If you’re a client of ours, you’ll know we focus on more than your finances. We want business owners to reach for the stars and we’ll support you as you stretch towards your goals.
A huge part of your success depends on what you do now to secure your future. We know money is essential, but you can lay some solid foundations and create new habits that will help you grow your business and be in with the best shot of raking in lots of cash.
So, if you’re going through a quiet spell (hm, hmm, Covid!) or you want to use any spare time lockdown has created to really focus on your strategy and self-development, we’re here to share our thoughts on how you can future-proof yourself and your business.
Here are seven tips to future proof yourself and your business by looking beyond cash flow.
1. Create your own daily timetable
You know how it is, you sit down at your desk at 8.30, start one job, and before you know it, it’s midday. You think, where has the time gone? What have I actually achieved this morning?
Our advice is to diarise everything.
From calling the doctors to getting out for a lunchtime walk — stick it in your calendar and set alerts. Treat every task like it’s important. Move the priority jobs to the morning when you’re feeling fresh. Batch similar tasks together, so you aren’t breaking your train of thought and where possible, schedule meetings and calls for the afternoon.
2. Go digital
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that technology is not a ‘nice to have’, it’s essential to our daily lives. Our reliance on it is only going to increase.
Think about the business processes you could streamline using a digital system. What tasks make you shudder because you know there must be a better way of doing things? For example, do you manage your accounts using an Excel spreadsheet? Using a digital accounting system will significantly reduce the manual work and paper chasing freeing up a good chunk of your time. Time that you can plough back into your business.
So do your research and if you can, implement.
3. Invest in yourself
By invest, we don’t necessarily mean spending money.
It’s hard right now. A lot of us are relieved at getting through another week of homeschooling and monotony. If you do have the energy, there are things you can do for your own self-development.
If you’re employed and know that when normality resumes, you want to give more time to your career, ask your employer how you can progress. If they don’t know you’re keen to grow, they won’t be able to help you.
Also, find resources you can absorb for FREE.
Readly, for example, is offering two months free subscription when you sign up. Read unlimited magazines and newspapers on a variety of topics including business, tech and science.
Or, how about LinkedIn Learning? You’ll be spoilt for choice with the free courses, and if there are any with a fee attached, you can sign up to a whole month of free learning. Don’t forget to cancel your subscription when the month’s up.
4. Workout to work well
We know exercise is good for the mind, body and soul, but what about business?
Exercise is known to combat procrastination and increase brain power by helping focus, motivation and creativity. So, if you’re stuck on a project or suffering from fatigue? Go outside and get those steps in, do a yoga class or dance around your kitchen. You’ll return to your desk, recharged and raring to go.
Back to point one, put your workout time into your diary and make it a priority.
5. Get social
They don’t call them social networking sites for nothing. It might be a bit scary at first but being visible on social media channels is an excellent way of increasing your network of like-minded business associates and ideal clients.
There are a lot of knowledgeable people who are active on social media. Use this time to study those who have a highly engaged audience. How do they interact with them? What sort of content do they publish? How often do they post? Use your research and any spare time you have to create your own social media content calendar. It takes some time to get going but stick with it, and your cash flow will thank you later.
6. You are what you eat
The demands of growing a business can take their toll mentally and physically. That’s why if we create good habits now when normality resumes, we’ll be able to hit the ground running.
We mentioned the benefits of exercise for business owners, and the same goes for healthy eating. A poor diet can leave you feeling sluggish and tired. The food choices you make can affect your emotions, reduce brainpower and ultimately your performance. So, instead of allowing your healthy diet to fail miserably during stressful times (hey there again, pandemic), these are the times when the maintenance of smart eating is crucial. A good diet will build resilience and help you manage stress.
Don’t deprive yourself, though. You can still reach for the choccy biccies every now and then.
7. Rest and relaxation
When there is a public health crisis, economic uncertainty and a lot of negative media coverage, it’s important to look after your wellbeing.
Yes, we’ve talked about proactive ways you can future-proof yourself, and your business and a lot of what we suggest takes effort. And, nothing worth having is ever easy. But and it’s a big BUT (LOL), don’t do it to the detriment of your own health.
Don’t work yourself into the ground. Take time to switch off. Put your devices down. Turn off your notifications. Curl up on the sofa, Netflix and chill if that’s what you need. Just make sure you listen to your body.
This is another habit we should all take forward into the next normal.
We often hear that with every challenge comes opportunity. If you’ve been waiting for a sign to make changes and prepare for the future, then the past 12 months or so have probably sped that up for you. We hope we’ve given you some ideas regarding things you can do now to prepare for challenging yet brighter days ahead.
If you’ve got any questions on the topics covered in this blog or if you’d like to talk about how we can make your accounting processes easier, we’d love to hear from you.
Email: info@future-cloud.co.uk
Mobile: 07882056126
