Even if you only sleep a few hours a night, you’ll only have 20 good hours of wake time. Factor in time for meals, commuting to and from work, and dealing with personal issues, along with all of the unavoidable time wasters throughout the day, and you’ll soon be out of time. If you’re trying to run a business, you need every extra second you can squeeze out of those 20 hours to keep your clients happy.

The problem with that is, you can tend to procrastinate when it comes to those tasks you need to do to take your business to the next level. Fortunately, using a combination of creativity and technology, you can clear off your calendar so you can work toward accomplishing your goals.

Ask Fellow Business Owners

You may feel hesitant to impose but asking for help can be the best thing you can do to grow your business. Fellow business owners will be flattered that you asked, and they’ll likely remember you the next time they meet someone who needs your services. Also, just one small piece of advice could help you avoid wasting valuable hours on ineffective business-building efforts.

Outsource Tasks

You don’t have to put someone on salary to get help with your day-to-day tasks. You can use crowdsourcing platforms and virtual assistants to handle some of the items on your to-do list. You can outsource items related specifically to building your business, like creating a good mailing list or cold-calling prospects, but you can also outsource administrative tasks like social media management, data entry, content writing, and preparing presentations.

Use Automation

Paying a person to do daily tasks can add up. If you instead invest that money into software that handles things for you, you’ll save money over the long run. This includes bookkeeping software that helps you create and track budgets. Even your phone system can be automated. Services like Ruby Receptionist let you set up incoming calls to route the way that works best for you. If you need a live receptionist to answer calls, they provide that service, as well.

Always Be Collecting

As important as it is to put yourself out there so that you can generate leads, your website should also be doing some of the work for you. Have a solid intake process that actively collects information on website visitors who are interested in your services. You should also make it easy to book appointments through your website. Not only will this help capture the clients who don’t want to pick up the phone, but it will free up some of the time you would have spent taking calls.

You’ll never create a 26-hour day, but you can make more with the time you do have. You may even be able to free up enough time to get to bed a little early each night. At the very least, you’ll have more time to clear out your inbox or respond to voicemail messages.