4 Daily Operational Activities to Enhance Your Business or Nonprofit
As a small business owners or nonprofit leader with a passion for creativity and making a positive impact often find yourself juggling numerous responsibilities. Beyond your creative and change-making endeavors, you must also manage the operational aspects of your organizations. Operating activities, though less glamorous, are essential for the smooth functioning and growth of any venture. In this blog post, we’ll explore 4 daily operational activities to enhance your business or nonprofit; what operating activities are and how you can master them while still staying true to your creative and change-making pursuits.
What Are Operating Activities?
Operating activities encompass the day-to-day tasks and processes necessary to run a business or nonprofit effectively. I categorize my daily operational activities into revenue generating activities (engaging with potential clients, creating content, marketing and advertising) and “business existence” activities (invoicing, compliance, checking in with my team).
Daily Operational Activities
They are the operational backbone that keeps your organization functioning. Below, are 4 daily operational activities to enhance your business or nonprofit:
- Financial Management: This involves budgeting, cash flow management, and financial reporting. Tracking expenses and cashflow on a regular basis helps you prepare for tax season and keeps you abreast of your organization’s profitability.
- Human Resources: Managing staff, volunteers, or collaborators is vital. With productivity tools such as Slack, Monday.com or others, it’s just as easy to keep in touch with your virtual teams as it is to pop in to your team’s onsite office.
- Marketing: Marketing is a daily task that involves you or your team reaching out to your audience in some way – email, blogging, phone calls, community outreach, podcasting, social media – wherever your audience is, so are you! Think of marketing as a daily practice that involves engagement, building relationships with your clients and learning from them. Feedback and engagement help you refine your offerings and stay aligned with your mission.
- Sales: Sales are the exchange between your organization and your client that happens as a result of your marketing efforts. Effective sales strategies can help you reach a wider audience and make a greater impact. This may mean making calls, pitching in meetings, or following up on leads.
Balancing Creativity, Change-Making, and Operations
When you’re a small team with big impact, managing operations can be challenging. While there are a few things you might not want to do, there is always a resource for that. Here are some strategies to strike the right balance:
- Set Clear Priorities: Identify your creative and change-making priorities and align your operational activities with these goals. Focus on what matters most. I use Monday as my planning day. This is also the time when I’m asking myself questions about my vision, my offers, and my opportunities for connections for the week.
- Delegate and Outsource: Recognize that you can’t do it all. Delegate or outsource non-core operational tasks to experts, allowing you to concentrate on your strengths. Even if you’re a brick and mortar business, you can still consider virtual team members to serve as a virtual assistant, social media manager, copywriter, graphic designer and more. Gone are the days of having to have everything in-house. There are even fractional COO, CMO, CFO and other C-suite level positions.
- Time Management: Efficient time management is crucial. Dedicate specific time blocks to operational activities and creative work to avoid distractions. Your schedule should include time for brainstorming, planning, reflecting and unwinding.
- Leverage Technology: Use technology and tools to streamline and automate operational processes. This can save time and reduce administrative burdens. Imagine batching social media content, blog posts, and email newsletters over a one to two day period and scheduling them for the month. This allows you the freedom to lead your team, network and have a true balance between life and work.
- Collaborate: Forge partnerships or collaborations with individuals or organizations that can complement your operational weaknesses. Together, we can achieve more. Consider who you may approach this week for a collaborative effort.
- Continuous Learning: Invest in your own and your team’s learning and development. Stay updated on operational best practices to enhance efficiency by reading books, supporting and participating in personal and professional development. These days, you can find a podcast, a Youtube video or even TikTok on a number of topics.
What Matters Most
Mastering daily operational activities is the bridge between your creative and change-making dreams and their successful realization. By understanding the significance of these activities and finding ways to manage them effectively, you can ensure the sustainability and growth of your small business or nonprofit. Remember, operating activities are not just about managing day-to-day tasks; they’re about freeing up your time and resources to focus on what you do best – creating and driving positive change in the world