Running a business is hard enough, without it being unorganised. Organization is personal though and what works for some, just doesn’t work for others. It’s important to test different strategies out and see what works for you and your business. Below I’ve listed some top tips for getting organised.

Physical space and storage

Psychology shows that a clean desk is vital for improving concentration, in fact “Someone working at a clean desk has been found to be able to work without losing focus for more than seven minutes longer than someone who isn’t working at a clean desk”(1). Sort your desk space out, give everything a home and keep it minimal. At the end of each work day, put things back where they belong so you can start fresh the next day with everything in place.

Make sure your computer is up to speed

There’s nothing more frustrating than wanting to crack on but not being able to due to a slow computer! If you’ve tried the basics such as restarting both your computer and your Wi-Fi router and it’s still too slow you may need to run some maintenance. Norton has a good article with 12 ways to improve your computer performance. It’s worth keeping on top of and doing these tasks fairly regularly to keep on top of it and some of them only take a few minutes.

Plan social media and blog posts in advance

Inspiration will come and go so make the most of it whilst it’s around! Planning social media and blog posts in advance means you can easily keep track of what’s being posted and when. If you use Squarespace, make use of their blog post scheduling.

Keep your books updated as you go

Tax returns are due at the same time every year but always creep up on us fast! After the first year of business and leaving my tax return until the last minute I vowed to never have that stress again! I now keep my books updated as I go so when the end of the tax year rolls around I’m prepared for it.

Keep track of invoices

Your business needs money to survive. You deserve paying for your work. Keep track of your invoices! Once you’ve sent your invoice, keep track of it in a way that’s easy to manage. This could be as simple as a tick list with three columns (invoice sent, invoice reminder and invoice paid). Check this regularly and update when necessary. Keeping on track of your invoices is something simple that can make a big difference to your business.

Set time for tasks

When I have a set time for certain tasks I find they’re often completed much quicker than if I just leave myself to do them ‘at some point this week’. So my daily routine now always starts with emails, then social media messages. This way I know messages are replied to in a timely manner (less than 24 hours) and I can tick a task off my list first thing!

Emergency fund

Sometimes in business, we can’t predict the future. Bills due at the same time, tax due, broken equipment… there’s a whole host of things that can go wrong. If you have an emergency fund in place these things are more manageable. I try to keep a few months worth of funds stashed away just in case the worst was to happen!

Delegate

In order to keep organised you sometimes have to delegate tasks. These could be tasks you can’t do, don’t like to do or just simply don’t want to do!

A common task I see a lot is website maintenance! Small businesses will have their website developed and then leave it to go stale (and risk it dropping off Google search results because it’s not been maintained!). If you don’t have time to keep your site updated, delegate this to someone else so you don’t have to worry about it.