What are the 5 productivity habits of successful business owners? Let’s dish…
The truth is, we all fight the same battles…time…productivity…team optimization….creating systems….taking care of ourselves and families.
From our community at The Boutique Hub to those in Retail Bootcamp, we’ve walked through solving so many of these challenges together and have come up with some real solutions you can put into play RIGHT NOW.
Ashley Alderson, the founder of The Boutique Hub, narrows down the essentials to help you be the most productive you can be. She is sharing the 5 productivity habits of successful boutique owners!
#1. Successful Business Owners Value Their Mental & Physical Health
I know this sounds cliche but it’s not. Successful business owners of all kinds value their mental and physical health. Gone are the days of the “hustle and grind” mentality. In the first couple of years, you will need to hustle but you can’t fill someone else’s cup if yours is empty. If you want to survive, you need to take care of yourself. Mental and physical burnout is a real thing. You can hustle and grind for a while but it will eventually catch up with you.
There are two things you can do about this. The first and most important is to get enough sleep. You are a different human being once you’ve rested. Ashley is a huge fan of naps. Therefore, just because you need to get up early to get a jump start your day does not mean you can’t get enough rest. So you can still be a part of the “5 AM Club”, as long as you are taking time to fit in a power nap during the day! An early start, allows you to attack the day in a proactive state and not a reactive state. This one change will help you to be mentally and physically prepared to start your day.
Another thing that can help is mindfulness. Give your mind space to not do anything and be present in that moment. Sit down and take a few deep breaths. This will allow your body to reset. Practicing daily gratitude is another positive habit. Ashley recommends taking a brief moment 3 times a day to relax and be mindful of the state it is in.
#2. Successful Business Owners Value Systems
Everyone has a choice in business if they want to be a Solopreneur or a CEO. Are you going to be the bottleneck of your business? It is easy to be controlling with your business. It’s tempting to tell yourself the job is too important and that nobody will run your business like you. That is the biggest lie in business. You cannot scale your business if you’re doing everything yourself. It all comes down to routines and batches. You need to have systems and ways to approach things. What day do you schedule for your open to buy? If you sat down two days a week with a plan that is more efficient than shopping with 80 tabs open and no data. That behavior would leave to impulse buying.
Have you ever heard of Parkinson’s Law? Mike Micholowicz, the owner of The Profit First Method, went over this important concept. It states that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion. Since time management is all psychological, we naturally pace ourselves to finish a project in just the nick of time. In other words, by giving ourselves too much time it allows us to procrastinate and fill in the gaps with busy work. This leads to inefficiency. By designating set days and shorter timeslots for your tasks it will increase your productivity! It will allow you to get more working in a quicker amount of time.
#3. They Coach Their Team
Sara Burkes, Director of Partnerships and Education, has a background in coaching. She uses this analogy: when was the last time you coached your team through a practice? In sports, you wouldn’t think of showing up to a game without coaching your team through a practice game. After the interview, you hire your employees and onboard them. We assume they know what to do but we haven’t allowed them to practice. Every day that your team members are on your sales floor, in your warehouse, working online is a “game” for them. Your money is on the line. The most impactful thing you can do for your team is ongoing education. An example of this would be weekly team meetings or product education.
#4. Successful Business Owners Know The Right Tools
There has to be one central place for your team to communicate and share. Depending on the size and scale of your team everyone’s tools might be a little different but it needs to include these elements:
- One central mode of communication for your team. We use Slack!
- A central place to share documents. We use Google Drive
- A central place for “To-do lists” and project management. We use Trello. If you need a paper list, we recommend our #BoutiqueBoss Planner. Always do the hardest things first!
- Always set aside time for education. You can’t go wrong with Retail Bootcamp, it’s like college for boutique owners!
#5. Successful Business Owners Know Their Metrics
If there is something we talk about the most in Retail Bootcamp, it’s knowing your metrics. The two non-negotiable metrics that you need to know are:
- What is your daily sales goal? What
- What is your traffic goal? How much traffic do I need based on how people convert to hit my daily sales goal?
These strategies are what we cover in Retail Bootcamp from start to finish. It is a 12 module program that goes for 12 weeks with live coaching. We also bring in experts for each module. Are you a member of The Boutique Hub? If not, you can join us here.
We hope you loved our article on 5 Productivity Habits Of Successful Business Owners. How else can The Boutique Hub help you grow?
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