4 Simple Steps to Organize Your Work Day

Feeling overwhelmed? Got Post-It Notes all over your computer? Missing meetings? Is all the clutter driving you crazy? Ready for a change? Or do you want to keep pulling your hair out? And if your desk is super messy, does it say something about you? 

We hope that in all the craziness of your work day that you can take a few minutes to be able to keep the mountain of information under control. Also know that you will always have something in your in-box. Doesn't matter the season, the month or the day of the week. The trick is to manage it and not let it manage you. So how do you do it? In the end there are many ways to make it all work. You will know by how your shoulders feel at the end of the day - uptight and in your ears or nicely relaxed helping you take that deep, cleansing breath.  

Image:forbes.com

So here are your four simple (and we mean simple) methods for being committed to being more organized in your day, in your thoughts and in your business.  

1. Keep a calendar -  There are many ways to keep a calendar from a simple paper format (you can even print them from an online source) to the bulky day planners of old to applications on smartphones. Don't get caught up in what could be better or feeling like you are missing out on some great technology. Keep it simple and use something that works for you in your daily activities. Use the calendar to also keep track of what you are doing when. It's kind of like someone on a diet logging everything they eat. You'd probably be surprised to look back at your day and see where you are spending most of your time. 
2. Keep a to-do list - Most of us have short-term activities and long-term projects. And you can easily get overwhelmed by the big project with all that needs to get done. Break up the big projects into smaller bites, so that at the end of the day you can look back at that to-do list and see what you have accomplished. This sense of achievement will go a long way to keeping you motivated over the long haul.  
3. Set a time everyday to make phone calls, answer emails and post on social media - It is easy to get caught up in responding to every email, phone call, text or social media post. Triage is the key word here. Not every contact requires an immediate response. It has been said that the mind cannot truly multi-task. Try to schedule time every day to respond to all the calls for your attention - some time in the morning and some in the afternoon and some at the end of the day so that you can get back to those that need attention during that particular day. Keep the list of correspondence close to your to-do list and calendar so that you can include this in reviewing your daily accomplishments. 
4. Learn to say no - This is probably a big one for most people. As a small business owner, you are hungry for customers and revenue. Remember your business plan? Remember your target markets? Distractions from your plan may result in time spent that may cause you to stray from your goals. What can you learn from saying no? Remember Kris Kringle in the movie "Miracle on 34th Street?". If Macy's didn't carry a toy, he sent them to Gimble's. His focus was on the customer, not the business. And that loyalty that was engendered with the customer was worth more than the immediate sale. Learn from saying no and keep your eye on the brass ring.

Being a Business Mentor - What Does it Mean?

In the world of professional sports, even the greatest athletes have coaches. They need someone to observe their performance as well as the state of the game, competition and rules in order to maximize the athlete's ability to succeed. In the world of big business, you find successful people surrounding themselves with others that know more than they do in a particular area or subject, as well as having a solid board of directors or advisers that have experience or knowledge that are missing in the senior executive. This combination of information flowing from two directions can truly make a business leader more influential, efficient and profitable. That works well for large, public companies, but what about the entrepreneur or small business owner?

First, notice the distinction. An entrepreneur is someone that wants to scale their business. A small business owner may want growth but they may not necessarily be interested in becoming a national or global business. The owner of a small, local, one-location coffee shop may not want to become Starbucks, Peet's Coffee or Dutch Brothers. The overall goal for your business will dictate the type of mentor you need.

Second, mentoring is about personal development. Are you interested in pushing your own personal envelope by learning something new or stepping outside of your comfort zone? As a small business owner do you feel like you've done everything you can to keep your business growing? The goal for most businesses the last five years has been to do your best to hang on. That time is now past. Who do you look to for expertise, knowledge and forward-thinking? When you think about the next 3-5 years, how have you prepared yourself and your business for what is possible? Only you can answer these questions.
 

So who do you ask to be a mentor? Look for qualities that compliment or supplement your skillset. Look for a good listener, someone with a great desire to help, an understanding of your business as well as someone who will be honest with you because this relationship will be based on trust. A mentor will need to know your strengths as well as your warts.  

And you can have different mentors as your personal and business growth continue. Many folks may only be able to help you at a particular stage of your development. Be willing to assess a mentor's usefulness when you are looking for the next mountain to climb.

Starting the New Year Right - Forecasting Your Revenues

For most being the first day of the first full week back from the holidays, hopefully you have begun the process of making sure that plans for the first quarter are on track so that you don't miss opportunities that may occur during the first three months.  And you should have a clear idea of the direction you hope your organization will be taking for 2014 as a whole.  If you have questions on either account, it's probably time to sit down and come up with some reasonable goals.

One of the hardest things to do in business today is to predict your future revenues. Expenses and capital spending are relatively easy compared with forecasting the funding vehicle of your business.

So how do you begin to estimate your revenue?  Great question. The key is to understand your business. This is not a task that you delegate to a lower level employee. Only you as the business owner have a big picture look on your business, your industry and the economy as a whole. Internal and external factors must be taken into account. Internal strengths and weaknesses will be key in identifying revenue growth opportunities. Many businesses use gross sales as their measure. Some look at this daily. Others look at it weekly or even monthly.  I would submit that you need to look at what is driving your revenues - the key levers in your business.

So what are they? Let's use a different equation. How about Traffic * Conversion Rate * Average Sale = Revenue? Let's break each on of these down.

Traffic is driven from your marketing activities, primarily your promotional budget. The more your brand is in places where potential, qualified customers are looking for your products or services, the better chance you have to get their attention. In today's world, prospective customers are using a variety of platforms to find our product or service information. You need to be judicious about what platform will give you the biggest bang for the buck.

Conversion Rate is all about how successful your sale effort is. The percentage of traffic converted to sales will depend some on your industry, but will depend mostly on your efforts to sell. How well trained are your staff? Are you the chief cook/bottle washer/salesperson? If so, how are you at taking inquiries (either online or in person) and creating paying customers? What if you were to convert another 1% or 5% or 10% of your Traffic? Big impact most likely on your revenue and your bottom line.

Average Sale is the weighted average sales to each customer. As you can imagine, if you are selling bubble gum your average sale is less than if you are selling diamond earrings. This is about the product/service choices you make in your business - what do you have to sell.

This may not fit exactly into your business model, but it should work for most with a little tinkering. It all goes back to your marketing plan and what drives revenue in your business. If you want to talk more about this or other strategic decisions in your business, send us an email to set up an appointment. If you are looking to do a little research, there are a number of YouTube videos on forecasting (hint: we're not guaranteeing that you will be able to stay awake!) and of course, Lynda.com has an online video tutorial called "Calculating a Seasonal Forecast". Call 775-283-7123 to set up an appointment to watch this one!