My Organized Biz

When my desktop hard drive died, I had to reinstall from my backup. I did not, however, transfer my inbox. I left it on my laptop, instead deciding to start from scratch and see how I could do. That doesn’t mean I gave up on my other email. I just wanted to see if I could keep my inbox as small as possible.
It worked for a while. But work, life, family and oh, I don’t know, sleep, got in the way. And sadly, I’m back up to around 300 emails in there. Many of them are just email alerts that …read more

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It’s still early enough in the year to be thinking of ways you can be organized for the next 11-12 months. And one great way to do that is getting your computer files in order. As we get busy, it’s easy to just save a file, a receipt, an invoice in whatever folder pops up when you hit save. But is it really convenient when you have to dig for that file later?
Take some time to think about how you use your computer. What items do you save on it? How often do you need to refer back to it? …read more

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One quick way to group files into easily manageable bites is to use color coding. By grouping categories of files – such as financial, marketing, administration – you’ll better see what you need at a glance.
Visually grouping your files will help when you’re filing. You can quickly see where something needs to go. An invoice? Oh, that goes in green (it’s okay to have more than one green folder, of course). You zero in on the section you need and then you can look at labels and find the correct file.
And those same groupings will help when you need to …read more

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File drawers are nice for organizing your files and keeping things off of your desktop. But sometimes you need a file accessible and easy to grab. If you have a project that you’re constantly working on, looking things up, adding bits of paper to the file, referring to notes, you need that file at hand. If you have to retrieve it from a drawer multiple times a day, it can get irritating and also slow you down.
Yet you don’t necessarily want to leave it lying on your desktop either. It could get covered up. Things could get knocked out of …read more

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Let’s say you have a fabulous idea for a business. It could be a service, or a product, and you just know it’s going to do well. Maybe you’re already in demand, with friends and family encouraging you to strike out on your own. It could be something as simple as selling your artwork, or handmade products on etsy. Or maybe you’re a great assistant, manager, or consultant.
But you don’t have a lot of office experience when it comes to managing your own stuff. Did someone else always do it for you? Was it just not necessary when you weren’t …read more

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(www.myorganizedbiz.com) – I stumbled across an article on Apartment Therapy about creating a table of contents for your filing cabinet. The writer suggested that you make a list of files in the order in which they appear in your cabinet and then attach it to the outside of your cabinet. The theory was that it will help you know where to look for an important file.
Honestly, I think that may be a little bit of overkill. Unless you have a lot of filing cabinets, is this really necessary? Most of us have one or two – maybe even three – …read more

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Image details: Filing System served by picapp.com
(www.myorganizedbiz.com) – When it comes to organizing your files, you want to make sure that you can find what you need when you need it. It sounds simple doesn’t it? If it takes more than a couple of minutes for you to find something in your files, then you may need to update your filing process.
I used to file all of my bills by type: electric, phone, car, water, etc. But when it was time to file, it took a while. I had to look at each bill, decide what category it went …read more

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(www.myorganizedbiz.com) – Are you among the many people who have great ideas that get started and never completed? Before you get harsh with yourself about what a slacker you are, just know that this is a super normal thing. Go easy on yourself.
I bring up this topic because long term projects are a part of every business. We all have marketing ideas, product ideas, and a gazillion other things on the back burner that we’d like to do someday. The fact that they get started at all is remarkable considering how busy life is!
A client recently asked me how she …read more

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