Freedom in Business, What and How

2 years back on this same day, we wrote a blog on “What does Freedom Mean“. It talked about how to think and act freely and also how to enable others to act freely. 

 

This Independence Day, when we were reflecting back on it, we wondered what should be the kind of freedom that the world needs today

 

The answer was undoubtedly singular: Freedom from the Pandemic (COVID 19). But much has been talked about it. So, apart from the freedom from COVID 19, which other kind of freedom could help the world and its people today? 

 

Digging deeper, reveals one of the most crucial aspects of survival which the pandemic brought into light. Apart from Freedom for Self, we also need to bring “Freedom in Business”. 

 

No matter how creative we are, no matter how large our business is, if our business is not free from the conventional methods, we haven’t given the wings to our business to take that flight.

 

Freedom in Business 

Freedom in Business simply means that the business should be free from relying on chains of people (to a certain extent), free from relying on a place-of-operation (to a large extent) and lastly on a certain pattern (here pattern refers to time or mode).

 

Now, let’s explore these independences, one by one. 

 

Be Free from People

 

Let me tell you a short story. 

 

Last to last night around 8 pm, one of our business verticals saw that the client-side mail id is failing to receive mails. Soon enough there raised a cause of panic among the team members and by the law of default they tried to call me, (the founder) and update me about the issue. 

 

Unfortunately, I was not available at that point of time to provide the best solution. Mind you, each hour of downtime could cost us hundreds of USD. 

 

So, what could be done? The manager, without wasting a single minute called the IT person of one of my different business verticals, shared the necessary information and got things resolved within an hour.

 

What sounds like a mundane incident, has one very important message for all of us, here. Our business is free of dependence on people. Decision-making should not be dependent on one singular person, irrespective of the designation. In the absence of one person, the immediate person vertically below should know and also be free to take the necessary step and responsibly execute it. 

 

I have met founders who face an issue of not knowing what to do when projects get delayed only due to the delay in their own response time. Not that they do it intentionally, no founder will. But priorities take over them, leading them to moments of loss. 

 

Another issue which many businesses face is missing on attending to the queries of prospective clients.

 

How many times do we answer to the phone’s ringing or how many times do we answer the same mundane questions about our business, be it from somebody who is asking for a company profile or a product portfolio or for that matter, even our working hours? 

 

What if you can digitally automate these responses? Do you know, that a simple Facebook Page could answer all of the above-mentioned questions? Just imagine, how helpful it can be for a small business owner who operates with limited human resources.

 

To know How to create a Facebook Business Page, click here. 

 

Another important way to free your business from manual efforts is the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Most of us must have heard about it but it’s still more about being a topic of discussion instead of finding real-time application. 

 

One micro use of AI can be seen in Chat Bots. Chat Bots are basically replacing the way we can answer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Employ automated Chat Bots and let them answer to people asking you about your products, services and other commonalities. Intervene only when and if necessary.

 

To know more about How Chat Bots can help you in your business, click here. 

Don’t let a person’s lack of time, stop your business from growing. Make it “Free of People.”

 

Be Free from Place 

 

Crisis gives birth to Innovation. 

 

There is a silver lining to every dark cloud. While many have lost their jobs to this pandemic, there are as well countless who have started to make a living on their own. Ask them how did they do it and most of them would have a common social platform to mention (be it over Whats app, a website or Facebook) websites being the most common. Almost every other person, on today’s date, is having an idea of running a website in their mind. However, what makes us wonder is why don’t they execute it? Period.

 

It’s useful, it’s not as costly as people assume it to be, and integrally it’s a one-time cost for most. Yet, ask majority of business owners and they would rather do a detailed cost-benefit analysis of it, instead of simply investing in one.

 

People consider website or digital marketing as an expenditure. But they need to understand is this as an investment to eminently assist in their brand-growth.

 

Imagine this, a basic informative website would cost you ~INR 25,000. And this would include all the information which is needed to share whenever you talk to a prospective client. 

 

More significantly, you are having a 24*7 presence online, such that anybody could read about you and your company at their convenient time and place without having to wait for you to get back.

 

Ask us about what we do and we would simply direct you to www.getyouat.com. 

Thats all and we are done. 

 

Now you can find almost all the basic info that you needed about us: our team, our clients, our recent works et al. ONLY a selected few of you would take interest in finding the brick-&-mortar office address, mentioned in the Contact Us page. Are you one of them?

 

To know more about different kinds of websites, click here. 

 

All this reminds us, do you know when was Zoom launched? We are sure, all of you must have used this platform by now. 

It was launched in 2011. But thanks to COVID 19, it at least got its reward at least after a decade. 

 

Imagine, how much time and cost could be saved if we can start doing the regular meetings over Video Calling Apps? We are not promoting work from home or remote working (that’s another chapter all together), but we are sure 25 percent of time and cost could be saved with the use of such apps. (Let’s really not focus on the percentage, focus on the point). 

Websites are mostly useful. Find out which one would be useful for your business and “Be Free of Place.”

 

Be Free from Pattern 

 

By pattern, what we mean here is being free from the mode of doing business. Digitizing matters. 

 

Be it payments, salaries, purchases, sending documents, investing et al., try to digitize as much as possible. Most importantly, adopt to these habits.

 

Net banking has been there since decades, but it surprises us to see even the youth of today is failing to use it optimally. Thanks to digital payment methods that at least the payment part of this is being taken care of. But there is much left to utilize.

 

We see companies still paying salaries in cheque, clients still giving payments in cheque. Imagine just because of your failure to digitize, another person has to waste his time to drop the cheque and another company has to wait for 2 more days to get it cleared. This could have been done with just one click. Save time of others and you would end up saving time for yourself too soon.

 

How about writing? Blog writing. Another underutilized segment. 

 

A blog is not just collection of words or stuffing of keywords. A blog tells much about you and your company.

To know about the Importance of Blogs, click here.

 

It gives a voice to your business. A business can tell about itself to so many unknown people through a blog for endless period of time. Without meeting, without knowing – you build a connect with the reader, and create chances of conversion. Isn’t it intriguing? On cost side, we need to understand it’s a one-time cost for a forever read. Think. 

To know more about pricing of blogs, click here. 

 

Change habits, digitize your strategies and “Be Free of Pattern.”

To conclude, we would say, this Independence Day don’t just wish freedom to relations and self. Your business is your baby. Try to make it truly independent. 

 

We understand digitization is a continuous process and vast. But again, freedom was never achieved at a shot. 

You have to go, one step, at a time. 

 

Happy Independence Day to you and your business. 🙂