What if there were a way to put less time into your business but earn more money? Entrepreneurs tend to believe everything can be solved by spending more time and money on the job. But if simply investing more time and money would put you on the road to success, you would already be there, wouldn’t you? Entrepreneurs always have the drive. What they sometimes lack, though, is the right tools.

Efficiency experts know we often exert too much effort to accomplish a task. Organization is central to the flow of information and communications. Here are three tools to help you leverage your time and make more money:

Microsoft OneNote

The interface is simple to grasp. OneNote enables you to collect all information in one place. No more searching through files and folders to find what you need. OneNote will hold audio, video, and graphic notes, and you can instantly clip things from websites or other documents directly to your notebooks. This is one powerful tool. A similar alternative is Evernote, but there are open source variations, as well. For the busy entrepreneur, it can be simpler and more cost effective to simply stick with the original. Check Microsoft Office online for cloud-based package to help you soar.

Now that your own desk is organized, get your team on board. Project management programs can be way too complicated. Unless you are building a space shuttle, you probably don’t need an elaborate communications system. Most of us can get by just fine with a simple board to post notes and track task status.

Trello

Life doesn’t get much simpler than this. Trello offers a straightforward interface of columns with text blocks that can be moved from one position to the next. A task may start out in the “To Do” list, move to “In Progress,” and end up “Finished.” You title the columns and decide your own system. Trello records it and allows you to share access with team members. Trello also offers a paid version with a little more flexibility. Breeze is a paid service very much like Trello, but with time tracking.

Leads are vital to any business. You can have the best sales funnel ever constructed, but if no prospects are entering, there will be no sales. Most businesses will spend lavishly on website development, SEO, and paid ads to develop leads, but balk at taking advantage of a service that provides targeted leads. The best practice is utilizing a good mix of sources.

Quote Wizard

The best lead services don’t try to be everything to everyone. Rather, they concentrate on a specific niche. Quote Wizard, for example, focuses on insurance leads. Reduce cold-calling and praying for an appointment. With targeted leads, your presentation and close rates can jump-start success and boost enthusiasm. For other niches, search to find a similar service that fits your needs.

Organization, project management, lead development: three areas where the right tools can make all the difference. Are there other service you are using for leverage? Let us know in the comments below.

Own a business? It’s your lucky day! Here’s a way to stretch more money out of 2015…..

What hopes do you have for your business in the New Year? Would you like to grow, or add new locations? Getting a grip on your cash flow, inventory, and day-to-day operations is the best step that you can take. By changing to a live inventory system with a POS system you can understand everything that’s happening with your business.

First Steps

New Year’s resolutions are typically easy to make but hard to follow through on, but making a resolution to implement live inventory tracking and point-of-sale system is an easier resolution to keep than you think. Point-of-sale systems are no longer a $20,000 proposition piled with a nightmare web of expensive maintenance contracts and proprietary software. In fact, it is possible to obtain a complete point-of-sale system for around $1500. With the addition of a barcode label and a barcode scanner you’ll have everything you need in order to start taking your inventory live right out of the box. You want to avoid the hazards of assembling a POS bit by bit, which Microsoft points out can cost you a great deal of extra money that you need not spend.

Whatever your reasons for implementing this new system you should know that it is one of the best things you could do for your business. Shrinkage, a perpetual problem in retail and wholesale, can be effectively addressed through inventory control information systems. The Houston Chronicle states that by tying inventory to sales, it is possible to stop or reduce shrinkage that is costing you money every single day. It is estimated that some $13 billion a year is lost to shoplifting alone, that leaves out shrinkage from internal theft, and data entry errors. Getting started is easy:

• Make a master list of every item in your storefront, stockroom or warehouse. You might want to do these on old-fashioned index cards with information such as SKU/item number, unit of measure, purchase cost, vendor information, and a basic description.
• Using your barcode label printer (many eCommerce vendors like Shopify offer good printers and scanners) and barcoding software to generate barcodes for any inventory that does not already have them. Typically an SKU or item number will appear along with the barcode from the OEM, you will need to make sure this matches the SKU or item number that you have previously recorded.
• You will also want to record the location of the items. For example, you may want to denote specific locations where an item is stocked. You may wish to have one barcode for items on the shelf in your stockroom, and a different barcode for items in your storefront. In the case of having more than one storefront you can even designate which store and which stockroom where the item currently resides.
• Now you’re ready to start the initial inventory. You may want to close down in order to complete this part. It can be very disruptive to business, which is why many stores will close down at the end of the year in order to take their inventory. If you cannot close down set aside a certain amount of goods in a separate inventory to keep the business operational.
• Make sure you have enough staff and barcode scanners, and bring everyone together to set out the order of march. Assign your personnel to their sections and tackle the job sequentially and systematically.
• Mark every completed location with a sticker so that it is not counted again, and you may also wish to have the staff member’s initials on each sticker so that you will know who counted each section.
• Reconcile the inventory against your accounting balances. You may find substantial discrepancies between what you have in your actual inventory and what you have in the books. Take the time to find out what is causing the discrepancies, and then get ready to go live with your new inventory process.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

You get out what you put in. Your new inventory process is only as good as the data that you enter. Especially with an online business….you opened it up to be efficient, so keeping your data as clean as possible by instituting policies with your sales, stock, and management people will keep things moving smoothly. Getting a better grip on your inventory will allow you to streamline your ordering processes, without overextending your cash flow or choking the flow of goods from the vendor to your business to your customer. You will also eliminate what Logistics Management says is one of the key overlooked problems of excess inventory, the expense of maintaining it. Inventory requires storage, square footage, maintenance, and other staff attentions. Excess inventory costs in these areas can over time exceed the value of the actual merchandise. By streamlining your order processes you’ll be able to understand what items are moving, what items are not, and what you really need to mark down and get rid of. While you might not ever completely eliminate clunkers, at least you will know what does and does not work for you.

Most people equate being busy with being industrious. “If you have something that needs to get done,” the old axiom goes, “assign it to someone who’s busy.” People love to boast about how busy they are, but busy-ness and productivity don’t always go together.

Psychologists also say that idleness is one of the main reasons people are unhappy. However, even though Americans are busier than ever before, only only one in three describes him or herself as “very happy.” Many factors including technology, social networks and consumerism drive people to become busier. Even though “busy” is a symbol of social status, in reality, it’s making people miserable.

Why Our Culture Praises Busy-Ness

Brigid Schulte, author of “Overwhelmed: Work, Love and Play When No One Has the Time,” suggests that America’s Protestant work ethic has gone into overdrive. She points out that during the Catholic-dominated Middle Ages, one of the church’s seven deadly sins was “acedia,” or frenzied busy-ness.

By the mid-20th century, post-war America envisioned itself growing more leisurely. Economists predicted that by the 1990s, Americans would work just 22 hours per week. John Maynard Keynes went even further; he predicted a 15-hour workweek. Even Dwight D. Eisenhower, accepting the Republican presidential nomination in 1956, predicted an America in which people enriched their intellects, completing goals like obtaining advanced degrees. “Leisure … will be abundant,” Eisenhower said, “so that all can develop the life of the spirit, of reflection, of religion, of the arts.”

Leisure has never arrived, however, because wage stagnation forces Americans to work to pay for basic needs. The bitter irony is that even as Americans scramble to earn more, they’re spending more on frivolous items. According to the Commerce Department, Americans spend 11.2 percent of their incomes on unnecessary items, compared to just 4 percent in 1959. It’s the “acedia” of the Middle Ages, alive and well today.

For us, technology has been a mixed blessing. Prestigious universities have embraced online graduate education, allowing people access to intellectual opportunities and empowering them to earn more. American.edu Online, headquartered at American University, is an example of one of these programs. However, despite the advantages and flexibility provided by technology, many people aren’t taking advantage of resources that could make us happier and more fulfilled. Thanks to mobile devices and social networks, we live lives of constant interruption and distraction.

Busy People Aren’t Necessarily Productive

People assume that having idle time equates with laziness, which means that they also assume that busy people are getting things done. Productivity and busy-ness, however, are often mutually exclusive. People who value being busy all of the time often fail to set priorities. They constantly juggle activities, but they don’t do a good job at executing any of them.

Psychologist Anders Ericsson traveled to Berlin to study top-performing musicians. He quickly noticed that the best musicians practiced about 90 minutes per day and took a lot of breaks and naps. Many creative people deliberately cultivate leisure time to keep their minds free for insights. “I distrust the perpetually busy, always have,” author Mark Slouka wrote in “Essays From the Nick of Time.” “The frenetic ones spinning in tight little circles like poisoned rats. The slower ones, grinding away their fourscore and 10 in righteousness and pain.”

Finding Relief

To become less busy, more productive and happier, people should try becoming what author Greg McKeown calls an “essentialist.” In his book “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less,” McKeown offers some tips for defeating busy-ness:

• Say “no” without guilt. Being invited to do something affirms us, but that doesn’t mean we have to do it.
• Rest. People who are well-rested, like Ericsson’s musicians, perform better with less effort.
• Retreat. McKeown recommends taking a three-hour retreat every three months to think about and adjust priorities.
• Re-examine traditions. Just because something was fun once doesn’t mean that it has to be repeated weekly, monthly or annually.

Finally, McKeown suggests reducing busy-ness aggravators, like smartphone use, social media and consumerism. If we don’t, says McKeown, “we will be left feeling that our precious time on earth has been wasted doing things that had no value at all. We will wake up to having given up those few things that really matter for the sake of the many trivial things that don’t.”

When it comes to hiring new employees, it can be easy to assume that either they just don’t make them like they used to or all the bigger companies are snatching away the most promising talent. While each new generation is different than the one that preceded it and larger companies may seem like they have more to offer than a smaller mom and pop outfit, the truth is that any business of any size can attract hard-working, affable and honest people who will not only improve the bottom line, but also make work environments more pleasant and productive. If you’re looking for a new batch of workers, and you want to make sure you get the cream of the crop, here are six tips that will help you attract the best employees to your small business.

Emphasize the Non-Corporate Nature of the Work Environment

Not everyone wants to work for a large corporation, regardless of the reliability and perks that seem to accompany doing so. There are plenty of hard-working, well-equipped people who would just rather work for a smaller company with less bureaucracy. Since you aren’t one of the big fish, why not consider highlighting that fact instead of apologizing for it? In your job postings and hiring processes, emphasize the non-corporate nature of the job. Some people would rather have a casual dress code and a boss they see on a regular basis than $5,000 more a year. Really.

At Least Match Whatever the Going Rate Is for the Position

While it may threaten to break the bank, attracting better employees will require you to be able to at least match the going, local rate for the position you need to fill. Good employees know what they’re worth, and while they may be willing to work for less than they have to if the work is meaningful enough or there are other benefits that make up for the lower pay, they will very rarely work for less than the standard going rate for a job. If you need a great new receptionist and your local competitors pay at least $13 an hour, then you need to offer that, too.

Offer Benefits

When it comes to employment, compensation comes in all shapes and sizes, and one of the most attractive of those is a good benefits package. While the Affordable Care Act has forced many small businesses into the position of choosing between offering employees health care or paying a fine, the reality is that it’s still cheaper at this point to pay the fine. However, not offering health care, paid maternity and paternity leave, flex time, paid sick days and the like will keep you from attracting the kinds of people who will help you make more money and provide you with a more productive work environment. If you want better workers, offer better benefits.

Provide a Positive Work Culture

A positive work culture will attract positive, hard-working people. When a potential employee sets foot on your worksite, she will intuitively know whether or not your employees enjoy their jobs, and whether or not the environment is a good one. If your work culture suffers from negativity, laziness, complaining, gossip or other ruinous practices and attitudes, get to work on changing it. Good people won’t work for you until you do.

Treat Every Employee and Potential Hire Like They Matter

People need to feel valued, especially at work. Whether you do it with affirming and encouraging words or through grateful email communication, make sure your employees and potential hires know that you value them, the skills they possess and the work they do.While this practice will certainly create a more positive work environment and make for happier employees, studies also show that employees who feel valued work harder.

Be Passionate 

In order to attract better employees you need to become more effective at communicating your vision with passion. Everyone wants to work at a job that has meaning and makes a positive difference in the world. Find the story in your own work that shows potential employees the ways in which your business is making a difference. If you’re able to find your passion about your small business and communicate it effectively to potential hires, you stand a much better chance of landing the ones who are also passionate.

Your small business doesn’t have to settle for second-best when it comes to finding and hiring good employees. From offering better benefits to providing a positive and non-corporate work culture, you already have the tools at your disposal to make working for you an irresistible choice.