Stop doing these 7 business admin tasks

As a small business owner, you’re probably a bit of an admin whizz. There are few tasks you haven’t turned your hand to - because if you won’t do them, who will? But over time, taking on too much admin can leave you feeling burned out and frustrated. Find out how you can take these seven admin tasks off your plate and give yourself more time for the important jobs you’d rather be doing.

1. Getting paid on time

Getting paid should be one of the simplest tasks on your list. Unfortunately, that’s often not the reality (if it’s any consolation, you’re not alone). But what if you never had to draft another polite-but-firm email to chase a late-paying client?

Wouldn’t it be great if you could automate your invoice communications and send out templated emails for invoices, thank yous, and (importantly) late payment reminders? Good news, FreeAgent Invoicing can do all this for you.

You can also make it even easier for your customers to pay you by using payment providers. Tyl by NatWest, Stripe, GoCardless and PayPal let you offer online debit and credit card payments, Direct Debits for recurring invoices, international payment capabilities and Apple Pay and Google Pay checkout options.

2. Automating payroll

There are a lot of additional admin tasks that come with employerhood - but payroll doesn’t have to be a time-consuming one. Accounting software like FreeAgent can help you stay compliant with PAYE, effortlessly run monthly payroll and submit your Real Time Information (RTI) payroll directly to HMRC. All in just a few clicks each month. FreeAgent Payroll even automatically calculates pension contributions for your employees and lets you export helpful reports that break down your payroll figures.

3. Tracking projects

When you’re juggling lots of customers and tasks, project admin can start to take over your life. From writing to-do lists to scheduling meetings, it’s all the small tasks that quickly start to add up. Larger companies can hire project managers specifically for this, but smaller businesses can also save time with the right tools.

Project management software can be a great way to stay on top of all the tasks you have to do in a day - big and small. At a glance, you can see different project deadlines approaching, access files for specific projects and leave notes for yourself. Most project management software can connect with your other tools and apps for time tracking, CRM (customer relationship management), customer service and support, so that all your information is accessible and accurate.

If you’re using FreeAgent, Projects help you to organise your client work so that you can easily access all related activity in one place, from invoices, estimates, bills and expenses to project tasks (both billable and unbillable) and even time tracked against them.

4. Looking after cashflow

To understand how your business is doing, it’s vital to track the money coming in and going out of your accounts. Accounting software can help. If you record your expenses and invoices, it will do the hard work for you. No fiddling with receipts at the end of a month as you can record out-of-pocket expenses on the go. FreeAgent can make your life even easier by automatically categorising expenses and reconciling bank transactions with invoices, so everything is in the right place for highly accurate reports and tax returns.

Having a clear understanding of what the near future holds for your business is also crucial when it comes to making the right decisions. ​​FreeAgent’s Cashflow forecast enables you to do just that, with data-driven projections about how much money you’re likely to spend and receive in the next 90 days.

5. Asking for referrals

Marketing techniques can be expensive and uncertain. But word-of-mouth marketing, and especially referrals, can be inexpensive and highly effective. The cost comes when you calculate the time it takes you to reach out and ask for referrals from each customer.

Setting up a referral programme can take away this demand on your time and referral software is available to help you fully automate the outreach process. The key is to create a programme that is easy to share and kicks in automatically after each customer has had a positive experience with your business. Have a read of our blog on creating a great referral programme for some inspiration.

6. Knowing your numbers

To figure out how your business is performing and where your best growth opportunities are, you need to dive into your data every month. This will give you a clear picture of costs and profitability. It shouldn’t take long, but when you have to pull numbers from different spreadsheets and apps, it can quickly snowball into a task that takes all day.

Once you know which reports you want to monitor each month, you can automate the bulk of the work. If you spend time reviewing Google Analytics for your website, add the key metrics to your dashboard for immediate access. If you want to track your finances or best customers, you can pull helpful reports in FreeAgent - like your Profit and Loss or Customer Sales - in seconds.

7. Keeping up with tax deadlines

Whether you work with an accountant or manage your own business accounting, it’s important to understand your tax position, what you owe and when. One option is to plan ahead and set yourself reminders for key submission and payment deadlines. Or, with software like FreeAgent, you can rely on your Tax Timeline overview for all your deadlines - including filing, payments and payroll - as well as live updates of your tax calculation and a clear view of what’s done and what’s due.

Ready to automate your admin? Give FreeAgent a go with a 30-day free trial to explore all the ways we can save you time.