Time Mastery: Tips for Tradies & Tradie Wives

09 Apr Time Mastery: Tips for Tradies & Tradie Wives

Being a tradies wife can be a rewarding and fulfilling experience. You get to support your partner in their passion for trade and watch their career flourish. However, managing your partner’s business can be a task that many find difficult to balance with your own job, family, social commitments and… life in general! 

The team at Intuit QuickBooks and I have pulled together some time-saving tips for running your Tradie’s business. 

Streamline Business Finances
Financial management is often the most time-consuming part of running a small business. The “Admin Room of Doom” is real for many – whether metaphorical or a literal room in your home. Intuit QuickBooks offers a time-saving solution for small business owners. In fact, with features such as automated invoices, expense tracking, and tax preparation, QuickBooks can save users up to 29 hours per month. Your tradie can download the easy-to-use QuickBooks app, cutting down on paperwork and freeing up evenings once spent on manual bookkeeping.

Automate Marketing and Customer Communications
Marketing your tradie’s business is key to attracting new customers and engaging your existing clients. Tools such as Intuit Mailchimp let you automate email campaigns to help manage customer relationships without a heavy investment of time. New AI features make it easy to customise your marketing whether it be via email or social media and hyper-personalise your communications with customers old and new.

Leverage Project Management Tools
Encourage your tradie to ditch the pen-and-paper to-do lists and migrate to digital project management tools such as Trello or Asana. These allow for organising tasks, tracking progress, and collaborating with team members. With mobile access, your tradie can stay on top of their projects anywhere, freeing up time otherwise spent on managing workflows and communication.

Invest in Scheduling Software
Scheduling apps like ServiceM8 or Tradify offer solutions for managing jobs, quotes, and invoices all in one place. By opting for such an app, your tradie can ensure they’re not double-booking and that they’re making the most efficient use of their workday. Tradify and ServiceM8 integrate with QuickBooks Online for seamless financial and payroll management.

Encourage Delegation where Possible
Even the most capable tradie with the most supportive wife can’t do everything alone. Encouraging outsourcing of tasks such as accounting, marketing, or even some on-site work can save valuable hours. Delegating might cost money upfront, but the time saved often translates into more jobs completed and profit in the long run.

Embrace Digital Communication
Encourage embracing WhatsApp or Google Meet for quick team catch-ups or site checks. This reduces travel time and keeps communication lines open without the constraints of physical meetings. You and your tradie can set up WhatApp groups for easy communication between the team. 

By introducing these time-saving tips and tools to your tradie partner, you’re not just helping streamline their business, you’re also carving out more opportunity for shared moments and well-deserved breaks. With tech-powered efficiency, your tradie can focus on what they do best — their craft — and you can enjoy the peace of mind that comes with a well-organised business and life.

By Jess Hart

Jess Hart is the Senior Acquisition Marketing Manager for Small Business at Intuit Australia. Having graduated from University of Technology, Sydney with a Bachelor of Communications in 2012, Jess has worked across disciplines including marketing, social media, public relations and digital customer experience. She is passionate about helping Aussie small business owners find success, whatever that means to them. Jess currently resides in Sydney, Australia.