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I once worked with a young lad who had exactly complimentary skills to mine. Together we made the perfect team as we shared the same values and would happily shunt the workload between us to whoever was best suited to handling the task or customer. This compatibility meant that, although only two people, we were probably as effective as three.

I’m afraid that I spoilt the dynamic when I went off to have babies and then moved to France.

Roll forward several years and my own kids operate as a power team as one thinks linearly and precisely, while the other is a problem solver who thinks so far outside the box that they don’t even realise that there is a box. For years now their combined efforts have been enough to outwit most adults. (It’s also why I have so many grey hairs just from trying to stay ahead of them).

Even if you never discover such a perfect pairing it is worth having a diverse team who bring different skills and ideas so that the combined efforts are much more than the sum of the individuals.

I recently received a complaint from somebody for posting in a WhatsApp group in the middle of the night. Had I realised that they had audible notifications switched on I would have been more considerate, of course.

But it made me wonder how many of us allow our phones etc. to dictate our lives.

Whether in meetings, writing, recording videos or checking a set of accounts, most of my work requires concentration so I try to minimise interruptions. I also like a good work/life balance. And woe betide anything that disturbs my beauty sleep.

Here are some of the things that I do which may be useful to you.

• Define your ‘office’ hours. I prefer 9-5 when working with UK clients but it’s not always possible when coaching business owners overseas.
• Use Calendly or similar to schedule telephone and zoom calls when it suits you.
• Turn off audible and pop up notifications on all devices.
• Keep your phone on silent or vibrate unless expecting a call.
• Use the Do Not Disturb function on your phone for a good night’s sleep or when in meetings. I-phone allows certain important numbers to overcome this as I still want to be contactable if anything happens to my kids.
• Use an answering service to get rid of cold callers and forward messages. I’m happy to recommend the one we use.
• Have a voicemail message which encourages users to leave their own message rather than keep trying to ring you.
• Be selective about which apps you want to use ‘badges’ for or other passive notifications. I use these for my business emails on all devices and for Twitter and LinkedIn on the iPad that I use for social media.

Decide how accessible you want/need to be and set everything up accordingly. And remember that you control your communication devices, not vice versa.

There are several times when it is good to delegate:

1. Profitability – when you could make more money by paying somebody else to do the job while you earn more money elsewhere. This is why I have a PA

2. Procrastinating – when you’re not getting around to the task for some reason, either a genuine reason or an excuse because you don’t want to do it. Sometimes it needs to be you but, if somebody else can do the job then hand it over so that it actually gets done

3. Dislike – this is a bit of a luxury but is also one of the perks of running your own business. After all I persuade business owners to hand over their bookkeeping and accounts which I love and they hate (see also procrastinating!)

4. Expertise – when somebody can do a better job than me it makes sense to pay them to do it. I recently saved hours by delegating an IT problem to a local company to sort out.

Learning to delegate may not come easy to some but it is the only way that your business will grow bigger than just you.

I’ve just been watching an online conversation which includes some people who appear to want to work for nothing.

You’ve probably realised by now that I love all sorts of efficiencies. When you’re trying to run a business in just 25 hours per week (as I was) it makes sense to pay a little to save time which you can spend earning much more.

As always somebody was looking for free software to do a particular task.

The camp was split between using a free app which only did half the job or paying a few pounds for an app to do it all. I’m biased because we used to pay for the app in my practice. BUT we paid for the app because it was cheaper than paying a junior to faff around finishing off the manual part of the job.

The software was cheaper than a junior so imagine the time cost if the business owner was the one doing the manual work.

Please do put a value on your time. If £6 saves you half an hour in which you can earn more then you should be paying the £6.

What sort of ways could you pay to save time?

I’ve been struggling a little with mental discipline since Coronavirus has been a reality in the UK. It’s not a problem I usually have so I’m only just learning how to cope. It takes a lot of mental strength to overcome my natural inclination to procrastinate and, after however many weeks into lockdown, I’m at last starting to do something about it.
 
Since changing email provider I have been unable to handle my emails through my laptop Outlook app, so I’ve been accessing them on my ipad until I had time to resolve the problem. It was only meant to be a short term fix but, like many of these things, it has dragged on because I had more urgent/important things to deal with.
 
So each time I wanted to send an email (a big bit of what I do) I had to go onto my ipad … with my social media apps. My ipad usually sits on my desk anyway so I can have a bit of a chat between jobs and it doesn’t usually distract me while I’m actually working. But now it is! 
 
So I’m getting it fixed this week in the hope that this tiny change will sort my number one distraction and increase my productivity.
 
The second thing is that I’ve stopped reading as much as I used to. Last week I forced myself to read and I finally identified that the spotlight above my bed is not bright enough to use as a reading light (whereas Netflix needs no external illumination). I’ve moved in a proper reading light and I’m back up to a book a week. 
 
Have you got any similar examples of where a tiny thing is causing a disproportionate disruption?

There are so many unknowns at the moment. Your business plan for this year is probably as much use as a chocolate teapot in guiding your business through this challenging time. But how are you going to navigate your way out of the Corona pit if you don’t have a route map?

1.Start with your personal objectives.

Are these still the same? Many business owners are enjoying the time with family or not having to endure a commute. Do you still want what you did before?

We use a Balanced 10 Scorecard to look at 10 different aspects of our clients’ lives. Business and Finance are only two of the things that we believe need to be balanced in your life.

2. Business objectives.

With your new personal objectives where do you now see your business in 5 years time? Will you still need premises? Will you invest in software to increase productivity and save that precious time? This is your destination. It is common to set this out in financial terms.

3. 3 month plan

Just as you can’t drive a long distance in one go it is wise to plan stops along the way to take a break, stretch your legs, and make sure that you’re still heading in the right direction. A 3 month plan (or 90 days or 12 weeks) is a good period with a foreseeable timeline.

4. Where are you now?

Evaluate where you are now. What is working and what isn’t? What will take you towards your destination? What do you need to start doing and what should you stop? What can you change now and what will need to wait until we are able to live and work with the virus safely under control?

5. Action plan

How fast can you travel the route? Map out your detailed actions for the next 3 months. Think about what you need to do in terms of people, marketing, systems and products/services.

Each action should have a specific deadline and a person responsible. If it’s a longer term project then only include the actions which need to be taken in the next 3 months. The way to eat an elephant is one mouthful at a time.

6. Review

At the end of each quarter take time to review your progress. Celebrate your successes and learn from anything that didn’t go so well. Do you need to update your overall plan?

7. Reset

Reset your plan and actions for the next 3 months and you’ll gradually get closer to your 5 year goals for your business and personal life.

We can help you to keep track along the way with regular management accounts, business plans and advice. We also run our monthly FLYBY reviews so that you can book on each quarter to get help with points 6 and 7.

As I’ve had time to speak to more businesses this week it would seem that Covid 19 has been a catalyst for all sorts of business improvements that were already in the pipeline.

I’m sure that many business owners, like me, have a file full of ideas, some of which might even have made it as far as a full blown business plan. Minerva Accountants was one such plan for me (although the reality took a bit longer waiting for ICAEW to process my practising certificate).

I’ve also heard of businesses combining sites, implementing new technology, and outsourcing work. All things that they had already identified as cost and efficiency gains. The virus has moved these things from the important but not urgent quadrant to the urgent and important.

What ideas have you got in your repertoire that now need to see the light of day?

Things are starting to settle down a little as we adapt to a new normal and start to consider the best way to make use of life under lockdown and beyond.

Whilst the virus is still out there we need to remember that it is only social distancing measures which have prevented more of us from being infected. The reason that lockdown is able to be lifted a little is because we now have spare hospital beds. So please keep up your usual physical distancing precautions if you’re out and about.

But we do now have a roadmap of how the UK will change over the next few months, so we are able to plan how to get staff working as safely and efficiently as possible.

There will undoubtedly be some sort of recession but those of us who have been through the last few recessions are not scared by this and I’m blowing the dust off the content from the last recession as you read this. At the moment the economy is said to have contracted by about 30%. So only 70% of the opportunities are available and they’re not spread evenly across all industries.

So you don’t need to be ahead of the roaring lion, you only need to be ahead of 30% of your competition to ensure that your business is not one of the ones being eaten.

What can you do to stay ahead of your competition? Build a plan to include:

• Marketing so your name is out there when others may still be licking their wounds
• Tech investments or general efficiencies so that you can carry out work cheaper, better or faster than your competitors
• Recruiting and training the best people as they are laid off from other jobs

If you need help planning then please do shout but, as always, the important thing is to have a plan. And a bit of cash from a bounce back loan may help too.

How is your plan looking for the next 3 months?