How to Get Organized in your Small Business
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As small business owners, we do it all, don’t we? We are the marketing team, the design team, the administrative office, accountants, and visionaries of our tiny companies. It’s all up to us, and it can feel super overwhelming at times.
Sometimes I feel like staying focused in my small business is a little bit like trying to clean my house after a busy week.
Picture this: you start one task, like vacuuming the living room. As you're vacuuming, you realize that the jacket you threw across the couch the other day really needs to be hung up in the closet, so you stop vacuuming and go to hang up the jacket. In the coat closet, you realize everything is in piles and needs to be sorted. You start sorting, but then see that some of these items should really be thrown in the laundry… do you see where I'm going with this? Distraction distraction distraction! Instead of following through with each task, I find myself with a whole bunch of unfinished tasks on my plate and feeling even more overwhelmed than before if that’s possible.
Here’s another example. Once a week I volunteer at a local farm to feed and take out tthe animals. During one of my volunteer times recently, I noticed something interesting. The chickens frantically run back and forth, from one bowl to another, jostling each other out of the way and eating sporadically. In stark contrast, the horses slowly graze their way across the field, completing each patch of grass before moving onto the next one.
Both of these examples inspired me to try something new when it comes to weekly tasks and organizing my own freelance business time management. The method I am trying is very similar to batching, but if you’re like me, the term ‘batching’ probably makes you want to run away screaming. Don’t worry, this method is much simpler.
What I mean by ‘batching’ is simply separating your general tasks into separate mornings (or whenever you have the time during the day), and using general categories to batch out your smaller tasks. This does require a bit of diligence in staying on task for a few hours, but it also frees you up to work on just one type of task.
For me right now, that looks like:
Monday: Writing Day
Blog posts
Emails (I love Flodesk and I think you will too - get 50% off your first year!)
Instagram or Pinterest captions
Anything else that falls under that category
Tuesday: Design Day
Instagram graphics
Pinterest graphics
Blog graphics
Email graphics
Anything else requiring graphics & design
Wednesday: Scheduling Day (and/or Marketing Day)
Scheduling out emails for the next week
Scheduling blog posts
Scheduling Pins through Tailwind (use my code to get 50 Ghostwriter credits!)
Planning my IG feed for the next week
Thursday: Design Day
Anything design-related that didn’t get done on Tuesday
Friday: Organization Day
Getting all files sorted out and cleaned up from the week
Physically organizing my space
Again, for me these are all morning tasks – I work on these general categories for a few hours each morning and then keep afternoons reserved for client work and weaving work. I also continue to stay connected on social media throughout the day, as I like to engage with my followers in the moment and in personal ways.
I’m also working on holding this schedule somewhat loosely in case anything unexpected comes up or I need to be flexible, but it has so far created a great framework for me to follow! I already feel more productive and focused in my business. I have even (mostly) avoided getting distracted by other tasks!
A great example: on a writing day, I sat down to start writing, and remembered that I had an InDesign file open to create a layout project for a friend. I almost switched gears and started working on it immediately in that moment, thinking, “oh, I can get this done quickly and get it out of the way”, but I caught myself just in time. This project could wait until Design Day! And thus I learned a new way of working. I am not a chicken. I am an intentional grazer.
As a small business owner or freelancer, how do you stay on track with your tasks and to-do list each week? Do you batch out your tasks, or have you found another organizing or time management method that works for you? What are some ways you have found to keep track of the many responsibilities that you hold as a business owner?
Let’s talk about it! I think one of the biggest ways I stay motivated and encouraged as a small business owner is by talking with other people in business, and hearing about their struggles and solutions. We honestly need each other and I love to hear others’ stories.
