Forget business books - what’s the REAL trick that saved you time and money?

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Honestly? Google Calendar reminders. Sounds dumb but I used to think I could just ‘remember’ everything. Once I started blocking out even tiny tasks on my calendar, I stopped dropping balls and actually felt less fried at the end of the day and one another random thing that helped me way more than I expected was ditching the whole carry 50 paper business cards thing. I switched to a digital on basically just a QR that people scan and it sounds small, but it saved me so much time and awkwardness. No more reordering cards, no oh crap I forgot my cards at home, and I don’t have to manually type people’s info later. One that i use is popl. It felt like such a silly tweak at first, but it’s one of those things that removes tiny daily frictions. Like, people just scan it, they’re in my contacts, and boom done. Weirdly enough, that tiny change freed up mental energy to actually focus on the real work instead of admin headaches.

My weird trick: I batch errands. I used to randomly run to the bank, post office, etc. whenever. Now I just do all that crap on Friday afternoons. Frees up the rest of the week for actual work.

Between the hours of 5am and 9am I get so so so much done. I can’t do this every day but even if you are tossing and turning in the wee morning hours just get up and get some stuff done. You can take a nap at lunch or honesty just have a productive day.

One thing that really helped me was setting up automatic reminders with email + text sequences. When someone fills out a form on the website, they get a quick text or email right away, and then a few gentle follow-ups until they book or say no. It’s simple, but it saved me from manually chasing every lead and the first reply goes out in seconds.

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Pick up the phone and talk to people unscheduled. Not everything has to be a meeting and having at least a few people you feel comfortable just calling on a whim when you think of them for an idea or something useful to tell them (more than asking them for an output). Works really well building trust and momentum. Coworkers, contractors, vendors, etc. People are people. Help each other make a buck and thrive. People are more authentic and honest on the phone on the fly than when planned on camera or in person.

I’ve created a manual on Google Drive. Whenever I have to train a team member how to do a specific task (like sending a gift certificate), I write up a new Google Doc on how to do it. This saves time with training in the future and sets up my team where they know my expectations.

My trick was automating payments and invoices. I used to spend HOURS chasing people down. Switched to automatic billing and it changed my life. Customers pay faster, I don’t have to nag, and I sleep better.