Nicole Leinbach Reyhle is the Founder and Publisher of Retail Minded, the Co-Founder of the Independent Retailer Conference and a regular contributor to various publications. Additionally, Reyhle is the Author of the book “Retail 101: The Guide to Managing and Marketing Your Retail Business” from McGraw-Hill and has been the Spokesperson for Small Business Saturday from American Express since 2014. Follow Reyhle on Twitter at @RetailMinded. Time is money, as the old saying goes. But what happens when you waste time in order to save money? In business – large and small – working efficiently is the key to success. From gaining productivity to increasing profit to driving stronger results, time and money go hand-in-hand. The catch? Identifying when your time is wasting your money and likewise, when money can save you time. To help understand this further, consider the time you currently invest in data entry. Do you consider this time well spent? Does it help your business increase stronger revenue? Do you enjoy the necessary steps involved in data entry? For that matter, do you feel frustrated you could be doing more for your business every time you’re forced instead to log in key data and other details involved in operating your business?
Data entry isn’t everyone’s strength, but for some folks it happens to be where they excel. The same way some people prefer to write, draw, create or sing, others view spreadsheets, numbers and all other aspects in data entry as their comfort zone. Can you imagine these same folks being challenged to create a logo design, write a press release or sing a song… at least one that other people would want to hear? Likely not, as one person’s strength is often another person’s weakness and vice versa. Keeping this in mind, consider how letting someone else do your data entry can help position your business to perform better and likewise, your data entry to be managed better. Still not convinced? Consider these three reasons why data entry may not be for you…
Operating a business of any size takes time, but what happens when that time becomes wasted doing necessary steps that slow the core aspects of your business down? When you consider that the details involved in data entry are often tedious, time consuming and detail oriented, it’s also a good idea to consider how someone else who excels in these areas can help your business perform more effectively. Remember, time is money… and money can earn you time. So consider how data entry either slows you down or speeds you up in finding this ideal balance.
Okay… I said it. It’s boring. To me, at least. But that doesn’t mean it is to someone else. Is that person you? If you fall into the same category as I do that finds data entry boring, boring, boring… then consider how someone else doing it can relieve you of this draining experience and open up your time to more productive work responsibilities that you don’t dread like the plaque. Core business functions – including data entry – can’t be ignored, but they can be outsourced if they are slowing you down from delivering on other necessary responsibilities that may include customer service, marketing, employee management and more.
You don’t need to be a scientist to become a data entry expert, but you do need knowledge about bookkeeping and data entry in order to perform at your best. From strong documentation skills to stellar organization habits to reliable backups on all key data and more, there are a lot of fine print details that can make or break your data entry habits. Additionally, sensitive data, confidential data and ethical responsibilities that impact data management – including legal details – all impact data entry, which ultimately impacts your management of them. Are you confident you know the necessary details in which can help you legally and professionally excel at data entry? If not, outsourcing your data entry may be the right choice. Finally, when you reflect on how data entry impacts your work performance, also consider how the data entry in which you are currently managing helps you make business decisions. Strong data is vital in helping companies large and small make future business choices, which means that inaccurate, poorly managed or overlooked data can influence your business in a negative way. Yet having your data more accurately managed by someone with a keen eye for numbers, strong attention to detail and overall enthusiasm towards data entry can help your business soar. Keeping this in mind, ask yourself…Are you ready to fly? Or are you ready for your business to take a nose dive? The choice is yours.
