When last did you analyze your day and really look at what you’re spending your time on? The life of an entrepreneur is a busy one and time is one of your most valuable assets. How you spend your day will determine how quickly your business grows in the long run.

Small tasks crop up all the time but it’s how you deal with them that matters.

Below are five tasks that usually end up taking up more of your time than is necessary.

The dreaded ‘A’ word…Admin

Taking care of administrative tasks such as accounting, emails and filing can all take up a big chunk of your time every day. For most entrepreneurs, knowing that you have to do admin tasks that you don’t enjoy or aren’t particularly good at prolongs the process even more.

If there are tasks that you can hand over to someone else such as a virtual assistant, do it. It will give you time to focus on the growth of your business instead. It’s also best to unsubscribe your business email from any emails and newsletters that might distract you when they pop up in your inbox. Rather subscribe to those using a personal email address so that you can read them in your spare time instead.

Let your staff do their job

Entrepreneurs tend to try and do everything themselves and this includes making sure that staff members are working in a particular way. There comes a time when you need to relinquish control if you want to focus on running your business. There’s nothing wrong with checking up on your staff but it’s best to schedule bi-weekly meetings to do this or hire someone who can oversee your team’s work.

Technologic challenges

Let’s face it, computers are an integral part of our day-to-day lives but when you run into technical issues you shouldn’t be spending half your day trying to fix them. Having a technical expert on standby might cost a bit extra every month but it will definitely pay off in the long run.

You decide how to spend your day

It’s so easy to get caught up in trying to take care of smaller tasks throughout the day. This is why it’s important to outline your main priorities for the day and make sure those get done before you move onto anything else. There will of course be critical tasks that crop up that can’t wait but if there is someone else who can assist or if it can wait until tomorrow, let it.

Wash, rinse, repeat

Being an entrepreneur means learning how to work smarter. Dealing with customer queries is one area that you need to learn to do this. Your customers are the lifeblood of your business so you need to take care of them but you shouldn’t be spending your time dealing with the same queries every day. Think of ways to assist customers that doesn’t always take away from your day such as an online FAQ page or a customer support agent.