When I was a child, I had a teacher who used to say “the devil is in the details.” I didn’t actually know what that meant until years later and now, when I’m dealing with all the dull, little daily details of operating a home business; I finally really FEEL what that saying means. If I let those little details go, my home business would actually be in trouble!
Sending and answering e-mails, managing phone calls, working on outlines and queries, ordering supplies and products, making contacts, sending invoices—whatever the daily details are that need to happen in your business, you’ve likely found that if you overlook them or set them aside for “more important” things, business operations start to falter and fall apart. Those practical little things sure don’t seem very fun and may seem to be a less efficient way to spend time, but they make all the other parts of business possible.
Some small business owners choose to set aside one day, or one half day a week to deal with details like equipment maintenance, ordering supplies, answering inquiries, and the like. Others find that doing a little bit every day keeps things running smoothly. Regardless of what works best for your work style and your business, the important thing is to make sure that you pay attention to all those boring little details and stay on top of things, so you don’t end up behind or dealing with broken equipment, late payments, or other irritating messes when you really need to be concentrating on something else. After all, even if you don’t fancy yourself an organized person, making sure the details are attended to and keeping things from slipping through the cracks will likely show up in an improved “bottom line” for your home business (or at least, a lower stress level!)
See Also: Are You Better at Facts or Relationships in Business?