This is a good time to get one’s office organized and start a new year with a clean slate…clean desk and ordered file cabinets. 
 I’ve been organizing throughout the year, but haven’t reached the ultimate solution.
I’ve resolved over the coming week, when one of my outside-the-home jobs (substitute teaching) is on vacation, to take that time and finish my clean up and organizational tasks.  Then I need to make sure I’ve developed, or am at least in the process of developing, organizational strategies that will be easy to follow throughout 2010.

Some files I won’t be able to box up for storage …read more

Organization of time, work, goals and work space often seem challenging.  Even when we have good intentions, we sometimes go astray.
From Business Know How, we have Getting Organized: 5 Secrets to Help You Get Started by Maria Garcia.  Here Maria gives you five organizational tips, but breaks them down even further for ease in getting yourself started.  This could be a good way to start the New Year in your business.
How are you organizing for the New Year?

Before you can organize an office or studio, you must have one to organize. 
 What shall you use for an office?  There are many options. 

Use a loft area as my daughter is doing for her fabric art studio.  One corner does have a bed, dresser and bookshelves for her daughter when home from college.
Convert one corner or end of a bedroom, as I’ve often had to do.
Use one section of a living room or dining room.  I’ve had to do this, too.  My daughter had her fabric art area at one end of our living room until the loft area became …read more

Many people with small or home businesses work at them around another job.  They may have a full or parttime job working for someone else.  How do they combine the two efficiently and productively?

Set down a business plan for your business.
Decide how you can get it started parttime, utilizing the hours when you’re not at another job.
If it’s an online business, it’s much easier to juggle your activities, fitting your business into the time slots you’re not at your “away” job.
If you’ve opened a business in your home, decide what hours you’ll be open…in other words, when you’re not away …read more

It’s a good idea to have planned and worked ahead so you’re covered in your business for emergencies and sick days.  In most small or home businesses, there is no pay for sick days…no work, no pay.

Try to stay ahead of deadlines for orders and writing assignents.
Have contingency plans “in the wings.”
Is someone else trained to do what you do, even for a short time, such as a family member?
Work even when you’re not feeling your best.
Be flexible and creative.

In reorganizing our multigenerational home, now that granddaughter is away at college, my daughter found she could utilize the loft area for her sewing and fabric design studio. 
(One side will retain a bed and space for Kara.)  However, the sprawling sewing nook and storage in the living room will be moved to the loft.
This has become an extensive  project as the family:

Repainted the walls, which involved looking at many paint chips.
Finished the floor (there was only a subfloor before)
Built permanent railings on either side of the chimney for the portion overlooking the living room.
Decided to paint the remainder of the …read more

The challenge – organizing your work so you’re productive when the weather outside lures you away from the keyboard, sewing machine, easel, billing, bookkeeping…or other necessary tasks to keep your business on track.
How can you take advantage of everything?

Get up extra early so that you can get the absolutely necessary work done before breakfast.
Organize your “to do” list so that the priority items are on top.  When those are done, you can play, then get to the not so important items afterward.
Before being lured away from work, make a commitment to stay up later that evening to make sure everything …read more

The organization of offices and work space will vary, depending on the person, the business, and the amount of space available.  Also, what works for one person doesn’t work so well for another.
Ideally, I like an efficient office and work space with everything at my fingertips and space just for ME.  However, that  generally hasn’t been my lot since I began writing, was sewing, painting, or working at an Internet based business. 

I’ve worked in apartments, duplex homes, a larger house with room for myself, a multigenerational home with everyone vying for space.
I’ve written in motel rooms and airports when traveling.
I …read more

Jessica, who provided some organizational tips about posting from the library or Internet cafe when one’s own Internet connection is down, has some more ideas to offer.  Thanks, Jessica.
Even if you don’t have a “real” word processor, your computer probably comes with a basic text editor that can save text files on your computer ahead of time (eg: look for Notepad on windows, TextEdit on Mac). You may have to go back and do the formatting online later when you get to the library, but if you already have the body text written that can save even more time sometimes! …read more

I realize, now that our Internet connections are working again, and I can write at home that I need to organize here as I did for writing at the library the other day. 
I knew then I had only an hour, two at the most, to check e-mail, check Facebook resources (yes, Facebook can be used for exchange of links among writing colleagues), and post on four blogs so I wouldn’t miss deadlines.
I got all of it done and more in two hours because I’d organized beforehand and knew exactly what I wanted to post about.  Here at home, when I …read more