How important is administration?

I have been asked to do a presentation/talk to a group of mixed level NVQ Business and Administration students, with special emphasis on the "importance of providing a reliable administration service" and "setting up your own administration service".

I do this sort of thing through the Welsh Assembly Government's Dynamo Programme, which aims to encourage entrepreneurship in Wales by providing role models to present in schools, further education colleges, and universities.  The programme has been running since 2002, and has had really good results.  More information about the Dynamo Programme can be found here. 

The topic of the presentation has of course set me thinking about "administration" and what it means.  Because it's what I do for a living, I've rather taken it for granted that everyone knows what "administration" is.

What do you understand by the term "administration"?

The dictionary defines it as "the process or practice of managing".  If you think about it, simply by paying our bills each month, or organising a holiday, a meal out, remembering birthdays, or even the weekly shop, we all "manage" our daily lives in some way or another.  We have to be more or less organised, and make time available.  Sometimes we are so busy we can neither be organised, nor find the time, yet we still have to "manage" and we end up feeling we're going round in ever-decreasing circles.

If we find managing our home lives difficult, imagine how much more complicated it is to find time to carry out the day-to-day administration tasks necessary to keep a business running!  Marketing, publicity material, book-keeping, typing quotations/estimates, dealing with correspondence, issuing invoices, chasing payment, paying bills on time, answering the 'phone, managing staff... and now there's the internet and more ways of promoting your business such as web sites, blogs, newsletters, and social media such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more... more than 24 hours' worth, and I haven't even mentioned  doing what the business was originally set up to do!

Most business people I speak to set up their businesses because they want to work for themselves at producing a product or service that they know they can successfully sell and make a good income from.  What none of them ever realised was how much time they would spend on background administration, and now vital it is to the success of their business.  Without it, they cannot run their business, but whilst they are spending their time on administration, they are not producing the goods or the service upon which they rely for their income.

The canny "domestic executive" finds a way of delegating, or outsourcing, the less appealing or productive tasks - a gardener, or a window cleaner, a weekly cleaner, or someone to do the ironing, for example.

Delegating or outsourcing administration is more difficult in business because there are so many rules and regulations which have to be complied with.  If the business is large enough, it will employ staff to manage and administer.  However, not all businesses are in a position to take staff on board, and the canny business person will outsource the administration tasks to someone who has the training and experience to do them, as and when necessary, such as a freelance Secretary/PA or a Virtual Assistant.

So what will I tell the assembled NVQ Business and Administration students when I talk to them about the importance of a reliable administration service?

Firstly, that it is a vital function of any business, without which it cannot function.

Secondly, for the very reason that administration is so important, it is vital that the tasks are carried out efficient, correctly, and in a timely manner.

And about setting up their own administration service?  That I have found it immensely satisfying; that it has given me much pleasure to work with really nice people; that it has provided numerous opportunities for further learning; that no two days are the same; and above all that your business is what you make it - if you work hard and provide an excellent, dependable service, your clients will be happy, they will stay with you or come back to you when they need you, and they will recommend you to others.