5 Organizational Tips for Entrepreneurs
5 Organizational Tips for Entrepreneurs
Why get organized?
Organizing tips for entrepreneurs! Sounds great, but you’re self-employed and time-starved!
I promise, taking a wee bit of time upfront to create some simple systems will improve your days and your business.
As an entrepreneur, your time is your own. No boss standing over your shoulder giving you work to be finished and time-suck meetings to schedule and attend.
Ahhh…the freedom of being your own boss! Or not….
Spinning your wheels
Sure, on the one side you get to decide what you do when. But on the other side awaits SOS – Shiny Object Syndrome – which I wrote about here.
Constant distractions of social media, searching for things online, and the demands of parenthood (if you have children) can throw you off track.
At the end of the day, you wonder if you actually did anything that moved you closer to your business goals.
Are you ready for calm and release from the quicksand of busy work?
5 Basic Organizing Tips for Entrepreneurs
1. Write It Down
Have one place, a single notebook, a Google doc or project management system such as Wunderlist, Trello or Asana for writing down tasks and projects.
Let’s face it, we’re all overloaded with information so our minds short circuit. Don’t try to make your mind remember everything for you. As they say, “There’s an app for that.”
2. Put It in Your Calendar
If it isn’t scheduled on your calendar, it isn’t real…and, it’s just not going to happen.
A scheduled appointment can always be rescheduled, but if it’s not on your calendar, you’re relying on memory, chance, and a prayer.
I have an Accountability Partner (AP) and we have a standing weekly call that is already in our calendars as a repeatable weekly appointment. Scheduling it ensures we honor our commitment to help each other grow our businesses. Plus it keeps us from double booking.
3. Marketing 101: Business Cards
Organize your business cards so they are with you and ready at all times. First impressions matter and you want to look (and be) professional.
I can’t tell you how many times business owners I meet do not have a business card on them when I ask for it or worse, they offer, then realize they don’t have any.
Keep some in a filled business card holder in your purse and a backup stash in your glove compartment.
4. Safeguard Your Business Contacts
Use a Customer Relation Management (CRM) system. I use Hubspot CRM. It’s free and simple to use. I keep all my business contact data in it. I can set reminders for follow-up actions and track the relationship.
5. Batch Tasks and Content Creation
One of the biggest tasks you can organize in your business is to batch repetitive activities.
The idea of batching is to block off time for one single activity. You prepare once rather than over and over, getting into the flow and being more productive.
An example is batching video creation. Have one day set for video filming. You’ll only need to put on makeup and fix the lighting/set and your hair once. You can even have one core outfit that you change out with different accessories for each video.
Discover how to best organize in ways that suit you personally.
It’s brief, fun and you can download your free personalized results.
Jul’s Arthur works with successful entrepreneurs and companies virtually around the world and in-person helping them organize everything from home to office. Her clients include successful entrepreneurs, busy professionals and attorney clients. Specialties include paper taming, home/office-filing systems and decluttering
For organizational inspiration find her at www.julsarthur.com and follow her on social media: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest
Leave a Reply
© 2020 Carrylove Designs | hello@carrylovedesigns.com | Designed by Carrylove Designs | Powered by Showit | Privacy Policy | Photo Credit | Our Promise
Great tips! I like to batch content too.
Thanks so much Erica! Glad you found my tips helpful. When I learned about batching content, it was an “Aha” moment and game changer as an entrepreneur.
#5, #5, #5! this tip always helps me, but i don’t always do it! 😀 thanks for the wonderful reminders, jul’s.
#practice, #practice, #practice April…the more you schedule a block of time for batching tasks or projects, the sooner it will happen more often and become a habit.
Aloha and Thanks Jul’s for the helpful tips. I’ve been meaning to make biz cards! Do you have a favorite on line source for inexpensive and simple cards?
Mahalo
Annie
Big Island, Hawaii
Aloha Annie,
I like Vistaprint for inexpensive biz cards – http://vistaprint.com. They even have design people who will help you if you need it.
Mahalo,
Jul’s
Great tips for getting things done. I really guilty when it comes to the business cards. Love the idea of leaving some in the glove compartment and purse.
Hey Susie, So glad you liked my tip about biz cards in your purse and car…So many times that has helped me present my most professional and prepared self when I did not remember I ran out of biz cards or was low on cards.
Yup, if it’s not in my calendar, it doesn’t exist! Great post Jul’s – well done!
So true Lorraine…than you for the praise, and so happy you liked my post. That’s the thing about scheduling…if we keep it in our very overloaded and busy minds….it’s relying on luck not making a commitment.
Great tips to start the new business year off right. Excellent focus points on calendaring key deliverables, appointments, and batch tasking. Thank you Jul’s.
Happy you liked my tips, Valerie! Starting the year off on a positive right track for our businesses and sanity is so important. Simple as scheduling on one’s calendar and batching tasks/projects may be, actually implementing these steps so they become a habit can be all the difference in running a successful, sustainable business and scrambling.
Great idea to have an accountability partner. Thanks!
Indeed, Linda Janeand accountability partner can really help to remind one to work on one’s business, not in one’s business. We entrepreneurs cannot do it all on our own. Having partners in biz is essential to sustainability for me.
Couldn’t agree more – great tips to ensure a successful professional life.
Aww, coming from you, Tyryn, a young man so professional and personable in his career, that means the world to me, that you found my tips helpful. I learn a lot of my lessons from you, young man! If there is anyone out there that is the epitome of intuitively knowing what is essential in work and life, it’s you.
You are so right, great ideas. Just got new business cards and will put them in all my bags.
Lol… I suppose we ought to create a new saying, “You can never have too many business cards stashed in strategic places.” I even have some ready, along with my marketing postcards ready in a clear 4 x 6 poly zip bag for networking events…I just grab and go. Thanks for your comment Helen.
Great tips Jul’s! I always love your tips and I always learn something new!
Bianca, you’ve made my day! I’m so chuffed you love my tips and learn something new each time, coming from a pro entrepreneur like you. this means so much!
I will get some business cards as soon as possible!
Well done you Marta! A business card is a first impression and an invitation to learn more about how we can help someone solve a problem that we have skill and expertise with.
great tips love how you explain them so succinctly and clearly
Glad you liked them Diane!
Wonderful blog post about getting organized Juls! I am one who can lose myself in Social Media and meaningless tasks, so I know I need to work on focus and organization. It helps to have goals you are working on with specific tasks. Thanks for the great tips!
Oh yes Beth! Social Media can be a time stressed indeed. Onward to meeting goals with specific tasks! Thank you and you are welcome!
People with busy bee lives — that’s all of us — need help staying on top of it. Jul’s 5 tips help you do just that. Plus, she makes it fun.
Thank you so much Anne! Fun is the way I inspire myself and those I work with to take action! Our lives are so full with way too much information and micro decisions we are facing daily. If my tips, simple as they are yet profound in their effect, can help, I am happy 🙂
Great tips Jul’s! I am guilty for never having business cards with me but it’s mainly because I need new ones. (I justed added it to Asana!)
Fabulous Gemma! Way to take action. I know we online entrepreneurs sometimes forget our calling card is still our business card, and we meet potential clients and referral partners out in the “real world” too.
Great post! Love all those tips. I’m so guilty of having Shiny Object Syndrome, so I nee to make sure I’m not doing anything that’s not on the calendar. Thanks for the reminder Jul’s!
SOS or Shiny Object Syndrome is in my DNA too! I combat it with practicing single mindedness. Angela, for years, I wrote appointments and items on my calendar, and then would forget to check it…so I have learned how to help myself get out of the way and use my calendar 😉
What a host of valuable resources you share here, Jul’s! That can be the sticky part of business – not knowing which tools are really helpful! Thanks for sharing such valuable tips and resources!! (I have to admit, I’ve been THAT person without a business card, so thanks for the kick in the rear!!)
Lol April…the way I devise my tips is by needing to create them to make myself reap the benefits of being organized. My biz card tips came about from when I first began my organizing business and would be THAT person without a business card…so now I have it down to a science. Glad my post motivated you 🙂
Jul’s, as someone who is just starting to develop a flow as an entrepreneur, this post is a clear, ORGANIZED, not overwhelming way to prioritize. Now I need me some business/post cards. Excellent work!
Thanks so much Helaina! That’s super that you are developing your flow in your business. Seems many readers have been motivated to get business cards too.
Jul’s your tips were awesome. I went out and added items I was trying to remember to my calendar, and added more business cards to my purse and car (I’m notorious for not having one when I need it). Thanks so much.
Fantastic Melanie! It’s these little steps, when done consistently, make us more efficient, effective and productive at work, so we have more time to spend with those we love as a result. You go woman!
Jul’s these tips are great. As the classic creative spaghetti brain, I really struggle to stay focused and on top of things. I would definitely say I’m a sprinter, so batching tasks and content makes total sense for me!
You are speaking my language Jude! I would say my right brain can foray into spaghetti land, and my left brain wants order and efficiency. I love batching!
I soooo needed to hear this today! Thanks Jul’s!
My pleasure Christy! It’s little doable tips that can help entrepreneurs go from overwhelmed to calm, cool and collected. Thanks for you comment.