Do you run a business? Then you know first-hand how much effort is required to grow and remain productive. However, putting in lots of elbow grease isn't always a good thing.
Sure, it's respectable. I'm not saying it isn't. But, why not save time, energy, and be able to invest it elsewhere? Whether it's business or improving your lifestyle, there are many steps you can take today to automate and let a business run itself.
That's why I firstly suggest learning to outsource. This is the process of delegating tasks to contractors, other companies, or full-time employees.
There are freelance platforms like Upwork, Guru, and Freelancer that allow companies to quickly hire contractors for tasks. These include writing, design, development, research, and anything in between.
This will instantly free you of tasks to dedicate towards higher ROI projects.
However, don't be so quick. You should make sure that you clearly outline what you're looking for in freelancers first. This includes skill, experience, and personality. You want them to do a good job but mesh with your team, right?
Next, get them to do a trial period. This is usually a single task or contribution to an existing project to see how they work in real-time. Use this to gauge whether or not you'd like to invest in them over the long term.
That brings me to my second point of leveraging artificial intelligence. And, I know—it seems like a very complex and intimidating technology. It's not. You can use predictive analytics software to automate optimization, error finding, and more.
Once again, that leaves entrepreneurs with more free time to invest in other areas of their company. (Or outside of it, too.)
Predictive analytics is a form of machine learning that takes existing and live data to create—as you guessed it—predictions.
These forecasts can be used for anything from sales to marketing and finances. And, the main benefit of that is an organization is able to understand if strategies or processes will have a clear return or fizzle out before investing in them.
Lastly, every company needs systems; they need processes. Otherwise, every strategy and act is sporadic. That can easily lead to disorganization and lagging progress. Rather, a company should create clear processes and steps for every department.
This maximizes performance and ensures your on track to hit KPIs. It also reduces any confusion along the way.
Document every major strategy and process in Google Drive or another tool of your choice. Have these sent out to team members or automatically as a welcome package through Slack, for instance.
Overall, it's crucial that an organization implements practices to automate and outsource. Doing so saves priceless time, energy, and resources.
The main ways I recommend you do so are by outsourcing tasks to freelancers, leveraging AI, and crafting a clear system for business tasks.
Carmine Mastropierro is a freelance copywriter who has written for Neil Patel, GoDaddy, Marketo, and other publications.