Inefficiency can really slow a business down—that’s no surprise. And if you’re like us at Two Roads (we like to run a pretty tight ship) that just won’t work for you. Workplace efficiency just makes everybody’s job easier.
Years ago, we came across an article on Inc.com about work efficiency, which gave us some real food for thought. Although it was published almost ten years ago, we still to this day refer to this article for workplace efficiency and productivity tips.
It’s called 5 Fixes for Your Worst Productivity Mistakes, written by Vanessa Merit Nornberg, owner of Metal Mafia, a successful wholesale jewelry company.
In her article, Vanessa Nornberg offers five ways to make your business run more efficiently.
To get you thinking, here are a few principles we find especially useful in our business.
This might sound like a no-brainer, but in the hectic everyday life of our bookkeeping business, everyone must follow this rule. Spending time putting things off could hold up something that someone else needs to be working on.
We love Vanessa’s example. She makes it a point early in her day to take care of things that could allow someone else or multiple people to get started on “their next steps” for the day. She gives the example of answering an email that allows three others to move on, but it could just as well be signing off on an order or proofing an outgoing email memo.
Something else we’ve noticed: If you “handle” the same task multiple times, only to shelve it for another time, you’ve had the opportunity to complete it as many times as you’ve handled it, and you still may have it to do later.
And because we are all on the same team, when a partner has a problem, we cheerfully do everything we can within our realm of responsibility to help that partner. If we can’t help them, we find someone who can. We work together to satisfy each partner because it’s what we expect from another company and makes our partners happy.
And at Two Roads, making our partners happy is a big deal.
Another point Vanessa makes in the article is the importance of investing in the right tools to boost work efficiency.
Of course, depending on your industry, the suitable tools will vary.
For us, things like cloud accounting software come to mind because these help us—and our clients—run their businesses more efficiently. In this case, that means automatically categorizing expenses and other tasks that tools can help automate.
As Vanessa explains:
“Shoddy solutions always come back to haunt you--both financially and in terms of productivity. Even when you are in bootstrapping mode, spending right rather than doing things on the cheap is the most inexpensive solution in the long term.”
So, whether it’s investing in tools, services, additional staff, or any other area that can improve workplace efficiency, doing so is an investment in the future of your business.
You can also read more about investing in your workday in this article.
We are big believers in focusing on the most high-leverage tasks in your business and outsourcing where you can.
For example, a doctor’s time is likely best spent with patients, researching, or doing other activities directly relating to their practice. Spending hours a week on bookkeeping? This is probably not the best way to spend their time.
Whether you’re a doctor, a chiropractor, a dentist, an artist, or any profession other than a professional bookkeeper or accountant, chances are it will pay to outsource bookkeeping tasks, giving you more time to focus directly on your business.
Much like investing in tools and software for your business, outsourcing certain services is a strategic and intelligent business investment.
We talk more about the benefits of bookkeeping here.
These three tips are a great place to start. For more, check out the full article: 5 Fixes for Your Worst Productivity Mistakes by Vanessa Merit Nornberg.
Are you ready to boost workplace efficiency by outsourcing your bookkeeping to the pros, letting you focus on more high-leverage activities? You’ve come to the right place!
Please feel free to contact us if we can help you or even just answer some questions about what we do at Two Roads.
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This article was updated in 2023 just for you!