Bring It On! Simple Tips to Get Organized in a Paper World

The busy season is upon many of us. The more organized your operations, the more you can handle and the better you sleep at night! When we’re busy, we often feel that the last thing we have time for is organizing and implementing systems. As a result, we prevent ourselves from being able to take on extra volume at the time when it’s easiest to obtain.

These examples can be applied to any industry. The key to success with organizing is ensuring you have a system AND following it.

Here are six ways to get more organized in very little time:

1. Color-code everything
   Make the system consistent and easily accessible in a rush. In a real estate office, you might code all seller materials in green and buyers in red, for example – from call-in sheets to closing folders. Make your work orders fluorescent yellow, and accounting materials blue. You can even color-code your calendar online!
2. Rearrange your office space.
   Are the items you need close at hand, where and when you need them? Hang your call-in forms on the wall above your phone. Keep a binder close at hand with most often-referenced information (vendor list, abbreviations sheet, product inventory, and so on). What can you move into an electronic format that would work best for you? If you have the desk space, considering having an additional monitor. Having a good flow of even small items on your desk can make a big difference. Start fresh – reorganize your desk, change pictures around and give yourself a stimulating new environment.
3. Group tasks.
   Rather than pop up every time you have a fax to send, put a basket on your desk or mount one on the wall for pending outbound faxes. Then send them every two hours, instead of one by one. If prospecting mailings include more than one mailing, prepare them all at one time, then post-date the future ones and place them in a tickler file to go out on the proper date. Rather than have your email announced with every arrival, schedule to check it at certain times.
4. Plan Ahead.
   Organize your social media by having it pre-programmed. Sit down and create your strategy for the next six months with how often, what to post, and the like. If you are not going to do this yourself, hire an intern from the local college or a company that specializes in this service. When you sit down to blog, it’s often just as easy to write three or more at once.
5. Stock up!
   Anything you use repeatedly should be kept in quantity supply – pre-assembled presentation folders, referral gift cards, etc. Hire a high school student, if needed, to print and assemble your packets. Use a par sheet system on your office supplies so that you maintain minimums of everything needed – paper, pens, clips and more. If you meet clients in your office, keep beverages well-stocked in a refrigerator, so there’s always a variety to choose from.

What is my #1 Tip to ensure that you stay organized?

Plan your days.
Take the last five or ten minutes each day to write out your top three priorities for completing the following day. When you come in the next morning, you’ll have a new focus you’ve been lacking, and interruptions are much easier to handle.

If you have a team, help them be the best they can be by communicating with them on their top priorities as well. This will add great value to your business by keeping you aware and watching tasks completed in a timely manner.

Start today; follow these simple steps to get started and be more organized no matter what type of business you have. I promise you will find yourself less stressed and more productive if you do. Develop a new habit that pays off with success in other areas of your life and business. Getting systems like this in place is one of the many strategies we work on with our coaching clients. Watching that success happen is one of the things I love most about being a Coach.

Let me know how your organized life is going once you implement these six tips!

Amy Stoehr
Executive Coach