office organization tips – Getentrepreneurial.com: Resources for Small Business Entrepreneurs in 2024

This article has been inspired by one of the respondents to my recent survey who commented “I need clients not organization”. This particular comment really stuck out for me because I feel that a lot of business owners become so focused on getting the clients that they really don’t understand being more organized means getting more clients, and therefore do not put in place the foundational pieces that will allow their business to grow.

You will probably have heard me say before that you need to “manage” your business before you can “market” your business, or to take what this respondent said and turn it on it’s head:

You need to get organized to get clients.

Sure, you may get clients without being organized, but you won’t get clients consistently; you won’t be able to create a business that brings you the fulfillment of bringing in a significant income; and you won’t have the security that even in a slow economy your business will still bring you in the clients and provide you with a consistent income – and yes I’m talking from experience here. 2009 has been my best year ever!

So today I’m going to share with you why becoming more organized and having your systems in place means getting more clients – and a continual flow of clients too.

It all starts with your filing system i.e. getting the papers off your desk and put away and getting the clutter off the floor. Once you have cleared away the clutter and have a system in place for retrieving information so that you can access it when you need it, you eliminate a lot of the overwhelm. And once the overwhelm has been eliminated your mind becomes clear, you can focus, and your creative juices start to flow – think implementing new programs or creating new info products. You now have the space (both physically and mentally) to start working on your business rather than in your business.

Once the clutter has gone you then need to take charge of your finances. You need to know exactly where you are financially in your business so that you can make sound business decisions, i.e. can you place an advert in that ezine where your target market hangs out and so will bring in new clients for you? Can you afford to attend that networking event where you know you will make new contacts who will eventually become clients or generate a constant referral source for your business? Having your financial information organized will tell you exactly whether you can make that investment. And making that investment will lead to new clients.

Now that you’ve placed that advert or attended that networking event, you need to follow up with all the people you’ve just met. A contact management system will let you do just that! And this is the real secret to getting new clients – the follow-up; the making connections; the staying-in-touch. All this comes from having your contact management system organized, and this is where you can bring in new clients consistently.

And finally, you need to create an online marketing system that draws new clients to you daily; people who sign up to your list; who want to stay in touch with you; are interested in your programs, products, and services. Your marketing system should be fully automated so that it can continue to work for you even while you’re not present in your business.

So now can you see why you need to get organized to get clients?

It’s the lack of organization that stops your business from growing; that stops you from getting new clients on a regular basis; and that takes away the security and fulfillment you get from running your own business. By being organized you will get clients consistently and your business will grow.

Let me share a secret with you that many successful online solopreneurs already know – you have to manage your business before you can market your business, and if you’ve been with me for a while you’ve no doubt heard me say this many times!

So, if you can answer YES to at least ONE of these questions then you know you are not effectively managing your business:

* Do you feel overwhelmed at the start of each day – you don’t know what to do first?
* At the end of each day do you feel like you’ve achieved nothing, yet you’ve been ‘busy’ all day?
* Do you find projects/clients are falling through the cracks?

These are some of the classic signs of a LACK of systems – you’re not effectively managing you business so how can you effectively market your business? You don’t have your core systems in place and your business is running you when it should be you running your business!

Let me share with you now five ways you can start to manage your business so that you can effectively market and grow your business:

1. Review your current systems. The first thing you need to do is look at the systems you currently have in place. What is it that constantly frustrates you, or that you feel you are spending too much time on? Are you continually searching around looking for an email address? Or cannot tell at a glance if your project is on track? Make a list of where you feel the problems are – these are your time drains. This is where you need to make improvements in your systems so that they work for you and not against you.

2. Set about creating your core office organization systems. Now that you know where the problems are you can begin to take steps to improve them – in other words you can now start creating your core systems! A system is simply a description of HOW you do something. For example, how do you create a new client file? How do you handle new client enquiries? Look at those areas you’ve already identified as your time drains and decide how these time drains can be turned into a system. List all of the steps you take in a process from start to completion – these steps will form your system.

3. Systemize repetitive tasks. If you find yourself doing the same task over and over again then you need to create a system for it. One example could be you’re answering the same client enquiries again and again. The easy way to resolve this is to put all those questions together in one place and create an email template. The next time a client asks you a question you simply open the email template, put their email address in the ‘To’ field, and hit send! Or, an alternative option would be to create a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page on your website and direct enquiries there.

4. Create a calendar template. Now that you have your core systems in place, start and look at how your work week is structured. Create a calendar template that blocks out time for certain activities, i.e. you might decide that Friday is your business development day, Monday is for marketing, and Tuesday through Thursday are for clients/revenue-generating activities. Once you create a structure around your work week you will find that you become much more focused and productive.

5. Create a long-term plan. I’m a huge fan of spreadsheets – they can be used for so much more than just sums! And I use them to plan out my whole year. I have created an annual marketing plan that shows me month-by-month what programs I’m going to be running, what promotional activities I’ll be doing, and which list building strategies I’ll be implementing. This takes a lot of the guess-work out of running my business because it means I always know where I’m going!

I guarantee that you too will start to see an increase in your business, your income, and your productivity if you start to implement some of the steps I’ve suggested above. You’ll wonder why you left it so long.