Remember the early days of starting your business? You were excited by the thought of working for yourself and making your own hours. And, we’re sure you can recall that hopeful plan of freeing up your schedule for family time.
It sounded good in the beginning but then you got a true taste of what it’s really like as a small business owner— nights of planning, hours on the phone and a sigh of relief when books finally balance. It’s time-consuming, no doubt.
If you’re feeling like your long days are producing little work, you deserve a change of pace. It’s time you get a chance to live the carefree side of your dream by tapping into technology.
Take Back Time by Tackling Emails
Your customers deserve to stay in the loop, but let’s face it, communicating is a never-ending process. While that’s not a bad thing, it can be tedious work. That time could be better spent heading to your son’s t-ball game.
Don’t spend hours bogged down crafting and sending emails. Instead, tap into a tool to keep communication consistent without tying you up. One way to do this is by setting up and automating an email campaign to trigger after a set amount of time.
For example, are you a stylist? After a month without an appointment, your customer needs a cut. Send a “We miss you” or “It’s been a while” email without having to think about it. Feel free to have a little fun with it too. How? You could jokingly ask if their quarantine hair cut needs a shape up.
Of course, be sure to add a booking button to the email so your customer can schedule their next appointment online rather than calling you to book in the middle of your vacation.
Ditch Written Invoices by Going Digital
Getting paid is a vital part of keeping your business running, but there’s no reason you should miss out on life’s little moments because you’re building out invoices and chasing payments. Handling finances is a full-time job in itself. If hiring help isn’t an option, take the load off yourself by streamlining your payment process.
It’s 2021, and it’s about time for you to let technology do the work. You’re a professional and your payment process should reflect your greatness. Find a reliable end-to-end client experience platform to conduct your entire estimate-to-payment process.
Thryv users have the ability to create an estimate right from their client’s contact card and send it to them for approval. From there it’s super simple for clients to approve or ask for changes. Plus, you can set up automated follow-ups for customers who take a little too long to review the estimate.
Having the process digitized from the beginning will save you time. An approved estimate immediately becomes an invoice which means less time reimporting information on your laptop, or worse — by hand. That means no double duty and more free time for the things and people you love.
By automating these simple processes, you’ll have time to focus on your family, friends, hobbies or whatever stress-relieving task that makes you smile. You’ll look polished and professional, all while having an easier workload.
