Does your business bring you happiness or frustration? Maybe both?

It’s just about time to get back into the swing of business things. The winter break for the kids is all but over and those of us parents with a home based business are looking forward to having the quiet time that school creates for us. While we love having our kiddos at home, its can be next to impossible to get in and stay in the work zone when someone is constantly wanting to tell you about what they built on MineCraft! (Um hum, can you tell what my 7 year old enjoys?)

I’m sure you have been giving great thought and planning to your business goals for 2015, as have I. And I have no doubt that increasing your business in general is one of your long-term goals. But have you thought about implementing systems to improve the efficiency of your business, thus freeing up your time to focus on the money-making aspects and even more personal or family activities?

Over the next few days I will be exploring some areas of systematization that you should consider implementing.

The first thing to realize is that once your business gets to a certain point, where you are making a couple thousand bucks a month or so, you cannot and should not try to do it all by yourself anymore. Believe me, I understand the stomach wrenching anxiety that can come from turning over your “baby” to strangers with good resumes. But you are going to have to take that step, unless you are content with things as they currently are.

Here are some questions to ask yourself today:

• How many hours a week are you working on your business? (Include it all, even if its cleaning the toilet of your store or clearing out the junk in your email inbox.)
• Are you beginning to feel frustrated, even just occasionally, from time constraints or overwhelm?
• Do you find yourself constantly telling your kids or your significant other “no, not today” when you really do want to do what they asked but you just don’t have the time?
• Do you wonder how you will ever keep that fitness resolution when you barely have time to shower let alone get to the gym?
• Is every meal you eat prepared by a restaurant of some kind? Or maybe you “cook”, but it always involves opening a cardboard box and pushing buttons on the microwave.
• When you do hire someone to help you, do you find yourself spending even more time telling them the right way to do it or fixing their mistakes?
• What do you do day in and day out that bores you to the core that you would really love to have someone else handle for you?
• What would you do to increase your business success if you had just 5 extra hours a week?
• How does your website look? Does it have a modern design with responsiveness for mobile phones? Does it grab your viewers attention or make them cringe? Does it capture their information in the most efficient and compelling way possible?
• How is your social media presence? Many business owners think they don’t need to be bothered with this, but unless your target market is living in a 3rd world nation you should seriously consider it. Almost everyone is on social media these days, from young teens all the way up to senior citizens. I volunteer with a homeless shelter, and let me tell you, even many of those people have a cell phone and a social media presence!

Chances are if you are reading this then you are a business owner of one kind or another. There are steps you should take to increase your efficiency, decrease the time you spend working on your business, and increase your income. Check back tomorrow for some ideas you can start doing immediately.