5 Steps to Organizing Your Business
It must be tax time. Papers are taking over my living room and the shredder is working full blast. After I turn everything over to my accountant in March, I know I will feel lighter. But getting there is half the battle!
If you want to use this snowed-in/ rained-in tax time to make the rest of your year more easy, here’s five suggestions that work for many women entrepreneurs.
- Conquer the Paper Dragon. Set aside time to file every week. Once or twice a year (spring and fall are nice), go through your papers and get rid of things. Are you keeping past client files that are over five years old? Even if the client came back, would those files be relevant? Check with your accountant to purge those financial papers. We don’t have to keep everything. Make sure that you have enough storage, but not too much. Have storage that is attractive, colorful and easy to find things in. Musty papers in musty paper boxes are so 20th century! Keep your active storage away from your old storage. Only surround yourself with things that you actively need. Of course, you will need to conquer the fear of throwing things away. Some of us are just more comfortable in clutter. Others like the minimalist lines of the Zen tradition. If clean space terrifies you, then you need to find a coach or therapist that can help you actively define how much clutter is enough and how much is a sign of a serious problem. (I once had a client that had three storage units, one of which she hadn’t been in for 15 years!)
- Tame Your Time. Check your activities against your goals. Ask yourself the question, “What are you doing to keep yourself from doing more important things?” Make sure that you give yourself time to handle the “big rocks.” These are the things in your business that will bring you money in the quickest amount of time. It’s easy to get sucked into the online world of email, Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites. How much time are you spending fighting other people’s fires? Make sure that there is enough time in your day for self-care. A five minute walk can save you an hour-long visit to the doctor later. Time with loved ones is good for you AND for your relationships.
- Develop Repeat Processes. Try to do the same things the same way. Stick to the way you are doing it and tweak it. This is a lot more effective than re-inventing the process over and over again. Write it down so you remember what you did. Have someone else try to follow your process from your notes. (We all make assumptions!) What can you delegate to someone else? It’s a lot easier if you have a developed, repeatable process. Print out your processes and put them in an Organizational Manual. Copy and distribute the manual to the people who need it!
- Delegate. Keep a notepad going. Every time you do a task, particularly those you don’t like to do, consider if it could be delegated. If it can, write it down on your list. After you develop the process you want used, delegate it! Think of tasks outside your business, too. Cleaning, laundry, even food-shopping and prep can be delegated!
- Handle the Worries. Do you realize how much time worrying about things takes? Have financial worries? (Who doesn’t, these days?) Develop a plan. Find a financial partner who can help you brainstorm ways to get your finances handled. Even the president has advisors help him with finance. Is there something nagging you in your primary relationship or with your children? Get help and handle it. It won’t go away by itself. It will just get worse and take up even more of your time. The same is true with annoying and aggravating customers. Do some analysis. You may find that the customer who eats most of your time is the customer giving you the least amount of money. When you factor in the cost of your time, you may find you are actually losing money! Finally, handle your tolerations. What are you putting up with that is a mind drain? Do you need a new computer? Get one. Is the light out in the hallway? Replace the bulb. Hate your weight? Handle it. Until we handle the tolerations, we never know how big a problem they are.
So there you go – 5 Steps to a More Organized Business! Add your own smart ideas for organizing your business below!
