How to Do It All (Without Doing It All): Streamline Your Solo Business

It's the double bind of self-employment. You welcome the independence of being your own boss, but struggle with how everything can get done by you alone. Getting clients is the first question on your mind. But the second question is just as important. How do I navigate not just the client work, but all the other things to keep track of with a business? You know there are solutions out there. You've used software and tools in the past that could work for some things. But are they the right thing for your business? And what about solutions for the business operations side of things?

A business' operational plan lays out how everything gets done. In a traditional business plan, the Operational Plan comes later in the document. It covers the daily operations of the business. This includes its location, equipment, people, processes, and surrounding environment. (In this context, environment can mean the ecology, but also the legal environment.) Since we're self-employed here, I'm going to talk about processes at our scale. We don't need to write down how we expect to do it all, though plenty of folks like to document their plans in writing. As a one-person business, it can feel like we have to do it all. This is always a short-sighted notion, but even more so in the modern era. Now days technology can save you time and effort! 

In any business context, there are plenty of things that are repetitious. Do you have to meticulously craft each email from scratch, or can you apply a template? Scrappy solo-preneurs often try to patch together systems on a shoestring budget. And that can mean we duplicate data entry, or struggle to get paper documents into a digital format. Some processes are multi-stepped and definitely need a human in the loop. ...but does that mean it always has to be done by you? Let's take a look at it. 

Option A: Human Solutions 

Self-employed business owners are often cautious about getting help from people. If by "help" we mean "employees," it does open some areas to be aware of. You'll need to follow employment laws, file related taxes, and, oh yeah, deal with the employees! There are always challenges when working with others. For independent folk like us, it can be hard to navigate these challenges or hand over control. And then there's the perceived expense: This has to be too expensive, right?! 

I say "perceived expense" for a good reason. Getting help doing the work can be very accessible and affordable. You can hire a virtual assistant (VA) for as little as 5 hours per month. Plus, it's billed as an independent contractor, not an employee. There are no taxes and far fewer employment laws. It's a very simple transaction. To explore how I make use of my VA, you can check out the other articles I've written about it. Or maybe you'd rather start with more specialized help? Bookkeepers, accountants, or tax preparers are great helpers to bring in early. A specialized professional in this area can take onerous tasks off your plate. Some will even file your state and city taxes and licenses on your behalf. (But ask if they include that with their services!)

Here's the thing about paying someone to do stuff for you: you and your time are your business's most limited resource. As solopreneurs, our billable hours are the only thing bringing in revenue. Once your time becomes limited, anything you can get off your plate allows you to earn more. Yes, the amount you offload does need to balance against what you're bringing in. That's actually pretty easy to attain mathematically. If you bring in more per hour than you pay your VA, you're most of the way there! Plus, a lot of times our helpers can do things faster and more efficiently than we can. 

The scarier part of this is the speculative aspect of it. You're trying to free your time to earn more, and you don't have that "more" earned yet. There are only two ways of solving this problem, and neither path forward is ideal. Some will choose to work more than they want, so that they have the earnings to pay their helper before hiring. But it's really hard to set your helper up for success when you're already overloaded. Or, you can take a leap and hire your helper before you have a comfortable amount of money to pay for them. A strong financial plan will mean you'll have the wiggle room to hire before you really absolutely need help. But without one, you'll have to sacrifice your own income for future earning potential. (To avoid this, develop your business plan with enough wiggle room (aka profit). Read more about how in my End Financial Overwhelm article.

Option B: Computer Solutions

Hiring help isn't the only way for you to do more with the same amount of time. Computers have been able to save us effort for a long time now, and they keep getting more capable. It's easy to fall into the trap of doing things the way you're used to, instead of leveraging new/improved technology. I'm far from an "early adopter," but I also don't like doing busy work! Make sure to carve out time to figure out how technology can save you time in the long run. 

The Task:

To understand how to lighten your load, we need to do some analysis of the work that goes into your business. For those of you just getting started, this is less of an analysis and more of something to keep an eye out for. Anytime you notice yourself repeating something, make a note. That's an area that's going to need streamlining, and the sooner the better! 

For those of you who have been operating for a while, it’s better to analyze in a single sitting. This involves recalling and examining the tasks you repeat. What kind of emails do you craft (or copy/paste) frequently? Are there processes where you have to click many things before the task is complete? What about getting information from one system to another? (Including information on paper into a computer!) And for each of these tasks, does it need human involvement? Does it need YOUR involvement?  

While you can do this simply enough in your own notepad, I've built a spreadsheet to help. I can't solve the part where you need to write down the tasks you do. But this tool asks you to categorize the tasks in meaningful ways. Based on that, it gives you clear ideas of what tasks you can streamline and how. Get your Operational Streamline Analysis spreadsheets for free! 

5 KEY TIME SAVERS

Now that you've got a handle on what these tasks are, what is there to do about them? I have some ideas. 

 Copy/Paste But Fewer Clicks

Templates have been around since the 90's and this is your sign! Make sure you're using them to their full advantage -particularly for emails! Any email you find yourself sending more than once, turn it into a template. Even if you have to make edits to the template, it saves much thinking time! The next time a client inquiry comes across your inbox, write your response. Before you hit send, save it as a template. For the next client inquiry, you'll have a place to start from. Not sure how to make an email template? Learn how to in Gmail or Outlook.

Make The Computers Talk to Each Other

The techies call it an API; most of us know these as plug-ins, integrations, syncs, or the like. Whatever tech you're using, try to reduce any need for data entry or looking something up in another place. You don't need all your stuff in one system if you can get the systems to talk to each other. For example, there's an integration between QuickBooks and Square. The integration imports transactions and client information from Square into QuickBooks. This allows both systems to have the same information. This is an equally seamless solution as accepting payments via QuickBooks Payments.  

Even if two tools aren't designed to work together, there are 3rd party solutions. Tools like Zapier and IFTTT can help pass information between systems. (They have free plans!) For example, I use integrations to connect my calendar, CRM, and newsletter systems. My calendar, Acuity, collects email addresses. A Zap adds new emails in Acuity to my CRM database, Insightly. Daily an Insightly integration adds new contacts to my Mailchimp email newsletter list. All three of these systems have coordinated data, all with ZERO involvement from me. 

Unsubscribe Fest 

Triaging emails takes time. Not a lot, but enough. Consider this your sign to go on an unsubscribe fest. Clutter doesn't help you or your inbox function, so set your email up for success. Forefront the unique communications and those that actually require a response from you. Let go of the emails you're "gonna get around to reading eventually".

Hold your unsubscribe fest over the course of a week. Examine your inbox once a day, and make a decision for each new email. If you'd normally archive an email, set up a filter to move these out of your inbox expeditiously. If you'd usually delete an email, click into it and unsubscribe from it. If it's something that actually needs your response, then it stays. At the end of the week, go back to email operations as usual. Chaos will inevitably infiltrate any system, so plan on holding an unsubscribe fest once a year or so.  

Scheduling Systems

If any of your emails have to do with scheduling, add a scheduling system to your world. Even if it's a rare occurrence, a cal.com account is free and can just exist until you need it! 

For those of us with businesses more focused on scheduling, I've written about this before. You don't personally need to respond to people when it comes to scheduling. If someone needs or wants that level of involvement, they can opt not to use the scheduling system. For most people they appreciate the ease and immediacy of online scheduling. Don't waste your time tediously scheduling over email! It's such a better use of your time to reply to actual questions and folks who don't want to use online scheduling.

Smart Scanning

The cliche of a shoebox full of receipts that gets handed to a bookkeeper is a thing of the past! First of all, receipts are so often digital these days. In fact, bookkeeping tools let you email receipts into them! (And scan paper receipts, if necessary.) If you haven't discovered these bookkeeping features yet, now's the time! Learn how to use the features on QuickBooks and Wave Apps.

But receipts aren't the only pieces of paper that businesses face. Signing a document used to require a printer and scanner. Now it's all done online! Check out Dropbox Sign - they have a free plan! Or if you're creating your own documents for signature, check out Google's sign feature. Some of us create paper by taking notes. You can handwrite notes digitally using any smart pen and tablet. There are even tools specifically designed for the task, like Kindle Scribe and ReMarkable.

But sometimes paper just happens. Luckily, getting paper into the digital world has never been easier. Your smartphone can scan anything! Many native camera apps have this feature. File sharing tools like Google Drive or Dropbox have built-in scan and save features.  

What Only YOU Can Do

If this is sounding too overwhelming, we can flip it all on its head. This also serves to highlight the stuff that you should NOT delegate. Create a list of the things only you can do. And by only I mean the things that must happen for the business to deliver the same service and be intrinsically your business. 

What makes the business intrinsically yours? It has nothing to do with access to a password or creative influence over your marketing. (There are tech solutions to sharing passwords, and you can always maintain approval rights!) We're talking about the nugget that makes your work YOUR work. And even that might be able to be taught to another person. Hold fast to the things you love doing that are unique to you. Be willing to let go of everything else; it's not what's actually important. 

Your Efficient Operational Plan

Hopefully you're now a bit clearer on things that could leave your plate. You've got free and low-cost computer-based tools and automations. And for the things that need a human touch, you know more about identifying someone to help. A well-tuned operation plan not only saves you time but also allows you to do even more of the stuff you love.