20 Things I Wish I Knew About Being Organized

It’s hard to stay organized, own a business, work at all hours of the day, have a family, kids and even have a life. Here’s a few tips for the photographers (and maybe even those who aren’t photographers) to stay better organized.

1. Create a schedule for yourself so you can limit your work hours, plan for your family time and plan for time to yourself too.

2. With the digital age of iphones and more everyone keeps their calendar on their phone. I know I’m not the only one that does better with pen and paper. I still keep a planner and the simple act of writing things down in there helps me stay more organized than I would using my phone.

3. Make a to-do list each week for the things you need to do for your business that week. After you finish that list you are done for that week and can use your free time to spend with your family.

4. It’s better to do a little bit every day than to do a lot of it all at once. You can apply that to editing, filing, accounting, or any number of things as a business owner. If you work on a little bit on a regular basis it seems and feels easier to accomplish even the most daunting tasks.

5. Leave a papertrail. As a business owner you always want to have paper copies of the things related to your business. It’s important to file and track these in case of a worst case scenario tax issue.

6. If you are not a naturally organized person sometimes you’ll have to poke and prod yourself to stay on top of these things.

7. Keep a “Top 3″ task list in your head for each day. Prioritizing your tasks into what’s the most important for you to accomplish is a great way to stay organized.

8. Be willing to throw stuff away. Organizing isn’t just about your business, but your clutter and mess too. If you are keeping ahold of things you don’t need make sure you take the opportunity to throw things away and let go of them.

9. The simplest thing you can do to stay organized is put something away after you use it.

10. Don’t apologize for taking control of your time and prioritizing what’s most important.

11. Keep a business binder where you can store current information about your clients, sales taxes, contracts, accounting information and more before you file it away into manilla folders.

12. Ask for help. If you’re a busy mom and also a photographer it’s okay to ask for help. Figure out what you can afford to get help with, keeping the house cleaned? Hire a house cleaner. Keeping  your filing up to date, hire a college student to help you a few hours a week. By delegating the organizational tasks you can accomplish the same thing and find more value to your time.

13. Have less stuff.

14. Plan ahead. Know what you need to accomplish in the next month and plan for it in your schedule.

15. Take care of small and easy tasks sooner rather than later. Any task that takes less than 2 minutes to accomplish, just do it. It’s when all of those little 2 minute tasks build up in your mind that they become overwhelming.

16. Get the tools you need to stay organized. Mileage tracker? Planner? Paper trays? Files? Just go get it so you have it available and are ready ahead of time. If you have it there when you need it you are more likely to use it.

17. Organize in your own way. How others might organize might not work for you.

18. Keep your organizing methods simple. If it’s too complex than it’s more work than its worth.

19. Being organized and tidy can create a more productive work environment.

20. Have fun with it, be colorful and color code things, make your organizing suit your personality.

If you need help organizing your business you can try out the >Awesomesauce Organizing Packet< of digital download files that will help you organize your marketing, blogging, accounting, and more!

Also we’ll be having a class all about balancing your life and business on Wednesday, November 7th from 6-7pm Mountain Time. This class will be live online and all you have to do is watch and listen. You don’t need a webcam or a microphone to participate. If you cannot attend live, you can still register to watch the recording of the live class later. >Register Here<