Using your midget budget to secure giant productivity isn’t a fairy tale

Small non-profit businesses or organisations tend to have fewer workers — which makes it more challenging to achieve their goals in a particular timeframe. Hence, as compared to large businesses, small businesses and NGOs need to work more efficiently.

Moreover, charity based organisations should utilise their resources in a more productive way. The most important concern such organisations have is their budgetary limitations.

There are many strategies that small businesses and non-profits can implement to improve their work productivity. In this article, we will recommend some approaches that can help you make your organisation more productive on a tight budget.

1) Make the information available across the organisation

Make sure that the employees can access the information at any time. This will help them complete their tasks within the assigned timeframe. Moreover, it will also reduce frustration.

Below, we have provided some ideas that can improve the productivity of your business.

• You can use cloud-based apps so that employees can access the information at any time and any place. There are many cloud storage devices like DropBox, and Google Drive, etc. The best way is to convert your files into PDF format and then store the files on cloud storage devices as PDF consumes less space. For example, if the files are in Excel format then use any online Excel to PDF converter for converting the files into PDF format.
• You can generate an accessible knowledge base for storing the historical business information by creating a streamlined process with an easy-to-navigate interface.
• Set up communication channels through which the employees can share information easily.

2) Use online tools

There are many tools that are specifically designed for small businesses for their effective working (e.g. you can use Hootsuite for managing your social media accounts and Slack for chatting with the colleagues).

Also Read: Exclusive: Sea Group gaming arm eyes future in live streaming

Moreover, you should also choose those online tools that can be integrated easily with the tools which you are using currently. This will make the tools usage easier for the employees.

3) Arrange meetings and utilise the time wisely

It is a good approach to call meetings for discussing the ongoing tasks. But it is more important to utilise the meeting time effectively.

According to Gloria Mark of UC Irvine, it takes an average of 25 minutes to return to your original task after being interrupted. It is not easy to assess whether the meeting is important or not, but the meetings should be made productive. In order to make the meetings efficient and productive, you can take the following measures.

• There should be a meeting-free day once a week.
• Do not schedule unnecessary meetings. Cancel those meetings that can be handled via emails.
• Try to wrap up the meetings within 30 minutes.
• Ask your employees to leave mobile phones and laptops outside the meeting hall unless they are required.
• Clearly define each step of the assigned tasks.

4) Work on achieving employee satisfaction

It is very essential to focus on employee satisfaction as happy employees lead to more productivity. Here we have provided some ways which can help you to boost employee satisfaction.

• Do not pressurize your employees with an all-time work strategy. It is a good approach to create a work-life balance. Promote a friendly work environment and ask your employees to utilise their vacations.
• Openly communicate the business-related ups and down with your employees. Transparency will help you to build a trustworthy relationship with your employees. The employees must know what’s going on in the business.
• Appreciate your employees’ hard work and gives them rewards for their accomplishments. Budget is usually an issue when it comes to small businesses, so it is not necessary to give rewards in the form of bonuses. Even showing some small appreciation in a meeting can boost the morale of your employees.

5) Generate your email list

According to a survey, 80 per cent of marketers said email played a direct role in customer retention. Hence, it is very important for building an email list in order to drive sales. Nowadays, there are many tools which you can use for building the email list without spending much time.

Such as, you can use MailChimp which is completely free for users with less than 2,000 email subscribers. There are also many other budget-friendly options available.

6) Create opportunities for public relations (PR)

The awareness of the business is very important for enhancing sales. For making people aware of your brand you can create “event” opportunities. In this way, the public will get to know about your brand.

This can be accomplished in many ways. You can provide free community seminars, host or sponsor a charity event, etc. Another simple way is to highlight how your company creates local opportunities for the growth of the economy.

Moreover, you can also use low-cost resources like Help a Reporter Out, to connect with journalists to publish your insights on major media platforms.

7) An efficient document management system

The right document management system can solve most of the business problems. The best way of managing documents is to store them in PDF format. PDF is a universal format which can be shared and accessed easily.

Also Read: Scoot over ICO, Reverse ICO is here to stay

Nowadays, there are many PDF software available that allow viewing, editing, converting and sharing of PDF files. If your files are in any other format, then you can use online converters for generating the PDF files. Such as a PPT to PDF online converter for creating the PDF from a PPT file.

Conclusion

It IS difficult to grow your business with a limited budget — but it is not impossible to succeed.

By implementing the above-mentioned strategies, you can grow your organisation and meet the goals with budget constraints. Let us know what strategies you employ in making your setup more productive in the comment section below.

—

Photo by Craig McLachlan on Unsplash

e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

The post Running a small business on a small budget, with an abundance of productivity appeared first on e27.

Source: E27