Survival Tips to Run a Successful 24/7 Business

 

The reality of putting in long (or odd!) hours at the start might be a necessary evil, if only to quickly get your business off the ground. However, what’s even more important is taking care of your health, be it physical, mental and emotional, as it is essential to your long term success.

 

It is always wise to take a reality check and make sure you are doing all you can to manage your time and energy and make your health a priority before your energy (and passion!) fizzles out prematurely. Here are some wholesome ways to stay sane while dedicating constant availability by providing after hours answering service, to your business.

 

 

We know there’s a perennial argument about whether or not to hire friends, but the fact remains that you definitely need to have a manager or you trust. Hiring a good manager is easy, but what about one you can trust and delegate duties to in the event you get overwhelmed with work? Having a supervisor or a member of the team you find trustworthy will definitely help alleviate your worries and ensure greater peace of mind when you do take some time off for yourself.

 

 

Scheduling is one of the most difficult things to handle when it comes to running a round-the-clock business. It won’t do to force an unfair schedule on your staff, so call for a meeting, hear what they have to say and then decide on who’s going to work on the overnight shift. Make it clear that everyone can take turns at the graveyard shift, but be prepared to hire someone specifically for the job if this doesn’t work.

 

 

You know how some people depend heavily on caffeine just to get by during the day? DON’T be that person. Instead, rely on good food to get your energy levels up. This can easily be done by eating a healthy breakfast, not skipping lunch and keeping a good stash of herb teas in the pantry as well as bottles of water within reach. And when you do feel the need to snack, have some fresh fruits or healthy trail mix—they’re delicious, not overladen with sugar and helps keep you revitalized.

 

 

Got a kitchen timer? Bring it along to your workplace and make good use of it by setting the timer and working with a deadline. For example, you can try setting the timer and working for short bursts of 25 minutes at a time while dedicating 5 minutes to take a break or deal with distractions you encounter during your working slot. Try this and you’ll see that you can achieve so much more within a short time!

 

 

There are tons of multi-platform apps that help you save time while working around the clock. It’s time you discovered some of them! Here are some selections for you to try:

 

• Evernote: This handy app is your journal and personal assistant all rolled into one! You can record and take notes, add reminders to help you finally complete tasks according to priorities AND it also works great with Moleskine notebooks.
• focus@will: You already know how to get your energy levels up, but what about your concentration levels? This focus@will app does just that beautifully by streaming music to increase motivation and productivity, all thanks to the hard work by researchers and neuroscientists at UCLA.
• Rescue Time: Putting in long hours running a 24/7 business can be pretty hard work, and sometimes you may just get distracted and lose track of your own goals. The Rescue Time app helps you weed out distractions by finding out just what is taking up most of your time so that you can eliminate these productivity-killers, leaving you free to work on your to-do list.
• DialMyCalls: Instead of calling twenty business contacts or employees to share the same idea, message or update, this app allows you to send multiple scheduled voice and text message right from your phone at one go. Therefore, you save time and energy and do not have much hassle in spreading the word to your employee base.