You’re young, smart and are one among the bold few who chose
to take the leap of starting your own business. You’ve secured your funding and
have a strong team that believes in your vision and works tirelessly to help
you achieve it.
Right at the outset, you know that there are a million things
that could go wrong, and a few seconds of lost focus could have catastrophic
results.
Here’s ten things you can do to always be at the top of your
game, maximise efficiency, and go home with a smile on your face every day.
1.
Health comes first. This may seem like the most cliché
thing to read, ever, but there’s a reason for that. Understand that, at the end
of the day, time in your life needs to be distributed between health and
wealth. Leave the office on time, no matter what. And when you get home, forget
about work. Take 5 minutes to calm yourself down with some meditation after a
long day of entrepreneur-ing. Eat on time, every time, and leave the worries of
the world for the office. But when you’re at work, be a beast. Home is for
rest, the office is for war.
2.
Exercise. Do not underestimate the benefit of a good hour at the gym every
morning and a controlled diet. Humans have evolved from sabretooth
tiger-hunting, cliff jumping, tree climbing bad-asses to mild mannered, slowly
poisoned meat-sacks who have little or no exercise and no real knowledge of the
nutritional value of their food. Don’t be the latter. Don’t shovel garbage with
a brand name down your throat. Do whatever it takes to work up a sweat and get
your heart beating faster. The faster your heart beats during a workout, the
calmer it will be in the office. Helping you make rational decisions and
improving efficiency. It’s a proven tool that maximises efficient decision
making, and works wonders for your confidence levels and general outlook on
life.
3.
Prioritize. When you’re in charge, everything
needs to go through you. A small hiccup in one department could mess up
operations in five other departments. At the start of your day, find the
problems that need to be solved first and list them out in order of importance
and direct impact on business processes. Picking the right kind of soap for the
restrooms can be done after aggressively planning your business strategy, or
addressing employee grievances.
4.
Meetings shouldn’t last more than 30
minutes. Your time
is precious, and you have a team of experts working under you, reporting what
they have to so that you can take the business further based on what they say.
There are very few scenarios where there is more than 30 minutes worth of
information that needs to be delivered. Most meetings take longer because of a
lack of preparation and/or understanding – use the iron fist of efficiency to
make sure preparations happen well in advance of meetings. When you walk into
that meeting room make sure that everyone is absolutely ready with what they
have to say, and forget the entire world that exists outside that meeting room.
Analyse the information from all possible angles and keep conversations short
and to the point. Maintain focus and help your subordinates to do the same.
5.
Delegate. Yeah, you’re the boss, but that
doesn’t mean you have to manage even the tiniest aspects of every single
process. The whole point of having a team work for you is so that you can focus
on the bigger picture, while your officers take care of regular business
processes. Hire the best and most capable people to manage processes, and
supervise them with the sort unflinching sternness that would make even
warlords and dictators seem merciful.
6.
Create a conducive work environment. One of the major factors that keep
employees from becoming working-zombies is the environment they work in. Keep
plants around the office, maybe some recreational activities they could unwind
with, and address their grievances. Even doing something as simple as playing
table tennis with your subordinates will create a sense of comfort and
approachability, reducing the invisible barriers that exist between employees
at different levels and yourself. People shouldn’t have to watch what they’re
saying, in order to be at their productive best. You get the idea. Create an
environment of safety and comfort, and don’t let your employees suffer under
the ominous clouds of meeting unrealistic targets and tip-toeing around office politics.
7.
Don’t over-analyse. It’s true that your pertinent
business decisions need to be made with the best available information, but
don’t waste so much time just gathering information that you push back your
decision-making deadline more than once. There’s only so much one can do to
prepare, and the rest must be left up to fate. Be ruthless in gathering
information, contemplative and analytical while deciphering it, and steadfast
in any decision you take. Don’t look back.
8.
Manage time and energy levels. Different parts of the day will see
you performing the same tasks differently. Why? Because different people have
different times during the day when they are at their productive or creative
best. Taking on a hugely taxing task just after lunch is ill-advised, as this
is when the lethargy sets in and you won’t be able to fully concentrate on
getting anything done. Your body is busy digesting what you’ve just eaten, and
your mind is on the verge of shutting down. In the same way, 30 minutes after
you get settled in with your cup of coffee is the time when most people are at
their optimum level of productivity and creativity. Find what time during the
day you have the most energy, and assign tasks accordingly. Fluctuations in
your energy levels can be used to your advantage. Rest you’re your body tells
you, and give 200% when your body lets you. This maximizes efficiency and
reduces time wasted just looking at the screen waiting for work to do itself.
9.
Use the 80-20 analysis. There’s a method that was used by a
“productivity guru” named Tim Ferris, wherein he identified 20% of the
activities that produced 80% of the results, and 20% of the activities that
took up 80% of his time. Then, he took the overlap and destroyed it, which
resulted in eliminating time-wasting activities and boosting productive
activities. The key thing to remember here is that being busy doesn’t
necessarily translate to being productive. Find the activities that keep your
productive and stick to them, cut out the slower busy-work that doesn’t really
get much done in terms of producing tangible results.
10.
Focus on the big picture. Most entrepreneurs and new CEOs lose
sight of the grand scale of things because they waste too much time running
around micro-managing everything and making sure business processes are going
according to plan. The small stuff will usually take care of itself. It’s good
to take a step back and admire the empire you’re building and plan its
expansion. The managers and officers you’ve hired to handle the little things will
do their job, and you need to step back from the smaller cogs and gears in the
machine at least once a month to keep your goals in clear sight.
If you’re a new entrepreneur and have read this article,
putting the above mentioned suggestions into practice will have guaranteed
positive results. These are all tried and tested methods of keeping your sanity
and objectivity while being stretched to the limit analysing and building a
business from the ground up. More Important thing is “Maintain a Good Relationship
with Bankers”. Prior to approaching a banker or an investor with request for
funding, the promoters of the business must first prepare a pitch that explains
the business model, promoters background, revenue model to get
business Loan as per your requirements.
Always remember that a sound body
carries a sound mind. Don’t neglect physical fitness in a monetary pursuit, and
don’t neglect sleep trying to solve a problem. Leave your work problems at
work, and sort them out there when your mind is fresh after a good night’s
sleep and an exhaustive hour of physical training.
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