option for you.
There are a variety of virtual assistants with different niches out there, ranging from Office admin and bookkeeping to Social Media.
Therefore, whatever is taking up the most time, there will very likely be a VA out there to help you spend less time on admin. There are even creative virtual assistants that can give you a helping hand with your products or services.

Schedule

A good way to tackle your admin tasks is to schedule them. This way, putting them off is harder as they are booked on your schedule.

By completing these tasks more regularly, not only will there be less to do but it will take you less time and prevent it from building up until the end and creating a mountain of impossible tasks for you to complete. Whether you set aside an hour every other Thursday morning, for example, or tackle these tasks one evening a week, this is a great way to keep on top of it all.

Use a software

There are a variety of different types of software out there to help you when it comes to completing those dreaded admin tasks. This software often has features such as scheduling and automatic features, therefore once fully set up, it can do most of these tasks for you.

For example, a lot of accountancy software has automatic invoices, which not only saves you time but helps you to avoid the awkwardness and time of chasing up clients for payments. Luckily most software also offers a free trial, meaning you can try out and experiment to see if it works for you and your business without fully committing and investing in it.

Another useful feature is that most software is also available on mobile apps, meaning you can access everything from your phone and on the go. This is definitely something you should look out for if you’re considering investing.

Break it down

A lot of the time, the task can be time-consuming and feel impossible because there is a lot to do. It can be difficult to even find where you want to start and this is when it can end up taking up a lot of your time. By breaking your task into smaller ones, you’ll find it a lot easier to complete.

Just do it

It may sound like I’m stating the obvious here, but these tasks become more and more time consuming the longer you leave them on your to-do list. You can waste a lot of time when you’re sitting there procrastinating by thinking about how to attack that huge mountain of tasks that you have let build up so high. Self-discipline is essential when running your own business and it really does start with the smaller tasks. And finally,

A laptop on a wooden desk shows an open document. In front of it, an open notebook with a pen. To the right, a white mug on a coaster, a pour-over coffee maker, and a vase with pink flowers. The scene is by a window, suggesting a cosy workspace.

Review and Evaluate

See what works for you. For example, you may have tried out multiple different software and perhaps you like the idea of using software but aren’t really getting on with the one you’re currently using.

Maybe you just don't want to do it and have decided that you might prefer to work with a person whose speciality is those admin tasks or bookkeeping etc and hire a virtual assistant.

The good news is there’s nothing wrong with giving something a try. At the end of the day, trial and error is the best way to find out what works best for you.

If you need a hand with your General admin, Email management, or Online Media Management then BizzyBee can help.

Feel free to contact Erin for advice and more information. And why not check out the Bizzybee Linkedin account for some social media inspiration?

How To Spend Less Time On Your Admin