Content creation is a pain in the bum. It takes a great deal of one’s time and effort. Unless you have a team, consider all the hours you spend creating documents from a blank slate.

As a business owner, I’m sure there were times when you felt there’s not enough time in the day. But there’re so many ways to be productive and reclaim time by using templates in your business.

Pretty much any content that you repeatedly use can be templated to speed up processes. In addition, they not only save you time, but are beneficial in many other areas. If you’re not using templates, you should seriously consider adding them to your business. So, what exactly are templates?

What Are Templates?

Templates are tailored, readymade documents that allows you to cut out creating them from scratch whenever you need to use them. Once you have a ‘master’ template, you simply tweak accordingly.

It will take time and effort to plan and create them, but this is time you’ll save later. Once you have them designed and organized, it’ll reduce your workload, and your team’s, if you have one, thereby freeing you up to do other things.

Templates can be used for all sorts of things including:

1. Transaction paperwork – invoices, sales orders, order acknowledgements, and quotations

2. Documents for meetings – invitations, agendas, and reports

3. Organizational documents – to-do lists, calendars, and time management documentation

4. Material for education – as course outlines, session agendas, and checklists

5. Contracts and agreements, job descriptions, onboarding and training materials, and employee review paperwork

6. Email communications or series that you send regularly, both internally and externally

7. Professional bios for social media sites, blogs, and other online content publishing platforms

8. Company newsletters and email newsletters

9. Annual reports, bid proposals, project checklists, and budgeting documents

10. Long-term planning materials such as business plans and marketing plans

Did you know you can even design templates for social media images and other software-based content that you create regularly? Indeed, you can. Here’re a few examples of they work.

How Templates Work

We’re familiar with invoices that has the company’s name and business details, they don’t change. So, your template would have this format, you need only fill in the details that change each time, such as, a client’s name and address, invoice items, and prices.

These are really useful for online course session outlines that have standard parts, such as warm up, presentation, discussion, and action steps. You can also create standard graphics for announcing each session, where you just change the topic, time, and date.

Would you be surprised to learn that templates can be used for a high-level project too, such as a marketing plan, that has multiple parts? For example, you have target audience templates for different segments of a market. The same goes for your budget and timeline. With the format and formulas already set, all you have to do is plug in the information for your next campaign and costs and dates will be calculated for you.

Other Benefits Of Using Templates

Aside from saving you time, templates offer a number of other benefits as well. For instance:

Eliminate Procrastination. Because your content is already formatted, you won’t spend unnecessary time getting started with a blank slate. Open the necessary document and get started.

Work Efficiently. After you’ve designed all of your materials and they’re standardized, you’ll be equipped to work efficiently.

Reduce Errors. We often make mistakes when we’re in a rush to create a piece of content under time pressure. You might also leave out an important detail. With your templates, as noted above,, because they’re standardized, you simply focus on improving quality.

Consistent Branding. You would’ve included your brand elements at the design and creation stage, which keeps your brand consistent. This is especially useful when used externally.

Professional Presentation. With better consistency and fewer errors, your business will present a professional image.

As you can see, using templates frees you up to give focus in other areas in your business.

Getting Started with Templates

Although you can create these as the need arise, the best strategy is to approach it in a systematic way and plan.

So, start by identifying content you can turn into standard formats. Don’t stop with just routine paperwork. Review the list above and select which are pertinent to you. Make a list and prioritize the most commonly used (the ones that would save you the most time in the short-term).

Next, create a workflow for getting the templates done. An easy way is to take content you’ve already created and make adjustments. This keeps you from having to start from scratch, which saves hours of work.

Before you create your templates, create a filing system and a folder specifically for templates, then organize them in categories. This is important for easy access.

Further, label them with keywords so they’re automatically alphabetical within the files. This also makes them easy to search for. Be sure to delete old versions whenever you update so you don’t use the incorrect one.

See how productive you’ll be once you’ve implemented this system and have templates at your fingertips.

Then, what will you do with all the time you’ve reclaimed?

© Cherry-Ann Carew

Cherry-Ann Carew is an Online Business Coach, who supports emerging business owners simplify their start-up journey and helps existing businesses scale, so that they can earn uncapped income and live life on their terms.