7 tips to stay organised while working for yourself

So working for yourself is clearly not a walk in the park or else everyone would do it. I have put together seven tips for you to focus on when the overwhelm gets to be too much and you’re feeling very overrun. 

1. Automate your proposal and contract process

Whether a service-based business or a product-based business dealing. Automating your proposals and contracts is a must. It is usually one of the first things I cover with my coaching clients. 

You can easily lose so much time in the back-and-forth of creating proposals and executing contracts. You can also lose a lot of sales at this point if it is too hard. Because it quite literally will go into the customer's too-hard basket. 

You’ll stay organised and streamlined with an automatic system, it is so worth the investment into a software program. 

2. Dedicated admin day

I think having a dedicated admin day becomes essential when you start hitting those $5k months. Admin day isn’t necessarily just admin work, but it’s also when you work on your business. 

I recommend having an admin day at least once a fortnight if not once a week in your business. 

Friday’s are my admin day. But don’t think it means just data entry. It’s actually a lot of big vision planning, interviews, content creation, and fun stuff! 

3. Pick a project manager

I think so many people fall into the trap of using multiple systems and none of them well. You might be keen on a paper planner but plan half your projects in a system like click up or Trello. 

I am a big fan of Trello for storing workflows, managing my to-do list, and customer management. 

It doesn’t matter what system you use, ultimately what matters is that you have a system. 

4. Utilise G suite

The number one reason I like g suite? It’s on my phone. 

That means when it’s nap time and a child is asleep on me, I can crank out some content, review client work, or add comments to any of the existing projects I am working on. 

For me, the on-the-go use is essential to staying organised. Especially if you are a business owner that wears many hats. 

5. 90-day planning

I’ll be honest I love having a big vision for my business and life. But you can’t micro-plan a big vision. This is where I think 90-day planning is a big winner. 

If you can organise your business in 90-day sprints, you’ll be much more agile in your planning and day-to-day business. 

If you’re not planning at all, try to make a 90-day plan. It’s a great place to start. 

6. Schedule reoccurring tasks

I think this freaks out a few people. The idea of scheduling tasks used to make me cringe. But now what I’ve done is have dedicated tasks for certain days. 

So I don’t have the rigidity of saying I go follow-ups at 10 am Tuesday. Instead, I know Fridays I will do my follow-up. 

What this does is it makes the task more likely to happen, than if I just left it on my to-do list as another task. 

7. Utilise support

You know I’m a big believer of support in business. But it can also help you stay mega-organised. 

I find support on any level to actually hold me to account. My coach expects some level of progress between sessions. My VA will be waiting on me if I don’t get her content on time.

And this level of support and accountability is a fabulous way to stay accountable.