I was talking with a colleague recently and she asked:
“Given you’ve published over 650 blog posts what systems do you have in play to help you with these tasks?”
Good question! Since time is always a limitation for all of us, being efficient, effective and productive is crucial for getting things done and fulfilling our goals. In other words, the key is to build simple business systems to accelerate your output for repeated items.
[Tweet “Two super simple business systems you can use today to save time tomorrow”]
1 Record and Store
The first of my super simple business systems is to record and store my responses. Write things once and store them so you can re-use them later. Here’s some examples:
- Blog Post Articles: I write my blog posts in Text Edit (Mac writing app). Then I post them into Wordpres. This means I have a ready record of every blog post I’ve written in a text file. This makes it easy to refer back and also serves as a backup.
- Blog Post Links: When I post a blog I also record the Date, Title and the URL of each post. This is much quicker than digging around trying to find links to previous posts for social media and to cross-link in future blog posts.
- Future Blog Posts: I also have a file for ideas I have for future blog posts. When I get stuck for something to write I can usually dig out something from this simple business system.
- Emails: If you’re writing emails for something that is likely to be re-used then record and store these also. For instance, a welcome message for a workshop or a thank you for subscribing to Book Rapper.
- Social Media Comments: Sometimes you might write something on Facebook or a blog comment on someone else’s site. Keep the good ones and put them in to your future blog post file.
2 Make a Checklist
2 Make a ChecklistThe second of my super simple business systems I use is to create checklists. If you haven’t read The Checklist Manifesto please do. It’ll overturn any doubts you have about the power of checklists. For instance, they save lives in hospitals and when we fly in planes.
Usually, my checklists are created as a quick hand-written note as I prepare for something. Then, I either record them into a Text Edit file or one of my favourite apps Things for Mac. It’s cheap and easy to use. Once you’ve completed your checklist you can retrieve it at any time and simply re-use it.
PS: Love to hear what simple business systems you employ.
