Category Archives: small business organization

Organized Bliss: Tips on How to Organize Your Office

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Posted by admin on August 2, 2009 – 1:06 pm
Filed under small business organization

Organization. It’s essential to running a successful business. And it’s often overwhelming to begin. Instead of stressing, we asked Sean Johnson, professional organizer and owner of Organized Bliss, to share with us tips on how to keep organized.

As a Professional Organizer, I’m often called in to help business owners get organized in their offices. What I usually find are stacks of paperwork, file cabinets that aren’t properly set up, and random sticky notes all over the desk with important information that could easily get lost or forgotten.

What I learned long ago is that, even though we value our clients and their business, we need to value our business and our office environments as well. It reminds me of the flight attendant doing the standard emergency speech, which states that parents must put their air masks on first before attending to their children.

The question we all need to ask ourselves is, how are we taking care of our business so that we can take care of others? How many times does a client call, and you have to call him or her back because you can’t locate a file needed for that conversation? Not only does this cost you time, but it could also cost you money. It never looks good if you appear disorganized in your business. Personally, I want to do business with someone who is on top of his or her game. And, usually, that person has incorporated a few organizing skills into daily and weekly business routines.

Here are five tips that I recommend to get the order going:

1. Do set up your files in alphabetical order using hanging files (categories) and file folders within (sub-categories). This system should be for current files. Files that are no longer needed should either be recycled or placed in a storage box (if needed for tax / legal purposes) and stored away. If at all possible, print out your labels as opposed to using handwritten labels. Printed labels are uniform and make it easier to locate a file within seconds.

2. Get an Inbox. Place all incoming mail and projects that need to be addressed in an inbox. Make it a daily routine in the morning to go through your box to see what needs to be addressed that day. An inbox should not be the big, black hole. Whatever goes in must come out, and physically going through it daily insures that flow.

3. Get a notebook. Get in the habit of keeping a notebook by your phone. Each morning, start a new page with the date at the top to record any notes from conversations, calls, reminders, etc. This stops the confusion of random notes and pieces of paper all around the office. Keeping a business notebook is helpful in retrieving information and also serves as a backup in case you need to remember a conversation or detail from weeks or months ago.

4. Use a Daytimer. Whether electronic or handwritten, Daytimers are a necessity for keeping us in the know on where we need to be and when. I personally couldn’t live without one. I refer to my Daytimer several times a day, and it travels with me to and from my office. All appointments and plans are logged daily.

5. Set up a weekly cleanup routine. This is the time to address your filing and clear the deck in your office. Pick one morning or one evening a week to go through your paperwork. Turn off the phones and email. Uninterrupted time will help you focus on getting the job done quickly and efficiently. Avoiding this task will ultimately create disorder and stress. On the other hand, making the time for this routine creates a sense of calm and control in your business environment. Easy choice!

For more information, visit the Organized Bliss website at http://www.organizedbliss.org/ or contact Sean via email at sean@organizedbliss.org or by phone at (843) 856-1847.

5 Tips to Get Organized and Be Less Stressed

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Posted by admin on October 23, 2008 – 7:04 pm
Filed under small business organization

The clutter is there. On your desk. In your office. In your car and briefcase.

Don’t ignore it.

Important documents, business cards, information, and, yes, sometimes bugs (especially in swampy areas where I live), can be found squashed between piles and piles of paper and folders. And when you need a document in that growing pile, it takes up too much of your time to sift through it all.

Creating a well-organized workspace will save you enormous amounts of time and frustration. And it will relieve unnecessary stress from your life. Solid structure is what keeps things from falling apart.

Here are some tips on getting your life on track with organization:

·       Hit delete. If your inbox is suffocating with the build-up of information you no longer need, toss it. It’s important to clear the way for new information and store any of the old in a folder on your computer. Seeing an organized inbox every day will make you feel less stressed.  

·       Store business cards and contact information in an alphabetical or categorical organizer. It will save you time when searching for a specific contact.

·       Organize important documents in folders, which should go in a file cabinet. It would be highly effective for you to have folders with personal information separate from business folders.

·       Finish a project before moving on to the next. This goes for business projects as well as home projects. Don’t put off what could be done today. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself overloaded with unfinished business and, therefore, more stressed.

·       Don’t save more than you need. Sometimes people save magazines, photos, books, newspapers, and other items that only create clutter. We even forget why we saved them in the first place. When going through a magazine, for example, take out the pages you need and place them into categorized folder. Throwing the rest of the magazine away will eliminate the extra space an entire magazine would take up.  

It’s not difficult to organize your life. With the right mindset and the right tools to get the job done, you’ll find yourself with more time and less stress.

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Time Management: The Key to a Happy and Successful Life

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Posted by admin on September 18, 2008 – 9:28 pm
Filed under Business Goals, Small Business, small business marketing, small business organization

Working hard to handle excessive work overload is a sure way to complete tasks. And increase stress. Finding ways to successfully manage your time can lead to a better work environment, happier personal life, and a more successful business.

Many of us find ourselves working late nights to finish work that we couldn’t manage during the day. Time management is about finding what to work on, when to work on it, and where. Effective time management means you need to break down and focus on what needs to be done to achieve your goals.

Time management elements consist of:

·       Eliminating Procrastination:  We all suffer from procrastination to some degree. It’s important to recognize when we’re doing it and develop a way to combat the urge. Procrastination occurs mostly from feeling as though a task is too difficult or too boring. Prioritize the important tasks you need to perform in list form, then find ways to motivate yourself to work. If you’re still having trouble getting in gear, make a list of the risks involved in not completing tasks or treat yourself to something when you finish two objectives on your list. If you’re overwhelmed by an assignment, brainstorm your thoughts and break the entire task into small pieces to work effectively on each.

·       Understanding Your Body: Throughout our daily lives, we may be more focused at certain times than others. It’s important to recognize these fluctuating levels during the day and define your tasks around them. Note when you feel most alert and focused and when you feel most tired. After a week of logging these feelings, you’ll most likely recognize a pattern. If you notice you’re usually more focused during midmorning, it would be beneficial to save your most important tasks until that time, making you more motivated to complete them.

·       Setting Goals: Having solid goals in mind will aid you in managing your time since you know where to focus your attention to gain success. Set a long-term goal to have an idea of where you’re heading, and use smaller goals to lead up to the main one. Achieving the smaller goals will build your confidence and motivate you to keep reaching for the future.

When Life Gives You Lemons . . .

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Posted by admin on August 5, 2008 – 7:17 pm
Filed under Small Business, small business organization

Owning a small business is a challenge (fun and exciting) in and of itself. But when life happens, small business owners have find balance between work and personal demands.

Over the weekend, my dog ran away and was missing for eleven hours. She disappeared at 11:15 p.m. Saturday night and someone found her at 10:00 the following morning. We searched for her almost all night. When we went to pick up Mama Mia from a man who found her, we realized she’d been hit by a car.

On three hours of sleep, we rushed to the animal hospital. She was admitted and kept over night. I slept a good four hours before I had to pick her up at 6:00 a.m. and take her to the vet.

While Mama Mia is doing fine and recovering quickly, I am dragging. Lack of sleep, worry, and running all over town have worn me out. On top of that, I have customer’s with needs and promises to keep. I have blogs to post and web copy to rework. My accountant called. I need to update my QuickBooks.

This morning over a cup of coffee, I wondered what other small business owners do to balance life’s demands and customer demands. How do we make lemonade when we’re thrown a sack full of lemons?

I have no clear answer. No perfect solution. What I have learned is to take it one step at a time. One day at a time.

The Power of Organization

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Posted by admin on July 28, 2008 – 4:24 pm
Filed under Business Goals, Marketing Strategy, Small Business, small business organization

Does your small business cause you to feel stressed, moody, and overwhelmed? It could be because you have too much work to handle. More often than not, lack of organization is the problem. 

When you organize your tasks and priorities, I can guarantee you’ll feel some sense of relief. So sit down with a pen and paper, take a deep breath, and begin organizing your thoughts. Make a list of ways to organize your office. Do you need more filing space? Do you have a stack of paperwork that needs to be filed? What can you do today to organize important information? 

Ways to Organize:

·        Spreadsheets with Contact Information: Organize your contacts, clients, employees, and business partner information into a spreadsheet in alphabetical order. This eliminates the extra work of always having to look up an email address or phone number of a company by visiting their website.

·        Spreadsheets with Tasks to be Performed: Use categories such as task, date needed to be finished, cost, priority, etc.

·        Spreadsheets with your Monthly Budget: This will help you keep track of how much money you plan on using during that month, monthly pay, monthly earnings, outsourcing costs, etc. Also, focus on future projects and how much those may cost.

·        Spreadsheets with Stats: You could have a dozen different items on this spreadsheet, such as your blog stats, website traffic, number of clients (increase or decrease from the previous month), success of a product or service, etc.

Don’t overwhelm yourself with work. Figure out what you can organize today. Doing so will help you prioritize important tasks that need to be done and help you figure out where you can and should outsource. 

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