A few years ago, my business was so unorganized it was hard to run. I had no systems and it all felt overwhelming. I was continuously running into the problem of being “too busy” to actually get it done. Now, after lots and lots of hard work, that is no longer the case. My business is organized, we have efficient systems, and it runs smoothly. In retrospect, I wish I would have realized that it would actually save me time being more organized…and way less of a headache. In this blog post I will share all of my secrets to organizing your business.
Here are my 9 best tips for getting your business organized and keeping it that way.
1. Using a Singular Platform
This is one of those things that you know you need to do, but don’t want to do the work to figure it out. Let me tell you, it is so worth it. Stick to one major platform to host your documents, emails, and everything else in between.
My personal preference is Google Suite. It is good for small businesses as well as large businesses. It can host your tasks, calendar, docs, sheets and a lot more. But whatever platform you choose, you need to stick to one. This will minimize clutter and confusion.
In our company, we use shared drives. The person in charge of the division organizes the drives into folders. For example, we have a marketing drive. In that drive we have the current marketing that we are running, a separate folder for the marketing we used in the past, a testing folder etc.. This way it is organized and easy to find quickly when searching for new or old marketing creatives.
Also, another tool we use is Canva. We have folders in Canva that are sorted. If we are going to use an existing creative, we copy it and rename it to the new creative. You can sort this by month, week or day depending on how much you use it. Using a singular platform will help organize your business and take it to a new level of efficiency.
2. Getting Rid of Paper
I know that this is a hard one to face, but you need to get rid of the paper. Have you ever written down a really good to-do list and realized you left it at home or at the office????? Yeah… exactly. Paper, though we love it, is a liability. It is also a liability for your employees. Let’s say you have a meeting and they all take the notes on the paper, and then they lose it. All of that work is lost.
This doesn’t happen when you take notes on your computer. That is why you need to get rid of the paper. Sticky notes end up UN-STICKING! You cannot rely on them for your most important reminders! Get. Rid. Of. The. Paper. And get everyone else on the same page… lol
3. Accurately Tracking Your Costs and Income
Getting our finances sorted out has saved us so much time and hair pulling. We have tried so many different platforms and we always come back to Quickbooks. It really has everything that you may need. We set up categories and automations that have simplified our accounting. We were able to sync our cards and our banks to sort out spending and categorize transactions easier and that is so helpful when running a business.
Having a system that tracks your income as well as your expenses makes your life easier and really minimizes the stress. We did not do this as well as we should have in the beginning and it cost us so much unnecessary work later on. Starting off with having this point figured out is an absolute must.
If you aren’t ready for Quickbooks, you can easily keep an excel spreadsheet with all of your expenses as well as your income. The nice thing about Quickooks is that you can export it into an excel sheet as needed with most plans. The important thing is that it is tracked and maintained.
4. Create a Content Calendar for Your Social Media
In this day and age, there is no excuse for not having a social media account. So, now that we are over that point, let’s make your life easier by organizing. This can be a really big game changer in getting your business organized.
There are so many different platforms out there for scheduling and posting your social media in a calendar-like format. This really helps to keep things organized by being able to plan ahead, see what is needed, and act accordingly. A social media calendar also helps a lot to be able to strategize easier by viewing what you have going out and seeing how it will all align.
5. Declutter Your Office
Having a workspace that is organized and clutter free will really help boost your mood and productivity. The best go-to method is picking up each item and deciding if you will use it in the future or you should get rid of it. Letting go of useless things will bring you a brand new space that is filled with peace and stress free.
There are so many different places to get organizers to organize what you do have in your office that you aren’t going to get rid of. Having organizers can make the space seem so much more functional and put together and cause you less headaches.
These are the organizers I would recommend for any office:
6. Organizing Your Digital Space
Nobody is judging you for your endless files and lack of ability to de-clutter your computer. We have all been there. And honestly, we all are still there. Once I began implementing systems to organize my files and declutter old things that I was never going to use, my life got so much easier.
Having everything thrown into the cloud is a bad system that leaves you in a position where everyone always NEEDS you. You cannot ever begin a phase two plan if you are the one with the world on your shoulders. You need workable systems that everyone understands and uses. If you don’t create them, everything will be a mess. And if you don’t make sure that they are kept up to date, it will continue to be a mess. You don’t need that.
7. Move Your Old Data to a Drive
Keeping all of your old data that you don’t use in the cloud or on your computer is massively slowing down your computer and your life. You need to get it off of there because it is not helping anyone. Amazon has small drives that you can buy that hold a ton of data. If you need to access something quickly, you can just plug in that drive and all your data is right there.
Keeping the data on the drive will make your devices run faster as well as keep your business much more organized. Make your life easier by moving your old data off of your computer.
8. USE Your Calendar
We have all been guilty of “doing work” and feeling like we aren’t getting anything done. This is where the calendar comes in handy. You can use your calendar to organize your life. Time block everything that you need to do and make sure that every meeting, appointment, and task list is on it. You should have one calendar for everything. It is the only way that you are going to be able to keep your head on straight as a busy business woman.
When you are setting up your calendar, you can usually color code certain activities and organize them that way. A few examples are personal, work, family, kids, husband, etc… whatever you need to keep your life organized.
Your calendar can be your biggest tool. Every appointment, meeting, or planned thing should be in that calendar because it takes it out of the huge list in your head and onto a platform you can see so you are not stressed.
9. Organize Duties and Responsibilities
Nothing clutters a business more than staff or owners who don’t know what each other are doing. Organizing your company means organizing everyone's roles and responsibilities. Every single person on your team should know what every person’s job is and what everyone does.
Think of your business like a team. How can you get anything done if the goalie doesn’t know what the defense is doing? You definitely are not going to win that game. Same goes for your internal team. If marketing is not coordinated with sales, you are not going to sell anything. This is for large and small companies alike.
Everyone should also know what your job is as the boss, and if you aren’t totally sure and things aren’t delegated correctly, that is what you should do as a priority. First, make sure everyone understands their job and what they are supposed to do. Then, you can work on everyone understanding what each other does.
In our office, we find it helpful to use a common platform where everyone can see what each other is working on. This helps with coordination and making sure nothing is getting dropped as well. We divide this into groups so that executives can see each other and all other levels are divided similarly. This creates an environment where everyone can work together and unite under the same goals. This is the game changer for your company.