We hear a lot in business about ways to cut corners and make everything quicker and easier. Of course, there's no way you can truly do this, because you will always be compromising on quality or potential at some level.

However, there is something to be said about working smarter and finding creative ways to get the best out of limited resources and focusing on productivity. The faster you learn to do this, the better it is in the long run. As someone who has been in business for over 30 years, I know this only too well.

Let's take a look at some ways in which you can adopt a "work smart" attitude and apply it to your business.

The first and arguably most important step is planning. This isn't just knowing what meetings you have in the day; this is about prioritising and ranking tasks and projects by their level of importance. This is critical to streamlining your thought process when making business decisions. It can seem impossible to gather your thoughts and create clarity in your mind when you have a lot of work to get done. As a startup this is especially true as you juggle the conceptual, admin and financial sides of a business all at once. You understand your business better than anyone so make things easier for yourself by being organised from the outset. Eventually all of the preparation will help you make better thought out decisions – leaving less space for mistakes.

As a new business, you will be strapped for cash, so initially you will be doing much of the work yourself. However, in order to grow as a business, you have to focus on your business model to refine it. One key area that will help you is hiring extra resource to share the load. They may be a full or part-time person – you will know what's best for your business. Remember you have to be able to justify the cost of bringing somebody into the business. I have spoken in a previous piece about hiring at the right time – if your workload justifies it and you can find someone that really adds value, then you know the time is right to make a hire.

If you can find a specialist in an area that is key to your business, you will reap the benefits of delegation by saving your time, while working with individuals who have the expertise to help your business grow.

Of course, the caveat of delegation is just as former United States senator Byron Dorgan stated – you can delegate authority, but you cannot delegate responsibility. Ultimately, as the business owner, all the good and bad decisions will come down to you, so to ensure that accountability doesn't drive you out of business, you need to make the right decisions when delegating. Communication also plays a big role here – something I learned early on in my career was that when things went wrong, it was probably because I hadn't explained it well enough. Communicating tasks clearly to the right people will ensure they get done just as effectively as if you did it.

Now, things don't always go well and there are businesses that fail. However I truly believe that failure is one of life's greatest lessons, and will teach you a lot about yourself and the market. I myself have failed in business before, but the key is to pick yourself up because a true entrepreneur is resilient. More than this, admitting to failure earlier rather than later will save you both time and money. Even at a smaller level, if a decision in your business isn't working for you, abandon the idea before you are in so deep that you have to abandon your own business.

The benefits of working smarter are undeniable. Not only will you have a better work/life balance, but you will be more satisfied with the performance of both yourself and your business. You can focus on the areas that matter most, and this can only be of benefit to the overall growth of your business.

James Caan is chairman of the Start-Up Loans Company. Each fortnight he will be tackling a different business issue. Keep up to date by visiting the network and signing up to our weekly newsletter. We welcome your suggestions for future topics and questions regarding your own business – please share them in the comments thread below.

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