Pure and simple

RUNNING YOUR GARDEN CENTER is getting more complicated with every passing day; just keeping up with changing technology can be overwhelming. Back in the day, TV sets were black-and-white with an on-off knob and a choice of three or four channels. In those days, running a small business required equally simple basics.

Not so today. Tough competition, oppressive paperwork and dizzying advances in technology make it all too easy to fall into the costly trap of struggling to “keep-up.” While you can’t afford to fall behind, it’s important to focus on the critical basics by avoiding unnecessary and costly over-complication in running your business.

Here are eight tips that will help you to improve profits by simplifying things for you — and for your customers:

1Simplify and slash your costs for keeping in touch

These days, it’s important for garden center owners to be able to reach others quickly and easily, and to make themselves reachable. As for keeping yourself reachable, you’ve never had it so good. With your cell phone, pager, broadband Internet access and regular telephone service, you’re never far from anyone you want to reach (or anyone who wants to reach you).

Unfortunately, you’re probably paying more than you realize for all that complicated techno-communication. Simplify things by contacting your primary provider to see what bundled plans are available in your area. You may be surprised at how much you can save by giving all of your communications business to one company, or by simply asking your sole provider to analyze your account for possible savings.

2 Dig yourself out from under all that paper

With all the paper you’re required to slog through for business purposes, you don’t need to add to the burden by hanging on to reams of paper because of the worry that you might need it someday. Most of it will never see the light of day.

Organizing guru Maria Gracia (www.getorganizednow.com) provides guidelines to help end the nightmare of out-of-control paper.

Use the 4 D’s for every piece of paper that crosses your desk:

• Do it
• Delay it (File it in an action file or archive file)
• Delegate it
• Dump it

Of course, even if you do a faithful job of following the 4 D system, you’ll still have some papers that you must retain. Wherever possible, have those papers scanned into digital files that can be stored on your computer and backed up. The less hardcover paperwork that you have clogging your life, the better.

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3 What to do with forever paperwork

Of course, there will always be some hard paperwork that you should save forever: birth certificates, passports, education records, life insurance policies, marriage license, divorce decrees, military service records, titles to cars and others.

Be sure to stow all of these documents in one place (preferably a safe-deposit box) to help simplify your life. Once you’ve done that, be prepared to toss, toss, toss. Save monthly bank and brokerage statements for only one month. When the new one arrives, toss out or shred the old one. After you’ve paid your credit card and other bills, toss out the paper statements, or shred the ones that have critical information such as your full account number.

Wherever possible, have those papers scanned into digital files that can be stored on your computer and backed up.

4 Use a single insurer

Keeping all of your business (and personal) insurance with one company simplifies things by cutting down on the number of bills you have to pay, and it often offers some other benefits as well. Most major insurance companies offer generous discounts to customers who purchase more than one policy.

If you’re currently using two or more insurance companies to fill your business and personal needs, look into the potential savings (and simplification) of consolidating all of your policies with the one company that serves you best.

Once you’re doing business with one company, consider going one step further. While it may cost you a little more, renewing all of your insurance policies on the same date with the same agent lets you sit down once a year to review insurance for the entire business instead of having different renewals pop up three or four times a year. You’ll save time, and your insurance agent will be able to serve you more efficiently.

5 Simplify your website

Be sure that your website has a clear and simple purpose. That may sound obvious for a business website, but failing to define and execute a clear purpose is one of the more common website errors and one of the most costly.

Sophisticated technology has made it possible to cram websites with all sorts of graphics, animation and other distractions that serve only to dilute their effectiveness. Do you want a website solely to establish an Internet presence, with a single page providing basic information such as your address, phone number and a general description of your business? Or do you want a complete e-commerce site with multiple pages, photos of your garden center, and travel directions — or something in-between?

Either way, you should establish a clear purpose for the site and make sure that it contains the simplest and clearest message possible.

6 Learn how to delegate

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Regardless of the size of your business, you can’t do everything yourself; learning how to delegate is an essential ingredient for the simple life. That may seem difficult at first because of sensitive trust issues, but if you’ve hired the right people, delegating some minor responsibilities will free up a little of your valuable time that will be better spent on major considerations such as where your business is heading and where you want to be a year from now.

7 Let your computer help you to simplify your business

Whether your business is large enough to make use of one of those heavyweight commercial software packages or you use Quicken, Money or one of the other over-the-counter software packages on a desktop PC, trust every aspect of your finances, including business and personal investments, to your computer. The financial reports and analyses that modern software can produce at the touch of a button can be vitally important tools for improving cash flow, bottom-line profits and can help to simplify your life.

Even if your business is large enough to farm out your record-keeping, consider putting your finances into one of the popular software packages designed for small businesses and personal finances. They are infinitely easier to use than they were as recently as a couple of years ago. More importantly, they will teach you in dramatic fashion how much you can benefit from a sensible cash management system.

8 Simplify your bill-paying

Your bank would like you to pay your bills electronically, and they’re making it easy and profitable for you to do so. Whether you sit down to write checks every month or whether you farm out that work, you can simplify your life and save money by letting your bank do that work for you — at no cost.

Improvements in technology and user friendly websites make online bill paying almost as easy as logging on to check your e-mail. If you’re really lazy, you may sign up for a system to pay recurring bills such as utilities and rent that require no action at all on your part.

If the current trend is a reliable indicator, taking pen in hand to pay your bills seems destined to become as archaic as carbon paper and typewriters. Check with your bank to jump on the online bill-paying bandwagon.

Simplifying costs and systems in your business produces a win-win situation. The customer benefits with easy-to-understand offerings from you, and your business benefits from eliminating the unnecessary complications that eat into efficient and profitable operations.

Running a garden center requires paying bills, renewing insurance policies, supervising employees, and seeing to it that your customers are satisfied. The simpler you make these responsibilities, the happier you will be while you improve the efficiency of your business. Keeping things simple will help you to manage your business and prevent you from being swallowed up by the complexity monster.

And remember: your garden center is unique, so there are many possibilities for simplifying things that are applicable only to your business. Even after applying as many of the above suggestions for simplification as you can, it’s likely that there are many other opportunities waiting to be discovered for simplifying your business and your life.

That’s why constantly keeping watch for new ways to eliminate costly, unnecessary complications will benefit you, your business and your customers.

William is a freelance writer in Pennsylvania, specializing in business management as well as personal and business finance. lynott@verizon.net