Getting Organized For Success

I recently volunteered to lead an informal discussion group on a favourite topic of mine: “Getting Organized For Success”. The purpose of the group was to share ideas and pick up some new ones. The participants were small business owners from a wide range of businesses, both male and female. Although the group was so diverse, when it comes to organization, their challenges were very much the same!

It was interesting to learn that the most pressing organizational issues most small business owners have to deal with are: Clutter, Email Overwhelm and Time Management

Here are some of the ideas I shared with the group to deal with the above along with some of the solutions the group had to offer:

Clutter: the physical clutter i.e. stacks of paperwork, receipts; the home office becomes a dumping ground and papers for both business and household pile up. Over time the paperwork accumulates into unmanageable piles.

• The best way to avoid clutter is to have a system to manage the paperwork before it gets out of control.

• If you prefer to have everything neat yet close at hand, try a literature organizer. The cardboard models are sturdy and inexpensive. With 8, 24 or more letter size compartments labeled by category, each piece of paper that crosses your desk can be placed in its respective slot immediately.

• If you prefer your paperwork out of sight, use a filing cabinet with labeled hanging folders.

• Use an ‘in’ tray only for the items that need your attention right away.

Email Overwhelm: need I say more? Business owners cannot possibly respond to emails at the rate in which they come pouring in and managing email is too time consuming.

• Avoid attempting to respond each time you receive a new email. Schedule one or two times throughout your day that work best to dedicate to email management.

• Sort incoming mail by “From” or “Subject”. This will group emails alphabetically by sender or subject and is a great way to skim through emails quickly to identify what needs your attention now, what can be deleted right away and what can wait until later.

• Be proactive about managing your email. Take the time to set up ‘rules’ (Outlook has this feature). You can automate what should be done when an email comes in from a particular person i.e. move to ‘x’ folder. You can get very specific with this and assign sounds to alert you when you get an email containing certain key words or other rules you specify.

Time Management: juggling multiple calendars and multiple devices i.e. Blackberry, Outlook and Day-Timer; balancing personal and business commitments.

• To Do Lists do the trick for most of us. One member of our discussion group writes his lists for the next day at the end of every day and enjoys crossing tasks off his list. He even admitted to adding unscheduled tasks that he had just completed in order to get the satisfaction of crossing them off!

• I plan for my week ahead every Friday by blocking off chunks of time dedicated to various tasks.

• Remember to always schedule time to work on your business too. Allocate time for record keeping, managing emails, scheduling and creating your newsletter.

• I have all my business and personal appointments in one calendar and differentiate by using pen for business and pencil for personal.

• Remember if you use multiple calendars like your iPhone and Outlook, to keep them in sync.

Getting and staying organized is a continuous process but doesn’t have to be a burden. When you get to the point where you can maintain the systems you implement, you can better handle the day-to-day challenges and demands of operating a business while balancing other commitments such as family. Use these tips and suggestions to make your business the best it can be. Enjoy the journey to a successful business and life.

3 Simple Solutions to Clutter Control

Do you have a process you follow that keeps your home office organized? Do you document your expenses monthly or throw your receipts into a shoebox? When tax time comes, will your records be in order? Do you manage your emails daily or is your inbox out of control? It is much easier to maintain your office and manage your records ongoing. It will be difficult to maintain the quality of your work if you have to dedicate a huge chunk of time to finding an important document amongst piles of paper or organizing one years’ worth of business records in one sitting.

Here are the top three problem home office scenarios with solutions that I’ve either discovered myself or borrowed from others. Let’s keep it simple!

1) Problem: Did you pick the bright, airy room with a view to set up your home office only to find that the view is now obstructed by stacks of papers?

Solution: Literature Organizers are great for those who like to pile papers. With 8, 12 or more sorting compartments you can label each section to identify the contents. It keeps papers tidy, organized and easy to access. Prices range from $20 for the cardboard model which are fairly sturdy up to over $100 for larger units or those made of plastic, wood or wire mesh. My cardboard model has lasted me over 3 years!

2) Problem: The cozy little nook in the basement with the gas fireplace would be a great place to work. Your own space away from the distractions of working from home. But, out of sight, out of mind. Your desk has become a catch-all for receipts, pens, papers you name it and now you avoid the space.

Solution: There are a lot of things we have on hand that can work just as well as costly office supplies to keep your work space orderly;

• reuse bill payment envelopes. Collect 12, one for each month to compile and keep track of your monthly receipts for income tax purposes.
• use a mail sorter to contain smaller paper items like notepads, loose notepaper and envelopes
• a couple of mugs will keep your writing utensils close at hand and organized. Use 1 for pens and pencils and the other for highlighters, scissors and glue sticks.

3) Problem: Your inbox shows no signs of slowing down. Each time you sign on there are even more messages and you can’t imagine how you’ll ever deal with all this mail.

Solution: Schedule 30 minutes at the start of each day to manage emails. Some suggest you don’t even look at email first thing as you will get sidetracked. However, knowing I have 30 minutes allows me to skim through, delete any junk and address anything urgent. Then I can read thru 1 or 2 newsletters I subscribe to and keep the inbox numbers down. Knowing I have limited time prevents me from giving too much attention to the non-essential emails. It’s also important to have only a couple of key mentors you follow and unsubscribe from the rest. There is only so much information you can absorb and when overwhelmed you’ll retain even less. Follow only one or two people/gurus/mentors who know what they are doing and are where you want to be.

Home office tasks are ongoing so it is important to set aside time each day to manage this area of your business. A little time spent every day will save a wealth of time and stress in the long run.

5 Key Focus Areas Of A Successful Home Based Business

A maze puzzle is symbolic to taking our businesses on the path to reaching goals. From start (building), there is no direct route (growing) to finish (your goals) but rather twists and turns and some backtracking along the way. Your schedule is like your plan through that maze. When you take the time to contemplate your route and map it out, you get through your ‘maze’ with less backtracking. It’s easier to stay on course and reach your goals with that plan.

To help you apply this approach you must divide up your time into 5 main areas when organizing your schedule. Here is the list and some of the items that fall under each category:

1. Client Work – or the area in which you perform your revenue generating activities. If yours is not a service business, this area may be Product Sales for example.

2. Business Development - time spent working on your website, preparing marketing materials, proposals, making phone calls, correspondence, attending networking events, planning, meetings, reading/audio/video (resources for business/training), writing (articles, submissions, ezine, blog), social media activity, participating in forums.

3. Home Office – tracking business expenses, filing, invoicing, record keeping, managing emails, scheduling.

4. Personal – build this into your day to remind you to break away from work, to eat lunch or go for a walk with friends.

5. Family – spending time with kids, pets and family activities. This usually comes only at the beginning or end of my work day, but I like to have it showing on my schedule.

How you divide up your time will vary from person to person, but it’s important to assign time to each category throughout the week and work with it until you find a good balance. If you neglect one area the others will suffer. Revenue generating activities have to be consistent obviously, as well as Personal and Family time, but don’t neglect Business Development and Home Office time. You have to incorporate these areas into your week in order to effectively grow your business and prosper.

And if you don’t want to make the time because you dislike these tasks and would rather be doing what you’re good at or taking some more personal and family time, then outsource. Most of the tasks that fall under Business Development and Home Office can be managed by a Virtual Assistant (VA). You don’t have to do it all yourself. Like the saying goes, “Do what you do best, then hire out the rest”.

5 Simple Steps To Creating A Customized Schedule That Works For You

September is about new beginnings – back to school, back to work and new routines. In North America, September always seems to be the unofficial new year. As we leave behind the fun and frolic of summer and refocus on our businesses, it’s likely time to revise our schedules as well. So here’s to fresh starts as we talk about how to set up a weekly plan and make the best use of our time.

You may refer to a schedule as an agenda, timetable, calendar, plan or to-do list. Whatever you call it, if you don’t have one, I encourage you to create and follow one. Why?

Because…

• with a schedule you have a place to put your to-do’s. Rather than having a loose idea in your mind of what needs to be done, a schedule gets your list out of your head and gives you a solid guide to follow.

• your schedule organizes your work day so that one task flows into the next almost effortlessly. No more scattered thinking, scrambling to make sure you get everything done before running out of time or forgetting something.

• it is an effective planning tool. Once you have your tasks plotted you will have a visual of what your week looks like. For example, you may see that you have a block of time available each week that will allow you to take on another client. Or perhaps you will realize that you’ve taken on too much and will have to scale back in one area.

Having your days planned out is so important to your business. It has a positive effect on your state of mind, your productivity and in turn your bottom line. Since I started using a schedule it has made a huge difference in my workdays. It is a simple system to get your office back on track. It is easy to set up and maintain and no costly equipment or supplies are needed.

So let’s get started! Grab a pen and paper or create a document on your computer.

Here are the 5 simple steps:

1. Determine your hours and days of work and draw a chart in the form of a table with days of the week across the top and hours of the day down the left side. It’s important to set boundaries as to when you’re available and to let your clients know how and when they can contact you. If this is your own business, you get to make up whatever works for you and makes sense for your industry. If you’re just starting out it’s tempting to announce that you are available 24/7 in order to get clients. That can actually be bad for business. Only promise what you can deliver. You probably don’t want be ‘on call’ when you’re sleeping or with family!

2. Divide your activities into any number of manageable categories. For example, as a home-based service business my main categories are Client Work, Business Development, Home Office, Personal and Family. For easy reference, colour-code each category.

3. List what items fall under each category. For instance, under Client Work list who your clients are, under Business Development list what networking events you attend and for Home Office list tasks such as tracking business expenses.

4. Block off times for each category. It has been said that we overestimate what we can do in a day. Remember that your daily tasks will typically take longer than expected so be generous with the time you assign to each category and each task. (The good news is that we underestimate what we can do in a year so plan big for that!)

5. Now you have your template. Fill in the blanks with your to-do’s and you’re off to the races.

Modify your schedule as needed. It can take many tries and tweaks before you find what works for you and it will change as your business evolves. I challenge you to create a schedule and use it for a month and see the positive difference it makes in your business. I’d love to hear what you come up with!

3 Reasons Why You Need Home Office Time

Designated home office and business development time are essential for the small business owner. This is the time you can concentrate on your business – plan for the week ahead, learn new skills or software and in effect allow you to serve your clients better and run your business more efficiently and profitably.

If you’re feeling stuck in your business then this may just be the solution to help you build or expand your business and prosper.

Try blocking out a half-an-hour a day, consistently, and focus that time only on home office and business development tasks. If you work better with larger chunks of time, then dedicate one afternoon a week to this purpose instead. Or if you can, do both!

Can’t afford the time? You can’t afford not to. We spend most of our time serving clients and often forget that our business needs us too in order to thrive and grow.

Here are 3 reasons why you need this time and suggestions of things you can do in the allotted time to achieve the benefits:

1. Accomplish more. To enable you to run your business more efficiently, plan for the week ahead. Clear your head of your tasks by putting them all down on paper where you can examine them. Create a daily schedule by marking off blocks of time in your day planner or create your own calendar and customize as you go. Tasks always take longer than expected so plan for this. When you have a realistic plan to follow for your day you can focus on the task at hand without being distracted. Remember to schedule in your home office and business development time! Cross things off your list as you go.

2. Enjoy less chaos. Gradually go through your piles of papers and either recycle/shred, file or take action as necessary. Maintain your business expenses on a daily or weekly basis. Whether you use a simple excel spreadsheet or keep track of your records with accounting software, there will be fewer headaches for you and/or your accountant at tax time if your records are well documented. Take inventory and order any office supplies you are low on. Toss out pens that don’t work and sharpen pencils. When things flow in your office, so does your business.

3. Serve your clients better and attract new business. Learn a new skill that will enhance your offerings. By being proactive and optimizing the use of technology you are providing more value to your clients. Utilize new software that will make things easier for you in your business too. Technology is constantly changing and it will keep you up to speed with your competition. There are many web-based training courses that you can attend from the comfort of your home.

This is pretty basic stuff but if you begin doing this in your business, it’s a good start. Often we need to get back on track in order to move ahead. Try it and let me know how it works for you!