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Get Organized for Business Success
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Laurie_Bornstein]Laurie Bornstein

Get Organized for Business Success!

Ever wonder why some businesses are more successful than others? There are several reasons, some are; focus, dedication, talent, marketing and organization. Why organization? Without organization you cannot stay focused, implement marketing strategies, have time to work on your business-not just in it and without organizational strategies you are quickly overwhelmed. When you get overwhelmed all you have time to do is to put out fires, you don’t have time to develop or grow your business. And if you don’t have time to develop and grow your business, you will never experience the level of success you desire.

OK, that’s the bad news. Ready for the good news?

Getting organized isn’t as hard as you think. The first place to start is in how you organize your day, your use of time.

Step 1- Master Your Time

Take an hour and in that time review how you spend a typical workday.

•    What’s the first thing you do when you get into work?
•    How much time does that take?
•    What’s the second thing you do?
•    How much time does that take and so on, until you’ve accounted for a typical day.

Now that you know how you spend your day, what part of the day is your most energetic? Your most creative? For me, my most creative, energetic time of day is in the morning. Once you know what time of day you are most energetic, schedule your day so that your energetic time is spent on your big projects-development, client proposals, customer service and those items that directly are in your first category. (See step 2 below for category information). DO NOT spend this time answering email, doing small projects or running errands.

In fact, I recommend reducing the time you spend answering and writing email to 1 to 2 times a day. For me, this means that I do not answer or read email until after I’ve worked for about 1 1/2 hours. I check email twice a day, the first after my productive
1 1/2 hours and the second before I leave the office. I spend 30-60 minutes on email each time. If this is the only organizational step you incorporate, I guarantee you’ll save several hours each day. Imagine how much you can accomplish with an extra 2-3 hours everyday?

Step 2- Build a Team

Begin by separating your daily tasks into a series of 3 categories.

•    Category 1-This category consists of tasks that generate revenue. Some examples are: customer service, follow-up, product development

•    Category 2- This category consists of tasks that directly support the generation of revenue. Some examples are: networking, client proposals, and education/training that support your ability and skills.

•    Category 3- This category consists of tasks that do not generate revenue, they support the business but they do not add to the bottom line. Some examples are: bookkeeping, paperwork, responding to every email message you receive throughout the day and the creation of your marketing materials.

Once you’ve separated your daily tasks into these 3 categories, review which of the items you can release to someone else, an assistant, a virtual assistant, a bookkeeper, etc. The items you should consider outsourcing are those items that are in the 3rd category, these items do not generate revenue. To spend your time on these tasks will not improve or grow your business. Almost all of your time should be spent on those items that generate revenue.

The mistake many entrepreneurs make is trying to do everything themselves. Why? Because they don’t think they can afford help. As long as you spend time doing tasks that don’t generate revenue, you take money away from your business. When you hire someone else to do those items, you have gained time, and this is time that should be spent generating revenue. When you spend the majority of your time generating revenue, you make more money. And when you make more money, you can afford to hire help! See how easy that is?

Step 3- Update Your Office

•    Update your computer programs for the New Year.  To grow your business you need the best tools available. Not necessarily all the tools available, but the tools you use should be up-to-date and as effective as possible.

•    Purchase and use office organizing tools, but before you buy any new organizing items, spend sometime thinking about how you work, what areas are most natural for you to use for files, for projects, etc. Once you know how you use your space it’s easier to purchase the right organizing items.

•    Clear all clutter from your desktop

•    Clear all clutter from your computer desktop (this means old email messages, files on your desktop, old files, old programs, etc.)

•    Clean any windows in your office

•    Consider a fresh coat of paint in a new and inspiring color

•    Purchase or improve your task lighting

•    Position your desk so that you have a solid wall behind and have a full view of your entire office when seated

•    Outsource those aspects of your business that do not require you

When determining your organizational strategy, you’ll need to know who you are, what you do, why you do it, and where you can utilize help. While each of these steps seems simple enough, spending time evaluating each step and laying it out in relationship to each of the other steps ensures that you’ll have an organizational strategy that supports growth and opportunity.

Copyright © 2008 Harmony Life, LLC. All rights reserved.

Feng Shui Teacher and Entrepreneur Laurie Bornstein, “The Feng Shui Marketing Queen” is the author and creator of ‘Simple Feng Shui Series’, her FREE monthly ezine filled with articles and tips on how to live and work in balance, visit http://www.fengshuimarketingqueen.com to learn more.

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