Organizing and productivity

Feb 25

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Keeping Your Online Business Organized

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Business Organizing, Free Articles No Comments

When you run an online business, you quickly realize that time and money goes hand in hand. The more efficiently you use your time, the more profit you make. Therefore, staying organized and on top of your online business is not only a good idea, it really is vital to your business survival. Here are a few tricks that anyone can use to get and stay organized in an online business.

Trick # 1: Email Filters are Your Friend

While a spam or junk mail filter is essential to keep out the unwanted email that you will undoubtedly get during your day, other email filters should be used to make sure you get what you need in a timely fashion. Take a few moments to configure your email to re-direct certain types of messages into specific folders. One option is to divide by subject areas- a folder for invoicing, one for client correspondence, another for marketing, one for vendors, you get the idea. Another choice is to create a folder specifically for each of your clients. Once you have the folders set up, and the filters in place, you’ll be able to see quickly what needs to be addressed quickly, and what can be shelved for a later time. Also, most email programs have an easy to use filter program already contained within them. In most cases it’s listed under “tools” or “options”, but check your help section if you have trouble finding it.

Trick # 2: Use Excel

There are of course, numerous programs out there that can aid you in keeping your business finances organized, but honestly, when it comes to keeping track of sales and client information, the old standby of Microsoft Excel still is the best. It is easy to use, the columns can be defined and changed as your needs fluctuate, and it can operate on nearly any computer system out there. Using a spreadsheet to keep your records current is an easy way to not only see what is going on with your business at the moment, but also to keep track of various trends over the long term. That way you’ll know how to adjust and change to meet the needs of your thriving business.

Trick # 3: Organize Your Website

When it comes to your website, remember that keeping things short and sweet is important. In most cases, if you keep your paragraphs between 40 and 150 words each, the information contained within them will be easier to digest, and the reader will keep more of the information. Also, be sure to make the location menu items such as “About Us” “Our Products” “Services” and “Terms of Service” and “Site Map” are easy to find and see. Remember that most people look to the top of the page first, so that is one of the best locations.

By using these simple ideas, you can help to make your online business more organized, and more profitable.

Feb 18

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Work From Home Mom? 4 Tips To Get Your Home Office Organized

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Business Organizing, Home Office Organization No Comments

You’ve taken the big step and you’ve decided to work from home. Whether you are telecommuting or starting your own business, having an organized place to work is essential for success. Here are the vital steps that you need to take to make sure your home office, and your home business operates smoothly. Don’t worry; organizing a home office is relatively easy, and less expensive than you might think.

Step # 1: Take Stock

Before you settle on file cabinets or furniture, it’s a good idea to take stock in what you already have. If you’re like most first time homeworkers, you probably have a lot of papers, pens, odds and ends, and emails. Take stock of what you have; that way you’ll be able to determine what you need to get organized. Does your business have a lot of paperwork, or is it more computer and internet based? Do you need a lot of storage space for supplies, or are they small and relatively easy to store? By understanding what you already have, and thinking about how your business will operate, you can more easily determine what you will need.

Step #2: Find the Location

One thing to remember when you have a home office is that work still needs to be done there- so choosing the right location in your home is important. It is essential that you keep your “office” and “home” areas separate as much as possible. While it is perfectly understandable that an errant toy will make its way under your office desk, try to make sure that the invasion of home and family into your work area is kept to a minimum. Working in a basement office, or an upstairs spare bedroom works well. If space is limited, though, a simple curtain hung up around your workspace can do wonders.

Step # 3: Get the Furniture You Need

Having a home office often means getting office furniture. Concentrate on finding office equipment that makes it easy for you to work. Do you have a chair that is comfortable, that encourages you to sit in a correct posture? Why not use that as your office chair? Perhaps you have some book shelves that were used by your child who is now at college. Why couldn’t they be used in your office? When you do buy something, however, make sure it is of good quality, and allows you to have to storage you need – now and in the future. It doesn’t make good business sense to be continuously replacing office furniture due to wear or expansion.

Step # 4 Organize!

Once you’ve gotten those steps done, the only thing left to do is organize your office in a way that makes sense to you. Many people organize by a color scheme, while others find that put things in a specific location is the key. The choice is yours.

Nov 19

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Conquer Your Paper Chaos When You Business Travel

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Business Organizing, Expert Articles, Free Articles, Home Office Organization No Comments

Has this ever happened to you? You’ve just returned from a business trip and your briefcase is bulging with receipts, meeting notes, business cards, travel documents and other essential paperwork. You’ll probably spend your first day back in the office just sorting through the chaotic mass of paper before you can even think about getting down to business!

Or, perhaps you travel all over the city attending one meeting after another. By the end of the day your briefcase is a pile of to-dos with no particular order. Phone messages are scattered on various pieces of papers and you just know that an important message is hidden somewhere in the mess. Then there are the business cards you collected, some require follow-up, but you’re not sure where you put those important numbers. If only you had kept it in a safe place so you could remember where you put it.

At this point, all those good intentions to take action and follow-up on hot new business leads fizzle into frustration. But there’s no time to think about how you misplaced those essential items. The minute you’re back in the office you find there is a pile of emails waiting for your response in addition to a large pile of papers on your desk begging for your attention. You dive right in to the emails and before you know it the morning is gone and it’s lunchtime. You work through lunch in order to attack the pile of paper on your desk. Then you realize you reviewed your messages, so you abandon the paper pile and listen to all your messages. It’s a never-ending circle of paper, email and voicemail, and you haven’t even cracked open your briefcase. You just spend the day reacting to emergencies and interruptions with no planned scheduled time to deal with the important issues that you had hoped to get to.

This continues day after day and you’re still dragging all those papers from your business trip in your briefcase and you’ve been adding to it during the week as you attended more meetings. Now you have no idea what’s what and it all melts together into one big mountain of paper begging for your attention. How long do you let this go on before you decide to take action? For some its days and other’s its weeks or months. Those hot new leads you made on your business trip aren’t so hot now and the longer you leave it the more you procrastinate on taking action. Eventually you take mountain of paper out of your briefcase and drop it on the floor by your desk and say you’ll deal with it later because you have more important things to take care of in the office. Guilt sets in and it constantly nags at you to do something but you don’t. You know you should get your business receipts handled but you’re not sure where they all are and it ends up costing you money when you could have been reimbursed.