The problem is, email can take over your entire day. Even when you’re not responding, the little ‘ding’ creates micro interruptions, distracting you and cutting your productivity without you even realising.

Managing your email is one of the best ways to gain back your time. And it’s not difficult to do. The 4 easiest ways to deal with your email are:

• Setting up rules
• Using other software
• Turning it off and scheduling
• Unsubscribing

Let’s look at those in turn.

Setting up email rules

Rules allow you to predetermine what happens when certain emails land in your inbox. They are a great way to keep your inbox organised and help you concentrate on the emails that need your attention.

For example, if you have purchase receipts sent to you, you could set up a folder that these are automatically redirected to. That way, when it comes to doing your bookkeeping, all your receipts are in one place, and in the meantime, all those emails aren’t cluttering up your inbox.

Using a different software

This will only work for certain tasks that email currently does, but it is worth investigating which ones will save you time.

One of our favourite alternatives is calendar schedulers such as Calendly or Koalendar. These save massive amounts of time when booking meetings because instead of emailing back and forth trying to fix a date and time that suits you both, you simply send them a link to your calendar and leave it up to them.

Turning email off and scheduling

Turning your emails off for periods during the day will give you back more time than you realise. 

Decide on set periods that you want to deal with email – maybe it’s 3 half-hour slots morning, lunch, and at the end of the day. Or maybe you do an hour at 2 pm and that’s it. Whatever works for you is fine, but set a schedule and stick to it. You can always set up an auto-reply to let people know when you’re available and a phone number if it’s urgent.

You can also write emails and then schedule them to be sent at a more appropriate time. 

For example, if you’re writing an email at 9 pm, you might not want to give the impression that you are contactable at that time. In that case, schedule it to be sent first thing in the morning. 

Unsubscribe from unnecessary emails

This is probably the easiest and most important tip from this entire blog. Unsubscribing from emails you don’t read or know who they’re from will be the biggest decluttering exercise you can do for your inbox.

It’s so easy to sign up for this free report or that free checklist and then forget to unsubscribe again. 

If you’re not sure if you want to read the emails sent from a subscription, set up a rule to send it to a folder. If you don’t look through that folder within 3 months, you can unsubscribe.

Summary

Email is a habit we got into. Therefore, it’s also a habit we can get out of, or at least adjust to suit our lives better. 

Use these simple tips to give yourself more time for the things that matter.

If you want help in organising your email inbox or for other time-saving advice, contact us to see how we can help set you up for success.

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In this blog, I’ll break down how you can manage your time effectively and complete the most important tasks in time without having to sacrifice your sanity.

The mindset

The first thing to remember is that you can only do what you can do. There is no point trying to overstretch yourself, and some things will just have to wait.

You already know that you’ll do your best, so be comfortable with that and then work out where your best will be directed.

Know the end goal

Without having goals in place, how do you know what you should be working on or towards? 

If you have a list of tasks, try filtering them through an end-goal objective – ask yourself “does this task take me closer to what I want to achieve?”. This will give you a clearer picture of what is important.

Defining what’s important?

A great tool to use to help organise your tasks into levels of importance is the Eisenhower Matrix. 

Its 4 quadrants are separated into:

Important–Urgent tasks include things like crisis management, pressing deadlines and scheduled meetings.

Important–Not Urgent would include preparation and planning, business and personal development, relationship building and so on.

Not Important–Urgent tasks are some emails and phone calls, unimportant meetings, admin, etc.

Not Important–Not Urgent are the real time wasters (tasks and people), spending time on social media, some calls and emails, etc.

Once you’ve categorised your tasks into these segments, you know what you need to focus on. 

Ideally, you would be spending most of your time in the green Important–Not Urgent segment as this is where the tasks that can make the biggest impact live. If they reach Important–Urgent then you are likely to be firefighting at this point.

Delegating can also make a real difference to your time management and is a really useful skill to develop. When you have a team that you trust and processes that work, this should be very easy to do. 

Make sure that you are not spending time on tasks that do not require your level of skill. Your efforts are better suited to doing the important elements of your job, so delegate out anything that isn’t to someone else.

Doing the work

Now you have your tasks prioritised, you should be able to pick the top 3 that need to be completed today. You may have 3 for you and 3 for the person you’re covering, but you at least know what your focus is today. 

Use the Pomodoro technique to effectively manage your day. This technique consists of 30 minutes of focused work followed by a 5-minute break. If you would like to find out more about this technique, you can find all of the amazing advice and tricks here https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique.

 A lot of people struggle with taking the 5-minute break, but it is essential in making sure your energy levels (mental energy in particular) can be maintained throughout the day. 

So take your 5 minutes. Get up, walk around, get some water, then come back just that little bit refreshed ready to go again. 

Summary

Time management becomes much easier once you have a plan, even when you’ve been lumbered with other people’s jobs. Know your goal, work out what the priorities are in achieving that goal, then work sensibly to get there.

We’re experts in taking on those lower-value tasks that eat up your time. Contact us and see how we can help you manage your time more effectively.

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The process you use will be seen as reflective of how you will continue to work with your client, so it’s important to make a good impression from the very beginning.

If you are disorganised or the process is complicated and intrusive on your client’s time, it could sow doubt in your client’s mind as to how easy it will be to work with you and the quality of work you’ll produce.

However, a simple process that is easy and straightforward and doesn’t ask for any superfluous information will create a sense of ease and confidence at the start of your working relationship.

Step 1 – Know what information you need

Create a list of all the information you need from your client, then go through that list again and make sure that you haven’t added any ‘nice-to-have’ items.

GDPR will play a part in this as you can’t ask for or hold onto certain information for no good reason, so make sure that everything you ask for has a purpose.

Use this list as a master checklist to make sure you don’t forget items and have to go back and ask again later.

If in your industry you find that you always require more information depending on the initial answers given, then tell your client that this is the case so they know what to expect.

Step 2 – Make sure you’ve covered what you need them to know

You will want to make sure that all payment details and terms and conditions are clear during the onboarding process, so take some time to go through this.

We always make sure that the client understands that as bookkeepers we are regulated by HMRC and there are certain criteria I have to fulfil as part of my insurance and regulation. Setting this out clearly at the beginning of the relationship makes sure that there are no unreasonable expectations going forward.

Make sure that you’ve covered how you will get paid – what the deliverables are and when payment is due. Again, by making sure that everyone is on the same page you can avoid misunderstandings later.

Step 3 – Automate wherever you can

To make the process simpler for you and to create a professional appearance, automate wherever you can.

If you have a series of questions that are asked every time, create an online questionnaire that can be filled out easily with dropdowns, tick boxes, and text boxes.

Use an online signature service such as HelloSign or DocuSign for your contracts and terms.

Create an email template that is used for every new client so you can just fill out the specific details without having to write out the whole thing every time.

And whether you use online services or not, create a folder on your computer where you keep all your onboarding documents, both for the client and your own checklists, to make it easier to complete the process.

Step 4 – Go through the process with every client

Once you’ve set up your process, use it with every client. It sounds like an obvious thing to say, but sometimes we’re in a rush or we don’t want to bother people so we skip steps. Don’t do that – you’ve created this process for a reason; follow it.

Summary

The onboarding process shouldn’t be complicated or long-winded. Taking the time to create a process with checklists and automation will set you up for successful onboardings and create a great first impression with your client.

A quick check to see how simple you’ve made your onboarding process is to delegate it to someone else and see if they can follow it through. If not, you could probably simplify it more.

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Here are my top tips for managing creditors better.

Clear communication and transparency at the onboarding stage
Your customers will listen twice as hard and take in twice as much when you are onboarding them. At the onboarding stage, they have bought into you and the service or the product that you are going to provide them. They are listening. This is the perfect time to explain in writing and also verbally what your payment terms are when the invoice can be expected, what the due date is and how the payment can be made. Make it clear to your clients how you like to work and they will listen.

Consider how you are receiving payments
If you are taking payment via an automated platform such as Stripe, GoCardless then make sure your clients are set up properly as part of your onboarding. So make sure they set up their payment details before you commence the work.
If it’s via bank transfer, have you considered taking payment in advance or a percentage in advance? This isn’t applicable for all businesses or all products or services. So if it’s not, is your client aware that the payment is due by bank transfer and when that due date is. Being clear, communicative and detailing exactly what the expectations are can really help your credit control.

Consider using an online accounting system
By using an online system such as Xero you can send clients invoices, and also a reminder email that you can turn on and turn off. Have you set that up, make sure you use it. Sending your customers an automated reminder, 24 hours after the due date, then three days later, and again 7 days later. This acts as a prompt to remind them to make a payment. So make sure you do that.

Never let go of money owed to you
If you have completed the work, if you have provided the service or the product, and you have chased and you aren’t getting anywhere then, do seek professional advice. I am able to give advice on some very quick steps, quick tools that we can take to get that money back into your business. One way to address non-payment is to send a letter of intent to take them to court. But this is something I can advise on.

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Keep all receipts in an envelope or folder.
Find somewhere to keep your receipts organised, like a folder or envelope. You can have one in your car or at your desk. Then put all your receipts in the envelope or folder as you get them.

Set up an app like Hubdoc
Hubdoc is Xero’s free software for uploading bills easily.
If you are using Xero, the quickest way to get receipts into Xero is to use the Hubdoc App. It’s free and it reads the receipt by taking a photo and uploading them into Hubdoc.
When you get a new receipt, open Hubdoc and select camera, take a photo of it and it will appear in Hubdoc.

Review receipts in Hubdoc to upload to Xero
Weekly or monthly configure the receipts in Hubdoc and upload them to Xero.

It only takes a few clicks to carefully configure the entry such as, which accounts invoices should go to which supplier, and what VAT to allocate when it’s uploaded into Xero.

Once we’ve entered those details into Hubdoc and clicked the ‘Publish’ button, a copy of the receipt/bill will appear in Xero.

You can also use Hubdoc for monthly invoices using a bespoke email address that is specifically for you and your business. You can give it to suppliers so they can send regular invoices directly to your Hubdoc instead of to your inbox. Then you can get them directly into Hubdoc.

Over time and with careful configurations Hubdoc will remember and will automatically suggest which suppliers, accounts and VAT to allocate saving you even more time.

I’m more than happy to do a very quick Hubdoc set-up session with you if you’re interested. It takes under 10 minutes to get set up and for me to show you how to use Hubdoc correctly.

But there are other paid apps besides Hubdoc such as Dext if Hubdoc isn’t working for you. Feel free to ask me about it.

That’s the quickest way to keep your receipts organised.

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It is a pain to manually add bills into Xero. So we don’t recommend that you do that.

Xero has a free app called Hubdoc that you can use to email (or upload via the app) all your bills, configure them and upload them into Xero.

It takes under 5 minutes to set up Hubdoc to integrate with your Xero, and under 5 minutes for me to show you how to configure your bills so they post against the correct account with the correct VAT.

Then with a simple click of the ‘Publish’ button, your bills are uploaded into your Xero.

If you auto-sync the bill in Hubdoc, then Hubdoc will remember this for future bills received and will automatically push these to Xero.

You can edit your Hubdoc email address to share with suppliers so they send bills directly to HubdocDoc.

You can also set up mailbox rules so that every bill gets forwarded to Hubdoc directly.

I have around 12 rules set up so when I run them monthly all 12 bills go directly into Hubdoc, where I can configure them then are pushed directly to Xero without the need for me to go into Hubdoc.

Xero invoices don’t automatically get uploaded to your Xero and they don’t attach as a PDF either. So for Xero invoices, you simply click PDF in the top right-hand corner and then it gets posted straight into your Xero.

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It shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes a couple of times a month to manage your debtors, depending on how many there are.

Here are my top tips for streamlining the process.

Make sure your bills are in Xero

Ensure that all your bills are processed using Hubdoc or another software and configured correctly to post to the correct account with the correct VAT.

Set reminders

Set calendar reminders to make payments twice a month on the 2nd and the 16th or 17th of every month. This way you cover most businesses’ payment terms because most are 30 days.

Some are fewer and some are more, but most are 30 days. For example, mine is 5 days. In which case you would tell me as your supplier, that you make payments twice a month and my payment will be a few days late.

With clear and timely communication most businesses can usually make adjustments.

Then on the 2nd and the 16th, you just log into Xero, click on ‘Business’ then ‘Bills to pay’ and click ‘Awaiting payment’ and look at the due dates. If the date that day is the 16th, then simply make payments to all the bills that are due before the 16th of the month. Likewise, if the date is the 2nd of the month, you pay any bills due before the 2nd of the month, ensuring you don’t pay any that were paid previously on the 16th. This way you’re always paid up to date.

Ask for convenience

Ask debtors if they have a more convenient way or day to pay. Do they have GoCardless or Stripe so you can set up automated payments? Or if you would prefer a different payment frequency then let them know so you can discuss the options available. This way you can cut down the time you spend making manual payments.

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These are my top 10 new year tips for reducing distractions and managing time more effectively.

1. For more focused time to meet deadlines use the Pomodoro technique. Set a timer for 25 or 50 minutes. Then take a break or do another task for 5 or 10 minutes. Then repeat. Read more here.
2.   Turn your phone off, put it on silent or face-down so you can’t see the screen. If that doesn’t work, put it in another room so you have to get up to check it.

3. Turn off your emails for set periods of time. There are apps to help with this. Boomerang is one that allows you to schedule specific times when your emails will be held back during the day. Like a Do Not Disturb for emails.

4. Use delayed emails. If you don’t want to get a reply straight away or want to get some work done at an unsociable hour, it is useful to use the delayed email option in Microsoft Office.

5. Stop accepting meetings during certain times of the day or days in the week. Have set times that you don’t allow any meetings, so you have time to do the work you want to get done. Schedule this in your diary and stick to it. Better yet, if you can avoid the meeting altogether, all the better.

6. Schedule certain types of tasks to be completed in the same time slot. For example, booking appointments can be done between 4 and 5 pm. 

7. Delegate. It’s a skill that takes time and practice to master. But you must want to delegate, you need to know what to delegate and who to delegate to. To help with this I’ve developed the Three Column Technique. Read more here or watch the video here.

8. Divert your phone. I recommend a professional phone answering service that you can use on a pay as you go basis and turn on and off as you need to. It’s important to choose a reputable company like this so your callers get a competent call handler without knowing it’s a call handler. Do your research for the best ones around. To save you time I highly recommend Jam. Learn more here. 

9. Streamline your to-do list. Research says we only cross off three things on to-do lists in a day. So instead of rewriting the whole list daily, at the end of each day write just three things to do for the next day. This reduces stress from guilt and increases our sense of achievement. Plus, it saves time writing out endlessly long to-do lists.

10. Work-life blend. Replacing the word ‘balance’ with ‘blend’ shatters the implication that our work or personal life suffers when we put more effort into one or the other. We know that our work and life is more of a blend. Some days we work harder and some days we play harder. We can enjoy both taking personal time and working hard. It doesn’t need to come at the expense of feeling guilty. 

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There are a few reasons why outsourcing your self-assessment is more efficient than doing it yourself.

Firstly, anxiety and overwhelm around hitting the deadline.

 It’s already November 2021. There are only two months left until the deadline, and they still haven’t done it.

But there’s a good reason they don’t want to.

Secondly, it’s boring.

Who likes to download all their statements and gather receipts?

Who even knows where the receipts are?

We put it off day after day, week after week and month after month. Until suddenly it’s January, and we have only days to get it all together and submit it.

It’s absolutely something that can be done by someone else.

That’s exactly the point of back-office and the value of the service we offer because it’s not income-generating activity.

The way that we do things helps a lot with the feelings of overwhelming business owners experience.

For example, we’ve had self-assessment clients that don’t know how to download their bank statements.

We teach them the best and easiest way to do that. And crucially we teach them why they need to do it that way.

The ‘why’ is the secret sauce.

Explaining how and why we do things the way we do is crucial to helping our clients feel more organised and in control.

The boredom of collating receipts and invoices also triggers our self-assessment clients.

Often the transactions are clear on the bank statement, but they don’t know where the invoices or receipts are.

That’s when we can step in.

We give our clients a list of all the receipts they need to provide, and ring suppliers to ask them for copies.

We alleviate a lot of the overwhelm simply by leading our clients through the process.

One client in the creative arts sector told us that she hadn’t been able to create for 6 to 7 weeks because of the anxiety she had about her self-assessment.

For example, just by asking our client for some identity details, and explaining how to download her bank statement, she responded with:

“Dare I say it, but this is the first time I’ve been excited …yes, excited about doing accounts. It’s your energy, Jackie. You’re amazing!”

It’s all about the way we onboard all our self-assessment clients that makes the most difference. We hold their hand in an empowering and confident way that makes them feel supported.

Nothing is too much trouble for us. We recently took on a self-assessment client who is pen and paper led. No spreadsheets. No software. No problem for us.

We onboarded her using our process and managed the transition from pen and paper to digital with her in a way that made her feel like we’d put our arm around her, rather than dragging her kicking and screaming.

We’ve seen it and sorted it all before.

And because we did such a good job looking after her self-assessment she decided to give us all of her bookkeeping too, plus we produced a monthly income and expenditure report and quarterly profit and loss report for her. We transferred her bookkeeping to accountancy software because it saves time and money. And because we’re a Xero certified partner our clients pay the same through us as directly to Xero.

The fact is we love admin, and we are good at sorting it out.

It didn’t take us long because we have templates that we use which work very well. When we completed it all and asked her if she wanted to continue doing her bookkeeping, she said she never wanted to see her books again! She explained that she trusted us and our process because we’d made everything so super easy and efficient for her, saving her so much time and effort. Subsequently, we submitted her self-assessment early this year. Year-end was 31 March 2021, and we submitted it in May 2021. This is a fast turn around.

Imagine what that feels like?

We have a sole trader client that brought in pen and paper books and a box of receipts to me. We immediately transferred him to accounting software before proceeding to submit his self-assessment.

Our sole trader clients trust us to keep them safe and we do that by using accountancy software to future-proof them and their business.

“I’m growing but struggling with time and stress so how would you advise I start to delegate so I can grow without the overwhelm?”

The best way to address stress and overwhelm is with my three-column trick for how to start delegating. 

I’m often asked: “I don’t know how to outsource. What should I ask them to do? What work should I give them?

So too often, people don’t delegate. 

Anyone who knows me has heard about my three-column trick. 

I encourage you over the course of a week to write down in an excel spreadsheet or bit of paper, all the tasks that you carry out within that week.

Your three columns should be labelled 

• Me
• Someone else 
• Is that person already in my business?

Then make a list of all your tasks and put a tick in the corresponding column. 

If it’s something that only you can do, then put a tick in the ‘Me’ column. 

If it’s something that someone else can do, pop a tick in the ‘Someone else’ column. 

If that person is already in your business then put a tick in the last column, and go and talk to them immediately about how they can help you by taking on that task. 

As you look over the tasks in the second and third columns, start to build a profile of what that person’s profile should look like. 

For example, are the tasks predominantly bookkeeping, marketing, or admin?

Is the ideal person already in your business? But you just haven’t opened up that conversation with them yet?

Or is there someone in your wider network who you could approach that could help you with your marketing, bookkeeping or admin?

This is a really quick way of getting started with your outsourcing and delegating.

Send us your week, or fortnight, of three columns, and we’ll review it with you for free, with a little superstar treatment thrown in, contact us on:

Email: info@jaxstarsolutions.co.uk

Telephone: 020 3362 4436

Mobile: 07811 393520

Website: https://www.jaxstarsolutions.co.uk/