Running a small business — especially if you’re pretty much flying solo — can be a lot to handle. From managing projects to keeping the cash flow healthy, every day brings its unique challenges.
But, what if I told you there’s a simple yet powerful solution right at your fingertips?
Templates!
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How To Use Templates to Boost Your Biz
Templates are the unsung heroes of efficiency. They’re pre-made frameworks that save you time and effort across various business activities.
Here’s how you can leverage them to streamline your operations:
1. Streamline Project Management
Templates are your secret weapon for juggling multiple projects. Use a project management template to assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress — all in one place.
2. Fuel Content Creation
Ever find yourself staring at a blank page? A content template can be your creative compass, guiding you through each section of a blog post or marketing copy. It sparks ideas and helps you maintain consistency.
3. Facilitate Financial Planning
Templates can be your financial compass. From budget sheets to cash flow projections, these pre-made tools can make managing your biz finances so much less of a pain.
4. Ease Account Management & Onboarding
Raise your hand if you’d like your customer interactions to be smoother and more predictable. Utilizing templates can help you get newbs set up for success ASAP, communicate more responsively, and standardize processes.
5. Simplify Employee Training
Templates, which can be used to create SOPs, guides, etc., can also get your team up and running in a tight formation PDQ. It’s a no-fuss way to help ensure employees perform their work in appropriate and standardized ways.
Pre-Made Templates — So Many Benefits
The benefits of incorporating templates into your routine are profound:
1. Boost Productivity
Templates enable you to get more done with fewer resources. (Hello ROI!) This is because you’re spending less time, energy, money, etc. on repetitive or routine tasks.
2. Reduce Errors
With a template, you have a predefined structure. So, say goodbye to oversights and errors. It’s your fail-safe guide, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks.
3. Stay Consistent
Consistency is key in business. Templates provide a pre-defined way to approach tasks, maintaining a uniform image for your brand and ensuring a professional touch in all interactions.
4. Optimize Your Value-Add
Because templates make you more efficient and effective with the routine biz activities, you’re freer to focus on what truly matters — the strategic aspects of your business. You ready to improve and grow your biz like never before?
5. Scale Your Business
As your business expands, so do the demands on your time. Templates scale with you. They provide a foundation for growth, making sure your operations remain seamless.
A Word to the Wise Template User
While templates are a game-changer, it’s crucial to use them responsibly and smartly. So, here are a couple of tips to consider.
1. Choose the “Right” Kind
Templates come in many sizes and shapes, so to speak. Selecting the type that fits how you think and work can go a long way to making your templates more effective/impactful/seamlessly incorporated into your biz.
Don’t be afraid to try out different templates to see what you like best. And what yields the best results for you and your business.
2. Make It Your Own
This follows well on the coattails of 1.: Personalize the crap out of your templates!
Don’t shoehorn yourself into the templates. Find ways to make them work for you.
(Of course, the caveat here is to try to adopt best practices. If your “old” way of doing something is worse than how your swanky new templates guides you, go with the better process. I think you’ll find that there’s some give and take — elasticity — with figuring it out.)
For example, adjust the terminology used on that waiver form or omit sections on that blog post outline that don’t apply. There’s nothing that says you can’t adapt templates to your needs and preferences.
3. Verify & Adhere to Usage Rights
Last but not least….
Many templates come with specific usage rights, so be sure to read, understand, and follow the terms and conditions. For example:
- Many commercial-use templates prohibit sharing the templates (or any of their elements) with others.
. - And PLR templates generally have very detailed licenses or rules for what you can and can’t do.
Get Templates, Biz Better
With all this chatter about templates, you’re probably itching to get your hands on some.
You’re in the right place!
Here are some options for you. It’s kinda like a Choose Your Own Adventure thing….
- Check out what’s available in the SBSF store. There are planner templates, content templates, etc. and more are added regularly.
. - Stay on the SBSF email list. You’ll get free templates periodically, both randomly and as part of Thriving Thursdays.
. - Join the SBSF membership. OK, this is sort of a teaser as I haven’t yet made any mention of this — but it’s coming in Q1. Stay tuned!!!
. - Take *strategic* advantage of free and paid bundles. I participate in and promote several each year and will be hosting three/year starting this June (again — stay tuned!). There are always tons of great templates covering all kinds of biz tasks and topics that you can leverage.
. - Get custom templates created. If out-of-the-box stuff just doesn’t cut your unicorn mustard, hire someone like meto learn about and craft bespoke templates that’re tailored to your biz. It can be an outstanding investment of your time, money, and attention.
* This page has affiliate links. If you click on affiliate links, I may be compensated at no additional cost to you. Learn more.
