You can develop your systems faster as you have intricate knowledge of what you want and you can do immediate upgrades when the need materialises.
Streamline EVERYTHING!
If you have a work process, the chances are you can improve it with the help of a computer. The more streamlining you do, the more time you will save when you get busy.

Creating your own systems will benefit your business but you will also learn techniques that help other businesses streamline their operations. Give them examples of how you have saved time with your in-house systems and they may want to talk about possibilities for their company.

7 time-savers for IT entrepreneurs

Here’s my personal list of what I consider to be the top 7 timesavers for IT entrepreneurs.

Timesaver #1: Create a database system for storing client data
Using MS Access, I stored all client details and appointments as described earlier on in this book. I saved hours of admin time and it really helped with tracking my vital business figures.

Have ready made reports for your vital business statistics – just a button click away.

Timesaver #2: Computerise your accounting
I advise against trying to create your own accounting system – they are too complex. Buy an off-the-shelf package like Quickbooks. They have so much functionality in them that it would take you years to design it yourself.

One problem I have found – and many of my clients – is that it can be difficult to integrate your accounting package with your client database. You end up entering the information twice. I still suffer from this but some accounting packages have utilities that let you integrate so you never duplicate the data entry.

See what’s available for your particular accounting package.

Timesaver #3: Create an intranet for fast access to critical files
To have important information at your fingertips is essential for being efficient. Research suggests that managers and executives spend as much as 4 hours per week just trying to find information! Set up an intranet and you’ll save so much time over the year it will be well worth the initial time spent.

Timesaver #4: Create your own homepage for fast access to websites
When you start your browser it will load its default page such as Yahoo or MSN. I used altavista.com for years before giving any real thought to this area.

Then I had a brainstorm. Why not create my own home page using Dreamweaver? You’ll store it locally on your hard drive and it will only take you 30 minutes to set up.

The benefits are:
• It loads faster. No waiting to connect to the net as it is stored on your hard drive.
• You get instant access to all your favourite bookmarks. They’re all right there in front of you.
• You’ll visit your important sites more often because they are just one click away. Group them by topic e.g. one area of your home page could have a list of your major competitors. Another area could be a list of sites you want to visit daily. Another could have all the search engines. Another would have your favourite sites for getting technical support.

Get to it – once you’ve done it you’ll realise why it’s so handy.

Timesaver #5: Organise your PC files – regularly!
My PC was a disorganised mess until I hired an employee who prided himself on his organisation skills. He kept on stressing the need to have a place and everything in its place.

I was flying by the seat of my pants and files got stored haphazardly. I ended up have a temp directory for this and a temp directory for that. Even a temp directory in a temp directory. It became almost impossible to manage.

After much discussion, we agreed to always store critical files in the same place. I even bought a Server to do this! We previously had a peer to peer network but the server gave me the discipline to put each file in their correct folder. It took some effort but it seemed “right” to store all the data on the Server.

You don’t need a Server to keep tidy – you just need discipline. Create a written company policy on where you intend to store your different types of file. Then schedule a review of this document every month for 6 months.

Create folders for files such as:
• Current projects you are working on with subfolders for each client
• Invoices and debt collection letters
• Company literature broken down into areas such as tech support, training, company info, price lists and sales flyers
• Company systems with folders that document accounts, admin, legal etc.
• General correspondence. I used My Documents but my administrator kept stressing the importance of further dividing this folder. He was right but he still drove me mad!
• Literature under development. You need somewhere to store your incomplete files. These include unfinished adverts and sales letters, legal agreements and company procedure documentation.

Timesaver #6: Mail merge enable all client letters
When starting out, I spent a lot of wasted time cutting and pasting addresses. As soon as I created a routine to merge the names and addresses for routine correspondence, my productivity shot up. I found I sent more letters because they were easier to do – just click a button on my database and the data gets merged.

Do this early in your career as the improved efficiency keeps on paying month after month.

Timesaver #7: Set-up icons for fast access to common PC applications
Customise your Windows set-up so you are normally one click away from launching your favourite application. I use the MS Office shortcut bar – it’s sitting docked at the right side of my screen.

You can set it up into categories so there is a different toolbar for each topic. I have one for internet, one for development and one for my normal applications.

Under Start > Programs, set-up the following folders: Applications, Graphics, System, Internet, Development.

I use…

• “System” for utilities like Winzip and Cleansweep
• “Development” is for MS Access, MS Office developers edition and Visual Basic

This is just my idea for organising. I’m only stressing that you’ll save time if you make the effort to organise your primary tool – your computer.