Your business is either growing or it's dying. Since you want to be successful, you'll want to employ these tips for maximizing your business' growth.

When you want to grow your business, you need to start off on “the right foot.” For massive growth, this means making sure your business is organized. While this is easier if you’re running a big business that has a big budget and lots of employees who can dedicate their time to staying organized, it’s also possible for small, cash-strapped businesses with just a few employees to do so. You just need a few tips to help you on your way.

Manage Your Office Space and Storage

Neil Patel says you must first make sure that your physical surroundings are neat and organized so you can perform at your highest level. To do this you’ll want to make sure everything has a specific place - even if that’s in a pile on your desk. You may want to invest in some vertical storage opportunities though. Additionally, think about storing your papers somewhere offsite so they won’t take up so much room in your office. Of course, this means you’ll need to spend less time managing your documents and start trusting that someone better than you are keeping them safe and protected better on your behalf. Sometimes this is hard to do.

Keep Track of Invoices and Payments

As a small business, you can’t disregard managing payments, invoicing, and billing. These are the “lifeblood” of your business – even when it’s a struggle to keep all of them organized. Instead of constantly working to make sure you’re effective here, consider using a program like FreshBooks to handle your invoices. This is important because when you have fewer tasks to handle in a day, you’ll be much more focused on what really appeals to you so you can get those things done.

Integrate The Cloud Into All Your Tools

Infusion Soft says it’s always frustrating when a computer dies and you lose important files. You’ll experience this same frustration when you need a document, presentation, or spreadsheet while on the road or in a meeting and can’t get immediate access to it. However, today it is possible to have your files perfectly synced across all your devices - from your laptop to your smartphone. You simply need to start using the cloud, which will keep them safe and accessible, anytime and anywhere. This is something that 82% of businesses understand today. They have a cloud strategy that utilizes tools like Dropbox and Google Drive (all of which have free versions) that work on your computer and mobile devices. This means that no matter where you are or what device you’re using, you can access the files you need.

Improve Your Workspace For Increased Productivity

Take time to create an environment that supports your vision of running a successful, and know about how to grow a progressive business. For this, there are some proven techniques that will help you get more out of your workspace. These include:

• Adding a few plants throughout your office increases productivity by 15% because you’ll be able to concentrate better
• Using a standing desk and cleaning up any loose cables will help you stay energized and focused because clutter only leads to distractions

These small changes will only take a few minutes, but they’ll make a huge improvement in your productivity.

Track Your Time Effectively

Many people struggle with time management. However, once you master it you’ll find space in your day that you never thought you had before because you’re now in charge of deciding how your time is spent. Some things you can do to improve your time management skills include:

• Handle mundane tasks while taking public transit for your morning commute. This includes things like deleting any unnecessary emails in your inbox, catching up on phone calls, and conducting research for the project you’re working on.
• Take “microbreaks” (5 – 15 minutes each) every two to three hours. This will improve your mental acuity and ability to focus throughout the day. Take a quick walk around the building, grab a snack, or play a short game online. This will make your body feel less tense, your brainless frustrated, and leave you better able to focus overall. When you can’t concentrate you probably move on to another task, leaving what you’re working on unfinished, which leads to multiple unfinished projects at once. This is self-defeating in that it leaves you feeling unproductive, disorganized, and unfulfilled.
• Track time for your business with Harvest. This is also a great way to send invoices and track expenses against your budget.
• Automate administrative tasks with apps like Calendly. This makes scheduling meetings a breeze because you won’t have a lot of emails going back-and-forth. Platforms like Buffer, Hootsuite, and Sprout help make sending out social media updates a breeze. While these are just examples of how you can automate your administrative or operational tasks, you should know that almost all of them can be automated in some regard today.

Upgrade to Online CRM Software

Copper is a new kind of productivity CRM which helps to manage your customers, leads, payments, and other key information. It helps you keep these things from costing you sales by making sure that you’re always organized. This CRM will connect to your business apps and help you follow up where you need it most – on things like overdue invoices, quotes, and customer questions. You’ll no longer spend time trying to find those important emails you’ve somehow managed to misplace since the software remembers these things for you.

Keep Track of Customer Support

Your loyal customers are at the heart of your business. While they’ll take up a lot of time and resources, these things are well spent in keeping them happy and pleased. Instead of continually pouring over them, you could use a program like Groove that reaches out and manages them effectively. In doing so, you’ll spend less time managing them and more time improving your products and business systems.

Automation is the key to many things in the business world today. However, you don’t want to fully automate your relationships with your customers. Groove is different though. It lets your employees strengthen their relationship with your customers. Automating your customer relationships will leave you feeling frustrated since customers will leave you for your competitors because they treat them better. By offering world-class service you’ll be rewarded with continual business and referrals.