Whether you are an entrepreneur or a veteran business owner, saving time and money is always at the top of your agenda. As a leader, the health of your company and its finances are on your shoulders and the decisions you make, not only affect the success of your business, but they also impact the lives of your employees. Here are 4 tips that will help you save time and money in innovative, yet doable, ways.
Plan ahead
Benjamin Franklin is quoted saying, “failing to plan is planning to fail,” and although it might seem bleak or pessimistic, planning will allow you to handle business in an organized fashion which benefits the organization as a whole. Even if you consider yourself a spontaneous leader or a “fly by the seat of your pants” type of person, mindsets like the 5P rule of “Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance” can allow your company to flourish without sacrificing your time and money. While surprises are inevitable, planning can help create a narrow focus that will keep you from running in a million different directions, and doing it all over again because you made a mistake or missed a step. You won’t spend time questioning what’s next or where to go from here because everything is mapped out for you in advance.
Narrow your market
Many creators and doers have experienced the time in your startup when you just want to find one client, any client, to get your company off the ground, and things like hustle and drive are highly valued traits that can take a company far; there’s no doubt about that. But even for new companies, at some point it’s time to recognize that narrowing your market and truly sharpening your aim will save you time and money in the long run. Signing the right clients is imperative to making the most of every minute and every dollar. Wasting time with a client that is not a right fit for your services can take a toll on your company, especially when there’s more than one customer that doesn’t match your mission and service offerings. You might need to go back to the drawing board to determine who, specifically, will turn into a valuable relationship that is good for business, so that you can avoid the potential clients that just eat away at your minutes and dollars.
Give your employees ownership
As leaders, we understand the value of our people, and although you might be doing everything to create a positive company culture, provide the right benefits, and encourage productivity, you might be forgetting a key component to employee happiness, which is ownership. According to Gallup’s State of the American Workplace report, about one-third of employees feel like owners of their work. “Another 50 percent are ‘job renters,’ bringing only their hands, but not their hearts to work,” says the Inc. article. “They show up every day, keep a low profile, and collect a paycheck. The remainder are actively disengaged, and passively block or actively sabotage forward progress.” Encourage and reward initiative, assign work that is meaningful, make room for autonomy, and you will see a natural rise in ownership by your employees. Ownership leads to increased productivity that will positively impact your bottom line and happy employees who will save you from anymore expensive firing and hiring.
Let the experts handle it
You created a company for a reason; you acknowledged a talent that you possess and you utilized your passion for what you do to figure out how to help others with your business. You might even consider yourself a specialist or an expert in your field. When you try to do everything on your own to save time and money, you often do the opposite. Ask for help and let certain aspects of your business be cared for by other people who are experts in their fields. For example, at Prosper RCM Solutions, we take care of the financial components so that our anesthesia clients can focus on patient care. An entrepreneur.com article says that “seeking counsel — from mentors, peers, even your suppliers and vendors — is simply another way of taking charge of your business. Rather than being thought of as a weakness, reaching out can help your chances for success.” No matter what the “thing” is that you are struggling to manage or are poorly completing, there is an expert out there to take it off your plate so that you can get back to building your business.
Beyond the tips and tricks from your tax attorney and your financial advisor, there are ways to continue to save time and money for your company that can be done no matter what stage of business you are going through. Whether it’s a time of crisis and you need to make changes to survive or you are looking to find a way to give raises to your employees or spend more time with family, the important thing is that you take a realistic approach to making positive changes that are best for your business. It starts with you.
Prosper RCM Solutions is more than just an anesthesia billing company. Our goal is to help grow a financially successful practice that allows you to focus on the patient experience. Our goals are your goals and with our implemented services, we see that our clients experience increased revenues, compliance assurance, better controls, and improved patient care experience. We are your trusted partner in the anesthesia industry and we see your success as our success.