There are several critical systems that you should have in place for your business. Having systems in place will allow your business to run efficiently and effectively, while allowing you the peace of mind to run your business on your terms with less stress. This will allow you to do what you want to do and make more money:

1. Create an email signature that states the times you check and respond to email so that your clients/customers know when they can expect to hear from you. Same for voicemail: when people call and receive your message, state when you will respond. Handling client expectations and keeping the lines of communication open, creates less stress for your clients as well as for you.

2. Handling your time management: keep track of your time – setting alarms on your computers will keep you on track. For example: if you’re writing a proposal for a client meeting in a week allow yourself an hour a day. Set an alarm so that you can focus just on that and your mind will be clear of other matters. When that hour is up you will have accomplished a lot and then can move on to other things.

3. If you are doing your own bookkeeping & invoicing, set aside a couple of hours to focus on just that. Again, you can set an alarm on your computer so that you are focused.

4.Set up a Project Management system that works for you. There are both online and offline systems. You need to find the system that works best for you. Are you the type that still likes to write everything down and work with a handwritten planner? Or does working online work best for you? Some online systems, such as ClientSpot have 30 day trials so that you are able to try them out first. They have tasks, projects, calendars, databases all within the tool.

5. Social Media can be extremely overwhelming to learn let alone keep up on your own. If you are not ready to outsource this yet, then I suggest starting out with the basics first: Facebook and Twitter. Set up accounts and start slow. Team up with someone you know already on these tools and ask a lot of questions. Watch and follow what they do. Choose people in your target market and follow them. See what they are doing and see what questions they are asking. If you can respond, start to interact with them. It takes a while to build the “like, know and trust” factor but it can be done after a few weeks. It’s all about building relationships. There are several experts that provide free newsletters with tips and tricks for building your Facebook and Twitter pages.

6. Again, if you are not ready for outsourcing, keeping track of all your meetings as well as your tasks is time consuming. Use what works best for you: an online calendar that syncs with your phone or a handwritten planner that is with you at all times. There are several online calendars – I use Google calendar and sync it with my iPhone. It works perfectly and keeps me on track at all times no matter where I am.

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