Everyone I’ve spoken to in the last week has asked the same question: how can I get more done in the time I have?

Coincidentally, this is also a question I’ve been considering myself recently – odd you might think for the owner of a business that offers outsourcing and opportunities to take on some your workload! 

As with most small business owners I can work long hours, at weekends, and find myself snatching 5 or 10 minutes here and there around my family and other commitments.  With bigger demands on my business, I need to be more productive.

So I’ve spent some time evaluating how best to address this, and I thought I’d share my discoveries and look at how they could help you to be more productive:

The Business Greenhouse is pleased to launch a new champion of the smallest of small businesses on Monday 26th March: ‘MicroBusiness Monday’.

MicroBusiness Monday is a chance for owners of the smallest of businesses (those that employ up to 10 people) to celebrate their achievements, to share the challenges they face, and to find support amongst their peers. 

This is hugely important at a time when microbusinesses are generally feeling the pressure of a reduced demand for their products and services in this current economic climate. Yet, the government expects that they will play a significant role in helping to secure economic growth.  

Politics and small business make an interesting mix, as borne out by observations made on last nights BBC Question Time.

In an amusing discussion involving Justice Minister Ken Clarke MP, Baroness Kramer, Owen Jones (author of ‘Chavs’), John Prescott, and Julie Meyer, Founder of Ariadne Capital, the message regarding businesses is clearly ‘the more money we can get small businesses to borrow, the better the country’s chances of finding economic stability quickly’.

However, even if this is right strategy, the discussion showed it appears to be failing.

With the new year underway we wondered how many small businesses have set themselves new goals and ambitions for 2012, or have renewed their promise of pursuing new ideas made in the months, or even years, gone by.

When setting up The Business Greenhouse we surveyed businesses to find out what their ambitions were.  While the survey helped us to decide what services and support we should be delivering, we thought you might like to see the results.