After many years of doing weekly team meetings in my business, I’m deciding to stop them. I already barely take meetings for clients (unless it’s business coaching), so it only makes sense to move this over for my internal team.
Granted, I still have meetings. I have meetings with my agent and my PR people. I also do sales consultations all the time. The meetings I’m referring to are team meetings with my internal crew like virtual assistants and graphic designers. Here is why I no longer hold team meetings in my business.
Our team communicates via a project management system.
Our team communications are all via a project manager. Everyone on my team also has access to my calendar so they know when I have meetings and when projects are due.
Here are some of the things we can do in our project management system:
- Start conversations/ask questions
- Assign tasks with due dates
- Start discussions about said tasks
- Map out a very large project
- Connect it to a calendar
Additionally, we’re all competent people who know how to look up information within internal communication. Most of the time, that’s all you need to do when you need an answer to a question.
I created systems to automate most of my business.
I downsized my team this year because I’ve built automatic systems into my business. This means that a lot of things I once needed a person to do, is now mostly handled. Everything from a social media post to scheduling someone for a consult is automated. All I need to do is show up to a sales call, sell and take a payment. And by the way, the delivery of my product is also automatic once a payment goes through.
I honestly don’t need to have meetings to talk about customer service or answer questions for two reasons. First, there aren’t that many questions. Second, as I mentioned, we can do it all with our project management system.
It wastes time.
At some point, business owners start realizing the value of their time. At this stage in my business, I can make a lot of money in an hour. Even if I didn’t actually make money, I can do tasks that will lead to money – like write marketing emails. That means spending an hour in team meetings I don’t actually need to attend is costing me money. This is why the phrase, “Time is money” is so common.
It’s not just about money though. What if I want to go to the gym? What if I want a nap? What if I just want to do something else in that hour? I’m very mindful about how I spend my most valuable asset, and I won’t waste it in unnecessary team meetings.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, team meetings with my internal contractors no longer makes sense for me. As a result, I got a few hours of my life back where I can make more money or just live.
Amanda Abella
Amanda is a best-selling author of "Make Money Your Honey", a book that helps freelancers and business owners understand their relationship with money and how to make it more productive. She's driven by helping others live the most productive and fruitful way possible.