When you work for yourself you recognize that there is a lot to do. You also know that it’s a challenge getting it all done, whether you’re full-time or part-time in your business.
That’s why doing things in the most efficient manner possible so important. Here are three tools to help you work faster.
Procedures – You probably thought immediately of a big Procedures Manual. But a procedure can be as simple as 3 steps jotted on a yellow sticky.
Of course, I don’t recommend the yellow sticky approach! Instead take the extra five minutes it will take to type those steps.
Then either file it in a Procedures folder on your hard drive or print it and put it in a notebook on your shelf. It will be ready to use the next time you want to repeat that task.
Checklists – While a procedure is the step-by-step instructions, a checklist gives you a way to track that you completed that task. So where a procedure may have 10 steps, that entire task will be one check box on your checklist.
Checklists are helpful for daily tasks as well as large projects. It’s easiest if you start with an out-of-the-box checklist and adapt it for your use. But you can also build a checklist from scratch, based on the tasks you do.
Templates – When you do the same task over and over, you end up with the same outcome. So why not just start with the end result? That’s exactly what you do with a template.
Just as with a checklist, it’s much easier to modify an existing format than to start from scratch. So use your existing optin pages, sales letters, special reports and articles to create templates that you can modify and reuse.
The important thing with each of these tools is to test it and update it each time you use it. This process of continuous refinement is what makes all the difference in how long it take you to get it all done!
Jeanette shares more tips and a full organization system in her Online Business Organization System.
