Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

Unless you’re in a creative industry, the chances are that your job involves doing a series of individual tasks. You may be living under the illusion that you have to perform all of these tasks yourself, but the chances are that you’re wrong.

Today there are lots of tools that you can use to remove a lot of the donkey work from your daily grind, some of which will surprise you.

Taking Reservations

You might think that taking reservations is a classical secretarial task. And, you’d be right: secretaries have been doing this for years. But what if you don’t want an expensive secretary? Most people will just choose to do the task themselves, but it turns out that technology offers a solution. Scheduling apps, for instance, can be embedded on your website and then linked to your Google calendar so that both you and your clients can see exactly when you’re free. These apps usually don’t cost much each month –  far less than the cost of a secretary – and they negate the need to actively keep a diary. You merely check what appointments you have for the day, and your schedule is decided for you.

Answering The Phone

Science shows that working people are not good at dealing with distractions. Distractions take people out of their workflow, forcing their mind to switch to another task, reducing the quality of their work.

And what’s the biggest interrupter of all? Your telephone. The good news is that you can outsource picking up the phone to a third party operator. These “virtual secretaries” take calls as if they are you, but filter them out depending on whether they feel that they are essential or not. What’s great about these services is that you only pay for the secretarial services you use, rather than having to shell out a full-time wage.

IT Systems

If you’ve got a laptop and an internet connection, you’ve already got all the tools you need to conduct your work, no matter how sophisticated your IT needs. Managed IT services make it possible for people working from home to have complicated software stacks, provided through the cloud, without any need for at-home implementation. Not only does it reduce costs, but it also helps to simplify your workday: you’re never actively involved in the management of your systems.

Research

Research sounds like something that you’d have to do yourself. But it turns out that there are dozens of people out there, all offering research services online. Researchers can help you find out anything, and do it in far less time than it would take you as an amateur. You can find researchers for a fee on sites like Fiverr and Elance.

Making Freshly Cooked Food

Cooking is vital for your health and productivity. But it also takes up a lot of time – something that isn’t helpful when you’re trying to progress your career. Now though, busy people trying to boost their incomes can use meal-delivery services to provide freshly-made, “home-cooked” meals to their doors.