For any landscape designers who are running their own landscaping business, there are several ways in which to help make that business successful. There are the obvious ones such as marketing to gain new clients, but there are also tasks that do not necessarily require a monetary investment, but instead, commitment to following better business practices. Near the top of that list is the effective management of your time, so here are seven ways you can achieve that goal.
Proper Planning Is Essential
The reason we highlight this first is due to it being the number one way to improve your time management. Without planning, your business enters a never-ending cycle of chaos, mistakes, and missed deadlines meaning unhappy employees and clients. You must take time to plan your business’s future properly, both for the long-term and short-term.
Keep All Business Documents Organised
It would shock you to discover how many hours upon hours are wasted by business owners and their employees searching for documents due to their file organisation system being either non-existent or unfit for prepose. A landscaping business is one where document numbers should not be too high so commit to getting those that it does have into a properly organised digital or physical filing system that aid the business, not hinder it.
Communicate By Phone Rather Than Email
Email does have a part to play in business, but when it becomes your sole means of communicating it can add unnecessary time and delay to your working week. With email, not only do you need time to type it out, you then have to wait for the other party to reply. Often a quick phone call will get you the answer you need, so if a call is possible, use it rather than an email.
Create A Daily/Weekly Task List
Whilst your main business plan will look at your business as a whole, here you are simply listing the tasks which you need to complete for each period. Daily and weekly checklists for the tasks and jobs you need to complete serve not only as reminders but as a great way to motivate yourself as you cross off each task when you complete them.
Delegate Tasks As Much As Possible
So far we have talked about your tasks but within a business where you may have employees or sub-contractors you have the opportunity to delegate tasks, and it is an opportunity you should take often. As a landscaping business owner, you are not required to carry out every task so free up some of your valuable time by delegating those jobs to others to complete.
Focus On One Task At A Time
Multitasking can be a double-edged sword, and it often causes business owners to lose focus on important tasks. As such, we recommend that, for the most part, you focus on completing one job or task at a time. Often this will be the quickest way to operate anyway, rather than trying to work on multiple tasks at once.
Ensure You Allocate Yourself Time For Breaks/Holidays
It might seem strange that in a post about time management we are telling you to take time off, but believe it or not, taking breaks is essential for running a business effectively. Without breaks each day, and the occasional holiday, your body and mind have no opportunity to rest, and this is a guaranteed way for you to become fatigued to the extent that nothing is completed due to you having insufficient energy to do so.