When I Realized I Was Not Organized!

 I have come to the realization that I am not as organized as I was claiming to be! When I first started my business, I told myself, for example, “Since I’m a one-woman show right now, I don’t need that extra folder” or “I don’t need another label, I’ll remember where I put it (“it” was many things!). I was so wrong!

How did I come to this realization? As I’ve been doing more marketing, creating more samples, prepping to move into a larger studio to make room for hiring, there have been files, pictures, resources, spreadsheets, documents that I need instant access to, but they are all over the place! My thought process of “It’s just me, I’m just a small business, I don’t need to create all of these files yet” has kicked me more than once! But I’m getting it together! With the help of a project management tool I’ve decided to start using, here is a run-on sentence of what I’m learning:

*Function Like a Big Business! Organize for where you want to be.

*Regardless of the space of your current studio or office, act like you have a separate marketing and operations department! i.e. Create a marketing file/folder/section separate from your operations file/folder/section

*Organize projects and tasks as if you have other people working with you

*While we are building, let’s put processes in place as if we have a huge team already

Let’s save ourselves an extra 30 minutes of searching for things we need; i.e. make sure important emails have their own separate folders to make information easy to access, organize photo shoot pictures according to dates, organize supply orders by item type and even color and price if you have to.

When you are ready to start adding to your team, you’ll make your life easier if you can tell them exactly how to access a certain folder, where to store information, and the list goes on. Having a system will also help you delegate your tasks. If we don’t have some type of system in place, how will we know what to delegate! 

If all of this has come easy for you, then please comment with tips on how you stay organized in your big business! If you are like me, then I hope what I am learning is of help to you. Let’s get and stay organized together! Cheers to that.