We’re all guilty of it from time to time. We say “yes” to too many things. We agree to take on projects that we know we really don’t have the time to complete, at least not the way they should be done. Sometimes, the biggest problem isn’t that we’ve taken on too much, but rather that we don’t take breaks when we need to. It’s easy to think, I’ll just finish this part, or I’ll just do one more and suddenly we’re overtired, hungry and making mistakes. In a previous post we’ve talked about the negative effects that stress can have on your health and how that can impact your small business. Today we’re going to offer some tips for getting things done without overdoing it. We're constantly dealing with stress and juggling priorities as makers of the world's best online inventory management system that's free to use. So hopefully these tips help you as much as they do us.
Be realistic. If something usually takes you an hour, what makes you think you can suddenly do it in half an hour? You might be able to do a rush job in that amount of time, but it certainly won’t be your best work. Only start projects that you realistically have the time to finish. Making wise choices in the beginning will really save you from stress and headaches in the end. When determining our development schedule, it's important we be realistic in terms of what's possible in the short-run for our online inventory management system. This avoids mismtached expectations and overworking our staff.
Sometimes it takes a village. We can’t say this enough. Delegate. Ask for help. It’s not a sign of weakness, it’s the sign of a good leader. Involving others can have multiple benefits. Not only will many projects benefit from the additional opinions and input, but allowing employees to assist can provide cross-training that may come in handy later on. Plus, it can make them feel valued and as if they have partial ownership in the project which is great for employee morale. All in all we're a family at Canvus. There's no way would could have built and continue to enhance our online inventory management system, otherwise.
Take breaks. Labor laws mandate employee breaks but as the boss, you often skip them for yourself. While it may seem as if you are doing a good thing for your business by pushing on, in the long run overworking yourself will have a negative impact on your business.
Look for ways to work smarter, not harder. If you’ve been following our series on technology for your small business, you know that we’re big fans of utilizing technology to make your job easier. We also advocate process mapping as a way to identify areas in your business that are causing slowdowns. Using these two strategies in combination should put you in a great position to work smarter. Yep, we carefully consider how much support a given feature is going to create prior to releasing it in our online inventory management system. Smarter not harder is the key.
It’s important to get things done, but it’s more important to not overdo it. It is possible to run your small business successfully without running yourself ragged. By employing some of the suggestions provided above you should be able to find that happy medium.
Need a little less stress? Try our free online inventory management system.
Inventory issues stressing you out? No worries. We’ve got the solution for you. Stockpile is a robust, easy to use online inventory management system that can handle your inventory issues without giving you a headache. With Stockpile, you can access inventory data anytime, from anywhere. You can also track and transfer items within a single location or across multiple locations. Stockpile literally puts the power in your hands. Now that’s a great way to get things done! Try Stockpile today.
