Growing your business is always a good thing — you’ve gotten solid leads, you’ve worked on your marketing strategies, you’re putting your face and your brand out in the world, and it’s all coming to place.
But at the same time, you’re getting more jobs than you can handle comfortably and that can become a serious issue.
Not necessarily, though.
It’s just a matter of handling the extra weight carefully and responsibly. Here’s how:
Keep your files organized
This might seem like a minor issue, but it will make a huge difference in a long term scenario.
Basically, keep your papers, computer files, images, documents, and anything specific to certain projects properly organized in your computer or on your desk.
This includes making up a proper folder for each individual project and using a reliable naming convention for every file.
Every computer nowadays, whether it’s a Mac or a PC, has a pretty good search feature that lets you easily find files with their titles, but also specific keywords, tags, text inside those files, or even from dates. It can save you a lot of time, but these functions won’t mean much if you need a specific file from last week and you don’t know where you’ve saved it and you can’t find it because you didn’t name it properly.
And then you think “It’s probably in my download folder”, but your download folder looks like the universe exploded.
Quite simply: keep things neat. Take some time every day to delete useless files and put the ones you need in folders with proper names. It will make it much easier to find what you need and there won’t be any confusion as to what project you’re working on.
Same goes for your inbox!
Tidy up your email inbox daily and while you’re at it, remember to check your spam box — it’s random, but sometimes real clients trying to get in touch with you might be treated as spam for whatever reason.
Make good use of technology
Some of the following tips also derive from this tangent, but the overall idea is worth mentioning.
Technology has evolved to a point where we can carry a powerful mini-computer in our pockets, so use it!
Your smartphone can do so much for your work — you can even have the homeyou contractor app with you at all times.
But here are some other things you can do with it:
Set events
Creating an event on a smartphone comes with tons of cool perks.
For example, not only can you name each event and set a date and time (obviously), but you can also send emails to invitees and set a location on your map — which means by the time the event is near your phone can automatically show you the best route for your destination and how long it will take to get there, usually with pretty accurate traffic conditions taken into consideration.
And going further than that, if you create a contact for every client on your phone, each one can have different addresses, phone numbers, emails, and so forth.
This is extremely useful when setting up follow up meetings or new projects, because you will already have all the information you need right there. By the time you need to set a new meeting with a known client, most phones will automatically recognize them.
For example, say you have a meeting with John C.
All you have to do is create an event called “Meeting with John C.” and your phone will already know who it is and set up the address and a confirmation email for you.
Setting up a calendar event for every meeting you have is also great for visualization — to know which days you are free, simply open up your calendar and you can actually see which days are free to schedule more work, and which days are already packed.
Set reminders
On iPhones and most other smartphones you can voice activate this command to make it even easier to use.
Whenever you need be reminded of a specific event or task, simply set a reminder for a specific time. It’s fast, simple, and it will help you out tremendously during busy days.
For Siri on iPhones, simply say: “Hey Siri, remind me to call Charles later today.”
Done.
But if you want, you can also say a specific time and date, and it will work just as well.
Take notes
On the same way you can set reminders, you can take quick notes throughout the day. Notes are more about remembering specific details, creating lists, or even elaborating on an idea.
For example, if you’ve just started working on a new project and the client has a few specific needs or requests, you can take notes on the spot to remind yourself of these details when it’s time to elaborate their estimate.
And likewise, most smartphones also have a voice command for it, so you don’t even have to stop what you’re doing.
Take pictures
Another simple and easy way to take notes is just by taking pictures with your smartphone.
Is there a particular detail the client wants you to pay attention to? Take a picture. You can even take pictures directly into a note — which means you can later write underneath it without losing track of the picture.
And naturally, you can name the note, add a location, lists, etc. Basically, every note can be as simple or as fleshed out as you need it to be.
Most smartphones have an embedded note app, but we highly recommend the ever so awesome Evernote.
Hire subcontractors
If you really can’t perform the job yourself and you can’t reschedule, you might want to consider working with subcontractors.
Working with subcontractors is a long subject for another time, but having at least a few professionals you can rely on to work with you can save your reputation when used correctly. In a way, it’s like having a card in your sleeve.
If your workload is getting too big for you to handle alone, seek out a couple of professionals whose work you can trust. These pros can take some extra weight off your back and maintain your business.
Take the first step towards growing your business today and start receiving leads that will make you money — Sign up with homeyou!
This post is not sponsored and has no endorsements of anyway. All suggestions are based on providing you options based on solid research and contractor advice.
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