The more efficient your business is running, the more you will be able to get done. Getting organized will help you be more efficient, which frees up time to expand your business or focus on improving your current processes. Having everything organized allows you to find what you need when you need it. Getting organized now will also be helpful down the road when you have grown and added more employees or products.
Getting organized can be a daunting task because you may not know where to start, or there may seem like too much to do. Making a plan and taking small steps is a great way to jump into an organization project when you are feeling overwhelmed. It is important to start with something small that you can do easily and then build on that success and move into other areas. Here are some tips to help you get started.
Start With Your Space
Where we work often affects the way we work. Starting your organizing project with the physical space in which you work is often the best approach. Working in an organized area means fewer distractions and a calmer working environment.
Everything in your office or workspace should have a specific place that it belongs. When you are finished using something or at the end of the day, put everything back into its place so you can start the next day fresh.
You should also maximize the space that you have to work in to allow for even more storage. In small areas, wall shelves are a great way to keep clutter off of work surfaces and not take up limited floor space. You may even want to consider keeping some necessary items that aren’t used frequently in a separate room or an offsite location.
Your computer can also get cluttered with files and emails. Storing data on the internet can make them more accessible to all employees and get them off your desktop. You should also organize important emails into folders, so they are easy to find and schedule a time to read emails, so notifications are not distracting you during the day.
Customer Service
Customers are at the center of your business, so keeping your customer service interactions organized is essential. There are different software that can help you manage these interactions and organize them, so you know what is a top priority.
Even though it is crucial, it can also be time-consuming to interact with customers. Completely automating your system will likely leave customers feeling frustrated, but being organized is a way that opens up more time to build meaningful relationships.
Social Media
Social media campaigns are extremely important. They allow you to reach new customers and build relationships with current customers. They can also be very time-consuming. Instead of breaking concentration every couple hours to post on social media, consider scheduling them beforehand. It will take more time to organize, but once it is done, you can step away and put your full attention on other things. Once you get the hang of batching this work together, it will end up taking much less time than it did doing it manually.
Employee Schedules
Another task that takes up a lot of time is scheduling and keeping track of employee schedules. There are many online bits of help for organizing and managing this task. Creating a simple template that allows you to plug in names each week or month can be very helpful and how to create an employee schedule template is easy to learn.
Expense Receipts
Managing expense reports is essential for any business, but it can be a hassle to ensure it is done correctly. They are necessary because they help you track your finances and make sure you can accurately file taxes each year. Keeping on top of these reports should be a top priority. Schedule out a time each week to make sure that you are tracking these expenditures.
You should always record the transaction into the correct account every week. This could be customer billings and payments or vendor payments or other expenses you may have. You should also document and file copies of the receipts so you can reference them later if you need to do so. Finally, you should create records for all your vendors and keep close track of billing dates and amounts due.
Go Paperless
Going paperless is one way to cut down on office clutter and make your physical space more organized, but it is also a great way to stay on top of the paper organization as well. You can often request to go paperless through vendors and for other expenses, and a scanner is a great way to get everything else online. Organizing these files means easy access and no more searching through piles of paper to find what you need.
Workspace
In addition to organizing your workspace, there are a few other things you can do to enhance your efficiency in your office. Studies have shown that there are some ways to aid in improving concentration like adding plants to your office, getting a standing desk, and organizing the cables underneath the desk. All of these things only take a couple of minutes, but can significantly improve your workday.
Desktop
Your physical workspace should be clean and organized, but your computer should be as well, especially the desktop that you see when you open your computer. If you can’t see your background, then you are in dire need of some organization. Delete whatever you can and organize the rest into files. If you use a link a lot, try pinning it to the taskbar instead of having it on the desktop.
Track Your Time
Another way you can get organized is to track your time. Most people are not a good judge of how much time they spend doing tasks, so seeing it in solid numbers can help organize your day more efficiently. Batching small tasks together instead of dealing with them throughout the day can save a lot of time. It may also give you a better idea of what tasks should be delegated to other team members.
Quarterly Taxes
Every few months, you should have quarterly taxes due. Organizing this expense and planning can help this task be easier. Paying every quarter will reduce the amount you need to pay at the end of the year, and it will help you avoid fines. Understanding the tax laws for where your business is located is essential.
Emails
The email inbox is another area in your business that can cause stress when it becomes cluttered. Unread emails, emails that need attention, and irrelevant emails pile up over time. First of all, if an email from an email list is no longer relevant to you or your business, don’t just delete it, take the extra couple of seconds to unsubscribe. Next, organize important emails into folders, so they are easy to find, but not cluttering up your inbox. And finally, turn off notifications for your inbox; and instead, schedule a time each day to set aside to clear out your inbox and reply to time-sensitive emails.
Reading List
Most business owners have a reading list a mile long. Articles that are interesting start to pile up and the typical response is to bookmark it to read later or email the link to yourself. This practice only clutters up your inbox and desktop, and more often than not, the articles get forgotten. Using software to track and store this information will make it much more likely you read the articles.
