A couple of weeks ago, it was my birthday and my daughter kindly informed me that this year, I get to stay 38 forever. I’ll take that while I can (maybe?) still (kind of) get away with it (?!). But in all seriousness, I turned 42! So in honour of the occasion, I wanted to share something a little different with you.

42 tips on how to organise your business (and yourself!).

I am always telling my business coaching clients how important this is and so today, I wanted to share some of that knowledge with you. Thanks also to those clients and contacts who contributed too!

So here we go… 42 tips on how to organise your business. And remember – focus on the ones that work for you and suit your goals and ways of working.

1. Do client work for the time of the day when you are most productive. Save the more mundane things when you’re not. (Thank you Helen from HK Graphics)
2. Block out time in your diary for when you know you need to complete certain tasks.
3. Automate what you can.
4. Set aside money for tax every month so you don’t get to the end of the year and panic!
5. Work out your work flows and stick to them – processes save you time and effort
6. Use colour to differentiate between different tasks, appointments, events or areas of life so that you can immediately see whether you have enough balance in what you’re doing. (Thank you Liz from Bizzie PA)
7. Use the Cloud to store your work so that you can work from anywhere.
8. Work in a way that works for you – we are unique, and trying to copy what others do takes time and energy (and isn’t necessarily going to be successful!)
9. Schedule your emails – clients don’t need to know what you’re doing and when (Thanks again Helen!)
10. Learn to say no – if it doesn’t float your boat or contribute to what you’re trying to achieve, don’t do it and waste your energy
11. Build systems that talk to each other – all of your tools and systems need to work together to help you to achieve your goals, so integrate them wherever you can
12. Take breaks – better to hit the pause button and recharge rather than allow yourself to burn out!
13. Default diary – consider creating a ‘default’ structure for your week. Obviously it will be subject to change, but this is a great way of making sure you have everything covered.
14. Pomodoro Technique – Break your day down into period of 25 minutes focus, followed by a 5 minute break.
15. Build in times to plan and review – think of these as milestones on your journey, keeping you on track.
16. Don’t be seduced by the shiny things – these can easily lead to distraction. Instead, have a way of reviewing opportunities as they come by, and consider whether they are actually worth chasing.
17. Non-negotiables first – our businesses need to work for us, not the other way around. So schedule in time for things like exercise and relaxation.
18. Clean up and declutter – a tidy environment and a tidy mind is a productive one!
19. Accountability check ins – when we have a planned meeting at which we will be held accountable, our chances of completing a task or goal increase by up to 95%!
20. Schedule your social media – No more scrabbling around for something to post each day
21. Track your time – this can be a great way to understand how you are spending your day. I’m a big fan of Toggl for this.
22. Our natural instinct is to get the easy stuff done first, but this just means we’re putting off the tricky things. So do the hard things first!
23. Understand your data – from data we create information. And we can use information to make sensible, well thought out (and most likely more effective!) decisions.
24. Don’t over-complicate – sometimes, the simplest things are the most effective.
25. Don’t have meetings for meetings’ sake – while it’s great to meet with actual people, it’s not always a good use of time.
26. Manage your contacts well – we should know our clients and contacts well, so create a system to help you to do this (and integrate it with other systems as per #11!)
27. Set aside time for emails – if you get distracted every time a new message pops into your inbox, set aside specific times for emails, and stick to them.
28. Get your ideas out of your head – we need time for ideas and time for action, so capture your ideas in a book or similar to keep your head clear.
29. Set up a dedicated workspace – this is so important to separate work and life if you work from home. You need to be able to ‘shut the door’ on your business at the end of the working day.
30. Set up a kanban board to let you see the status of any piece of work at a given time. Trello is one of the most popular tools for this.
31. Set deadlines – and stick to them. Reward yourself when you achieve them too!
32. Understand your ROI – before you say yes to something, think about why you’re doing it, and think about when you’re likely to see a return on what you’re doing. If it’s aaaaages away, maybe do it another time.
33. Let clients book their own meetings with you using something like Calendly – that way you don’t have to waste time to-ing and fro-ing on email trying to find a date that suits
34. Repurpose your content – content is so important, so if you’ve got something great, repurpose it! Eg. break a blog down into a series of social media posts (Thank you Sophie from Rimu Marketing)
35. Break down larger tasks into smaller ones – if you write things on your To Do List like ‘sort the website’, it’s probably never going to happen
36. Take breaks from your phone – it’s easy to feel like we’re always connected and therefore always available. So turn off your phone and take some time for yourself
37. Embed good habits – good habits lead to achievement, so create ones that work for you and lead you to whatever you’re trying to create.
38. Learn to prioritise – we can’t be everything to everyone, all of the time. So learn to prioritise and stick to it. This includes being selfish, sometimes!
39. Be kind to yourself – none of us can do things perfectly, all of the time.
40. Outsource where you need to – if you’re struggling with something, or you just don’t have the time, outsource where you can. That way, you can concentrate on your strengths
41. Get SMART with your goals – Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound
42. Be prepared to invest in your business – spending money on the right things, at the right time, leads to nothing but reward.

You might already implement some of these in your business, and some of them might be new to you. But dive in. Try something new, and let me know how you get on. And don’t forget, if you want to talk things through, or you need my help to get started, book a 30 minute consultation with me and let’s chat.