
Productivity Hacks for Solopreneurs: Running a One-Person Business Efficiently
Working for yourself can be a dream come true. You make your hours, prioritize exactly what you need, and run your business just how you want. While being a one-person business can be an incredible and rewarding experience, it can also be overwhelming—you fulfill every role your business requires, whether it’s marketing or sales, accounting or customer service. Staring this down can be daunting, but if you find the right balance and strategies that work for you, you can run your dream business successfully and avoid any personal burnout. To help you stay on top of everything your one-person business needs, take a look at our practical tips to help solopreneurs stay organized and productive—
Time Block Your Days
With as many roles as you have in your one-person business, managing your time is of the utmost importance. Each role and duty needs proper attention for your business to run smoothly, but planning your days around this concept can become difficult and overwhelming. One of the best ways to help yourself stay on top of all of your duties is to time block your days. This includes scheduling and blocking out all daily activities and having dedicated and uninterrupted work times for each project. This helps you separate your different duties into specific times and smaller tasks within these duties. This makes everything seem smaller and more approachable, which will help you avoid exhaustion from one task or another. Some people who use the time block method also block their time before and after work for relaxing, exercising, sleeping, and more. If you are just starting out, doing this can help you get accustomed to the time block schedule and be more likely to stick to it.
Outsource What You Can
Being a productive and responsible solopreneur comes with knowing that not everything in your business can be done most effectively by you alone. Some tasks that do not require your expertise, such as graphic design, content editing, and bookkeeping, can be outsourced to freelancers or virtual assistants so that you can focus on the tasks that need your attention. There are many platforms for finding skilled and available freelancers. For example, on Upwork, you can choose from hundreds of freelancer options to find the perfect one for your needs, allowing your one-person business to continue thriving at its current level without getting sidetracked.
Set Clear Boundaries
One of the things that contributes the most to the burnout many solopreneurs suffer is overworking. It can be incredibly difficult to separate work from your personal life when you are your business. In addition to creating the time block schedule mentioned before, you can set hard cutoff times for when you start and stop work each day. No matter where you are at in a project or task, do your best to stick to your dedicated hours. This will help you keep your work and your life independent so you can work productively and not carry the stressors of your business into your time. Without these boundaries, you can feel like you are working 24/7 without breaks. Prioritize taking care of yourself, and your business will prosper.
Make Use of Automation Tools
Like all business owners and employees, Solopreneurs can greatly benefit from finding the most efficient ways of doing things. Are you exhausted by having to take care of your invoices and all your other business needs? Your financial reports? Data entry? Social media and advertisement scheduling? Luckily, these tasks and many more that are essential but often tedious and eat up valuable time can be taken care of via automation tools. Programs like online financial software and CRM platforms can efficiently streamline important parts of your business that can take too much time away from your other essential tasks if you were to be saddled with them.
Being a one-person business is a challenge on many fronts, but the rewards make it all worth it. However, to reach these rewards, you must ensure you take care of yourself and your business. We know it is hard to do alone, so we are here to help you in any way we can. Our business and personal banking options are versatile, easy to use, and convenient to work with in whatever form your one-person business takes. In addition to our banking services, we are proud to offer free access to Autobooks, an accounting and payment platform that streamlines financial management for small businesses. Using this program, you can easily send invoices, accept online payments, generate financial reports, and much more from one platform. It is an ideal solution for your small business’s financial needs, relieving the stress of money management so you can focus on the things that matter to you. Want to know more about how Autobooks can help your one-person business? Check out our blog post detailing its functions and features here. Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender