Aside from handling the company’s daily working capital needs, small-business owners need to maintain a day-to-day ritual to ensure all the important tasks are being completed. Small-business owners often have many tasks they need to accomplish, and since these individuals are usually at the top of the company’s hierarchy, there are no supervisors to ensure the owners complete these tasks. Getting into the habit of finishing daily to-do’s, you can create a groove that provides stability and establishes good habits for keeping the business moving and generating revenue.
Here are six daily tasks small-business owners should put on their to-do list:
- Track your metrics
According to Quickbooks, no matter what sort of business you’re in, you should have at least three metrics you can track on a daily basis. Whether this includes new customers, inventory lists, cold calls or yesterday’s sales, you should get into the habit of crunching these number daily to keep track of how business is doing. If you don’t keep an eye on the quantitative data affecting your company, there’s no way to implement changes that need to be made.
- Make time to be mindful
Your day is probably filled with employees needing advice and guidance, customers wanting to complain and associates trying to pick your brain. With all these distractions and demands on your time, take a moment in the day to stop and give yourself some me-time. This can be something as simple as sitting still for a few minutes or something as elaborate as a daily yoga exercise. You might consider going on a walk after lunch to clear your head. If you can’t get a minute to yourself while you’re at work, a good time is right when you wake up or before you go to sleep.
- Interact with the company
Even though you should take some me-time every day, you shouldn’t make this your entire day. Go out on the floor and interact with your employees and customers. Be present in the office or store, and make sure people know you’re around and available. Interacting helps build up the team and provides you with an opportunity to see how employees are functioning. If they’re doing a good job, compliment them; if they’re not, offer guidance.
- Talk to other local businesses
LinkedIn contributor Adrienne Fitzer recommended you get out of the office or store for a while and go interact with other business owners. This provides networking opportunities and insights into local affairs, such as an upcoming city council vote that might affect your business or a small-business fair being held at the local convention center. Building relationships with other businesses also provides opportunities for cross-promotion and establishing a network to discuss the effectiveness of different management strategies.
- Set aside time to be unproductive
This might seem counterintuitive, but set aside five or 10 minutes each day to surf the Internet or browse some social media sites. By doing so, you get rid of the urge to distract yourself and ensure you have more time to focus on the more important duties of the day. This helps keeps you focused on your tasks at hand.
- Set a daily goal
Each day provides another opportunity to complete a new goal. Whether this involves adding and crossing off a small step necessary to finish a long-term goal or whether it involves a small daily task to be completed, be sure to include one item that is immediately reachable. This can be something as simple as sending out an email to reconnect with an old business associate, or putting a new sale sign on some merchandise.