Category Archives: Business Processes

Holes in My Sweater…And Your Business

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During the week between Christmas and New Year’s I went to Lord and Taylor to check out the sales. I hit the jackpot with a great Nic and Zoe (one of my favorite brands) sweater on the sale rack with an additional 25% off.

I snatched it up and wore it on New Year’s Eve. About 15 minutes into my evening I realized there was a large hole in the sleeve. Ouch! I took it off and returned a few days later to see if they could find another one for me at a different store.

The sales person apologized and processed the return. She then handed me off to two sales ladies to help me find a replacement.

Good news! There was a replacement in the system and with a few quick details, my new sweater was on its way to me.

The Lord and Taylor box arrived last night and I opened it today. I pulled out the sweater and held it up. I noticed there were no tags on it – that seemed a little strange.

I put my hand in the sleeve and sure enough, there was the hole. They had sent me my own damaged sweater!

I can imagine what happened.

The ladies who were helping me put the sweater somewhere in “the back.” The computer “looked” for a sweater at the store closest to me and found the one I had returned moments before. When the person responsible for fulfilling the order happened to find the sweater, they neatly folded it and sent it off.

As ridiculous as this is, I’m sure similar mistakes happen in small businesses all the time. And it’s all because no one is taking a mile-high view of basic processes.

In the case of Lord and Taylor, there should be a place for damaged merchandise and a process to remove it from the inventory system.

In the world of solo professionals and small businesses, I ask you to consider these questions regarding your back-office operations:

1. How many times do you search for a file in an email instead of downloading it to the proper folder on your computer when it arrives?

2. Do you keep all your notes in one organized centralized place? Or, do you have scraps of paper and note cards all over your desk?

3. When it’s time to make a phone call, are you scrambling to find the number? Or, do you have a contact manager for quick access to phone numbers?

4. When you sit down at your desk each day, do you know which task to tackle first? Or, do you bounce from client to client, always reacting?

5. Do you have the tools of your trade that you need? Or, are you always making do?

When you (and I) work alone, it’s easy to develop our own quirky systems. We think our work is “different” and assume that a new process or method will not only be uncomfortable, but will make things harder. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Chances are, the fundamentals of your business operations are not that different from thousands of other solos and small businesses. There is much more discomfort, wasted time and wasted money when efficient systems are not in place.

Use these five key questions to modify your processes key and watch how much more efficient – and enjoyable – your days become!

It’s January, Time to Get Things In Order

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I have always loved the last week of the year; 2016 was no exception. By then, the excitement (and work) of Christmas is over and the business world moves just a little bit slower.

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions (too cliché!), but I do believe in hitting the pause button at the turn of the calendar and establishing some new routines and strategies, all with the goal of improving the quality of my life and work.

I like to start with the low hanging fruit when getting organized. This year, that was my email inbox. Maybe you also noticed a massive increase of emails as the holidays approached.

Stores that used to email one time a week (which was often enough, thank you), suddenly started emailing daily. Businesses that I hadn’t heard from all year let me know about holiday specials. And don’t even get me started on the mountain of emails from people and companies that I have never heard of!

My solution? I opted out of at least 100 email lists in the last 30 days. It feels amazing. (I’m also quite sure that in my passion for unsubscribing I may have opted out of your list – sorry!)

Next came the paper files. I don’t have many papers anymore, but in just a few minutes, I reviewed my files and was able to get rid of a nice big stack. Bazaam.

Last but not least, I focused in on my finances and, in particular, my recurring payments. For me, these are mostly in the form of tools that I use to run my business.

For example – and I am embarrassed to admit this – I discovered that I was paying for Audio Acrobat ($19.95/month) for an entire YEAR without using it. I kept telling myself that I was going to start a podcast of my newsletters, so I kept the subscription. Needless to say, it’s gone now.

I found several other online tools that I either no longer use or that I was able to replace with less expensive alternatives. By the end, I uncovered about $2,000 in annual savings, simply by reviewing and removing these.

These three areas – email, paperwork and finances – are easy to avoid. But I can tell you from firsthand experience, if you take just a little bit of time to focus in and clean these up, you’ll save time, money and headaches down the road.

Wishing you a fresh and well-organized 2017!