To succeed in business you must learn to be efficient in everything from managing time and money to people and processes. We asked seven top entrepreneurs the secrets of how they work efficiently in their business lives. Here’s what they said:
Maximise your time, combine business with pleasure – Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group
“When I travel I maximise my time by combining business with pleasure. I have been travelling in Australia for the past week, and combining Virgin business with not-for-profit initiatives along the way.
“If I have a meeting about satellites for Australia, I also make sure I talk about causes I care deeply about, such as tackling the war on drugs. If I’m in town for a speaking engagement to raise money for Virgin Unite, I make sure I visit the staff at Virgin Money and Virgin Mobile. If I’m staying in Sydney, I’ll check in at the same hotel as the Virgin Australia cabin crew so I can get direct feedback from our staff.
“By not compartmentalising, and treating business and life as different, I can get a lot more done, and have a lot more fun along the way.”
Figure out the right thing to build, and build it quickly – Linda Cheung, co-founder of social media startup CubeSocial and wedding app Coupled
“For Coupled we needed to confirm that our potential customers wanted, and were willing to pay for, what we were planning to build.
“To test our assumptions we built a working mock-up in a couple of days, then got out and spoke with our target audience. When wedding suppliers immediately offered us money to get involved, we knew we were onto something.
“We went from an idea to paying customers in three days. When testing out new business ideas, constantly ask yourself: “What’s the simplest thing that could possibly work?”
Hire people you can delegate decisions to – Jacob de Geer, CEO of mobile payments company iZettle
“Your company will grow much faster if you are surrounded by specialists who can make the right call, and make it quicker, in areas you don’t possess expertise in.
“Your company will also run more efficiently and staff will be more motivated as a result of this policy. The ability of a leader to delegate intelligently is a strength, not a weakness.”
Cut out the meeting culture – Charlie Mullins, founder of Pimlico Plumbers
“It’s a culture that seems to have sucked the efficiency out of so many organisations, and wastes weeks of productivity every year.
“Quite frankly, sitting around a big table with coffee and biscuits at the same time every week, ‘just because’, is my idea of management idiocy. If someone needs a decision from me, 90% of the time it takes less than five minutes, with no meeting room with tea and biscuits needed.
“And if I need input from one of my managers then I either march into their office and find out what I need to know, or more likely pick up the phone.
“Seriously, the amount of time some people waste meeting each other is a huge and unnecessary overhead, and don’t get me started on companies who hire people just to organise meetings.”
Invest for efficiency in your business operations – chef, restaurateur and entrepreneur Aldo Zilli, executive consultant chef for the San Carlo Group
“You don’t have to be a chef to open a restaurant, but you do have to be a good and efficient business person to make it successful.
“You have to lay good foundations and invest in the best equipment and tools you can for your chefs. And don’t scrimp on kitchen space, even if it means borrowing some floor space from the front of house.
“Also invest in the best EPOS [electronic point of sale] system you can – the new ones can allow you to keep a track of your business from wherever you are.
“Restaurants open and close quickly for a number of reasons, but one of the main factors is badly managed cashflow. Always have a contingency fund, stay on top of your bookkeeping, and ideally keep your staff and food costs below 30% of your gross profit.”
Make your time work for you – Debbie Wosskow, CEO and founder of global property exchange club Love Home Swap
“Efficient leaders don’t chase the day; they tackle it head on. It’s important to start early and hit the ground running. If you aren’t a natural morning person, train yourself to be one.
“I get up very early, exercise every morning, prep the kids for school and still get to my desk by 8:15. It means I’m in control of my day and don’t end it playing catch up or reacting to stuff I was too slow to get to.
“People assume killer hours are essential to success, but they aren’t. It’s about how you work and maximising every moment. I set myself an iron rule to finish at 17:30 so that I have quality time with the children each day. That gives you a focus and also provides the work-life balance that, in turn, keeps you fresh and more efficient.”
Be flexible with staff and responsive to customer feedback – Andrew Michael, founder of Bark.com, a free online platform for finding local professional services
“Allowing staff to work flexibly is something that I have done in the past and I believe works well. It keeps a team motivated, increases productivity and can lead to office rental costs being reduced, as less space is required.
“I believe that it is essential to be efficient when dealing with customer feedback. Listening to the people who are the lifeblood of your business will make them feel valued and keep them coming back. Given that repeat business is far easier to achieve than new business, we are certainly feeling the positive impact of this.”
Content on this page is produced to a brief agreed with E.ON, sponsor of the Efficiency hub.
