Running a small business often feels like a juggling act, trying to balance multiple responsibilities. The key to not being buried in an avalanche of to-do’s lies in mastering organisation. Here are some practical do-it-yourself strategies that small business owners can implement to streamline their workflows, boost efficiency, and set the stage for sustainable growth.
Declutter Your Workspace:
A cluttered workspace can impede productivity and hinder creativity. Take a proactive approach by de-cluttering your physical space. Dispose of unnecessary items, organise paperwork, and get out the cleaning spray. A clean and organised workspace sets the tone for a focused and efficient workday.
Prioritise Tasks with a To-Do List:
Writing a daily, and possibly a weekly, to-do list is a simple yet really powerful organisational tool. Identify your priorities, break down large tasks into manageable steps, and set realistic deadlines. This approach helps you stay focused, track progress, and ensures that nothing slips through the cracks. A week to a page diary broken down into times of the day is invaluable for this! Use the bullet-journaling trick of employing symbols to designate priority, keeps things neat.
Use Digital Calendars and Reminders:
Utilise digital calendars, such as Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook, to schedule appointments, set reminders, and organise your day. Sync your calendar across devices to stay on top of deadlines and commitments. Set up separate calendars for different areas of your life, but sync them so that you never have a clash.
Establish a Digital Filing System:
This is perhaps our number one tip. It’s really worth spending time detoxing your online files and creating a straightforward filing system. Wherever you keep your documents, organise them into labelled folders. Google Drive now has colours that you can assign to folders for easy identification. This ensures easy retrieval when needed, which reduces the time spent searching for crucial information. And we’ve all been THERE.
Streamline Email Management:
Email overload is a common challenge for EVERYBODY these days. Again, create folders for each category of emails that you’d like to keep, and delete the rest. You can set up rules to have emails go straight to folders and bypass your inbox. Unsubscribe from unnecessary newsletters. Delete emails that you don’t want or need rather than letting them sit in your inbox.
Break Down Projects into Manageable Steps:
Large projects can be overwhelming, leading to procrastination. Create a spreadsheet for your goals, and break them down into smaller, more manageable steps with ‘by when’ dates. This makes even the most complex tasks feel more achievable. Sync with your diary for super efficiency!
Embrace Digital Task Management Tools:
Explore digital task management tools! There are so many to choose from, we like platforms like Trello & Monday.com, but they all offer intuitive interfaces for creating, organising, and tracking tasks, with useful plug-ins and power-ups to enable you to create the perfect system for the way you like to run your business.
Organising your small business work flow can be a game-changer for your business. Commit to spending some time getting organised especially if you don’t think you have time to – because that means it’s actually crucial that you do. Happy organising!