Happy Tuesday!
I am so excited to say that I am getting SUPER DUPER feedback about yesterday’s Tip sheet on Setting Up A Proper Home Office!
Our Small Biz Celebration Week is off to the races! We’ve had tons of people Retweet yesterday’s post; entering to win one of the great prizes we’ve got lined up!
Make sure you join us on Twitter and Retweet this post for your entry into the prize pot!

So far, our Small Biz Week Prizes include:

• A $265 Small business Tax Package from Hilary McDonald Accounting
• A Virtual Office Subscription from 5050Biz
• The Couponizer coupon system
• New York Times best seller “One Year to an Organized Work Life” from the author herself Regina Leeds
• Limited edition T-shirts from RIPT Apparel
• The book 101 Media and Marketing Tips for the Sole Proprietor from Nanette Miner, a.k.a. The Training Doctor
• “How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain: using your brain style for small business success with less stress” from Eve Abbott, Organizer Extraordinaire
• .. more prizes arriving daily!!

Every time you Retweet this post you’ll receive one entry to win a prize!
Prizes will be given out at the very end of the week – Keep the Retweets and Comments coming!

Please accept my apologies in advance as you will be receiving 1post a day (only for this week), but I know you will not be disappointed with the content!

Today’s article is all about Managing your Time and Tasks. I know, it’s a tad bit ironic that in order to manage your time, you have to read a long list of tips – but I PROMISE you – these are so worth it! Grab a cuppa joe and settle in for some great ideas!!! (As with yesterday – you can grab the PDF format for download)

TIME MANAGEMENT AT ITS FINEST

Business owners across North America shared their tips and tricks on Scheduling Daily Tasks, Balancing Time between Business and Family and what Gadgets and Software they use throughout their day! So grab a cup of Joe, a pen and a pad of paper and get ready to manage your time!

Effectively Scheduling Daily Tasks:

Avoid the Avoidance
Do the ‘dreaded’ task first. We frequently put off a task simply because we don’t want to do it. The longer we put it off, the bigger it grows. As it grows, it also increases our stress level reducing our effectiveness in what we are doing. By doing the ‘dreaded’ task first, we reduce our stress level, improve our outlook on the rest of our day and often find that the task wasn’t so terrible after all!
Alice Price CPO-CD®, Organize Long Island Inc – www.organizelongisland.com
—
Specific Days for Specific Tasks
Set up Day Files (Monday, Tuesday etc) and place action items in these files for the days they need to be addressed. It helps the paper flow and keeps your desk tidy.

Check your email up to 4 times a day (but not every 10 minutes!). Choose first thing in the morning, before you eat lunch, mid afternoon and then later in the evening. Don’t be a slave to your inbox.

Get a PO Box and only check it twice a week, only allow all business mail to go to that addresses so you are only handling correspondence twice a week.
Neen James CSP, MBA, International Productivity Expert – www.neenjames.com
—
Pre-Plan Your Goals
If you write out your goals for the day the night before, you’ll start the morning feeling organized. I use a template that outlines my projects for the day, in the left hand column it allows space for “to do” and “follow up” items pertaining to my list
Thomasina Tafur – http://www.thomasinatafur.com
—
Show Up to Work
Forget about multi- tasking, practice being present. Being fully present will make you more productive, more likely you won’t miss opportunities, and less likely to get lost in mundane activity.
Alicia Marie Fruin, PCC – www.profitconsultingco.com

—

Be Selective & Decisive
Watch out for subscribing to too much: magazines, newspapers, blogs, e-zines, newsletters, e-courses… and then there’s social media: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Plaxo, LinkedIn, MySpace and the list goes on and on. You could spend your whole day involved in all of these, but you need to budget your time. Be selective. Choose only those pieces of information which will serve you the most in growing you or your business – those things which could impact your bottom line the most – and unsubscribe to the rest. Limit your time to any one or a combination of these and if time permits after a few weeks or months, you can gradually add more into your schedule if there is value and time permits.
Leslie Shreve, Founder / Productivity Expert, Focus Consulting – www.productiveday.com
—
Track Time Spent
I recommend tracking the amount of time you spend on each task throughout the day, to get an overall picture of where your time is going. This is often an eye opening exercise for folks.
Many people feel overwhelmed with their level of busyness – but when you break down where their time is actually going, you often see a lot of it being spent on non-essential items. For example, breaks to surf the internet can really add up throughout the day – not to mention the cost of switching focus!
Brett Owens, Co-Founder and CEO, Chrometa, LLC – www.chrometa.com
—
Leave Empty Handed
At the end of each work day, leave with an empty email inbox. Yes, that sounds crazy and nearly impossible for people who get hundreds of electronic messages, but once you start doing it, you will find that it relieves so much stress. It is completely possible if you make it a priority. You will find that having a clean email slate every day is liberating and results in better organization, faster response times and a little bit more sanity overall.
Trazanna Moreno, Associate Superintendent for Community Relations, Klein ISD – www.kleinisd.net
—
One Calendar Should Suffice
The important thing is that you only use one calendar to schedule all components of your life, including your vacations. That allows you to have everything in one place.
Billy Arcement MEd, The Leadership Strategist – http://www.searchingforsuccess.com
—
Decipher Between Tasks & Projects
It is important to distinguish between “tasks” and “projects”. Tasks are items that involve a single action such as returning a phone call, or attending a meeting. Projects are more complex; they require more than one action. Examples of projects for small business owners are things like: Develop a marketing plan for new product; Hire an administrative assistant, research networking opportunities. When tasks and projects are mixed together on the same list, the small business owner becomes overwhelmed, and spends too much time trying to decide what to do. Instead, projects should be on a separate list and reviewed regularly (at least once a week.) The way to move a project forward is to ask “what is the next thing I need to do on this project?” and put that on the task list.
Joanne Boyd Irving, PhD., The Chrysalis Group – http://www.the-chrysalis-group.com
—

Make Your Mornings a Priority
I do the creative, forward thinking work first thing in the morning, before answering all the emails. Once the fire drills start for the day, it is impossible to free up enough time and focus to work on long-term goals. And I have good energy first thing in the morning.

Proper Communication is Key
Always think about how best to communicate with someone based on their style, the message content, and goal for the interaction. So instead of sending one more email trying to explain a complex subject, pick up the phone. Instead of calling the person who always wants to talk for an hour, send an email. If you stop for a split second and think about it, you can often save yourself minutes or hours of time and frustration.
Steven D. Davies, President – PerfectJob Software Inc. – www.PerfectJobSoftware.com
—
Big Batch of Tasks
I’m a big believer in batching tasks and tackling a bunch of similar things at once, rather than getting distracted by a bunch of fragmented items. I’ve found that categorizing into daily / weekly / monthly and quarterly tasks helps me minimize the time I spend on them and keeps my mind fresh for the important work at hand.
I handle weekly tasks on a specified day of the week: Review goal and planning, follow-up calls to prospective clients, write blog post, etc.
Monthly tasks, for example, each Tuesday I block out 1 hour to do recurring tasks:
1st Tuesday – Update quickbooks / pay taxes.
2nd Tuesday – Pay bills
3rd Tuesday – Write thank-you notes to clients.
4th Tuesday – Write newsletter / press releases.
Ben Thompson, Creative Director, Studiofluid, Inc. – http://studiofluid.com

Balancing Time between Business & Family

Family First
I make sure to ask if my family has any needs that are to be met. I always ask my wife “is there anything you need me to do for you today and is there anything that you have planned for us so that I won’t schedule anything in that time slot?” Keep family first and your business will be unstoppable.
Derrick Hayes, Encouragement Speaker – http://www.DerrickHayes.com
—
Be Clear on Your Values
Build your business around your values and the lifestyle you desire for yourself and your family, rather than allowing your career/business to dictate and overtake your life. This requires you to first be clear on what values are most important to you. For example, if quality-time with your family is a non-negotiable value for you, then literally “close your office” by dinnertime and show your kids how important they are by being fully present with them – minus the disruption of phone calls and e-mail messages.
Lynn Ely, MomEvolve – www.momevolve.com
—
Time It
Set a Timer with Kids. Tell them that when the timer goes off, you can play or talk with them, but when it goes off again, you have to go back to work. This gives them the anticipation of spending time with you and it allows you to spend time with your child without feeling stressed or guilty.
Holly Uverity, Certified Professional Organizer®, Office Organizers – The Entrepreneur’s Organizer – http://www.officeorganizers.com

—
Schedule It In
My best tip for balancing work and personal time is to SCHEDULE time in for family, health, education, etc. and keep it just like an important appointment because it is! Whenever someone tries to impinge on your personal time simply tell them that you have “another appointment” and magically they’ll either find another time that’s more convenient to you or they’ll handle it themselves.
If it weren’t for this trick I’d never get to the gym, go for a hike or take a needed nap!
Michael Soon Lee, MBA, CSP, President, EthnoConnect – www.EthnoConnect.com
—
Family Forecast
Plan meals ahead of time – it will make dinner and shopping go faster. Schedule leftovers for nights that will be “tight” due to a day of meetings or needing to be at a sports game or trash nights.

Make a family day or night – like a trip to the zoo, bowling, water-park, skating, etc. to keep family time. Try to keep evenings open, not working, or at least until children go to bed, if you have projects that run into the evening.

Eileen Roth, Your Organizing Tour Guide, Speaker and Author of Organizing For Dummies(R) – www.EverythingInItsPlace.net
—
Take A Break
Schedule mini-vacations. My family and I recently spent a Thursday-Sunday out of town. It was just the right amount of time to be away from home and still be able to catch up on work when I came back. If you can’t get away from work for longer than a week, take a three-day or a four-day vacation with your family.

Find an exercise partner (friend or family member) and share a daily walk or take a bike ride. When you partner with someone else you’re more likely to exercise regularly, stay in shape and enjoy a nice break from work.
Lisa Kanarek, Home Office Expert, Author and Founder – www.workingnaked.net
—
Keep Your Eye on the Little Things
Get a cleaner (pay or barter) – this cleaning service will allow you to focus on working and not be distracted by the cleanliness of your home/office environment.

Invest one hour in creating a visual board of all the things you want to achieve in your business and enjoy as a result of your business success. Keep it somewhere you can see it constantly and remind yourself when you get distracted of why you have your own small business.
Identify two time wasters that are distracting you and choose to eliminate them for the next 10 days.
Neen James CSP, MBA, International Productivity Expert – www.neenjames.com
—

Time Saving Gadgetry & Software

Where Did the Time Go?
If your intention is to do 10 minutes of online research but end up killing an hour surfing the web, a timer can help bring you back to the task at hand. A great online timer is www.e.ggtimer.com
Alice Price CPO-CD®, Organize Long Island Inc. – www.organizelongisland.com

—
Ping It
Social media is becoming a huge marketing and developmental tool. Utilizing online programs such as www.ping.fm to eliminate the need for individual site posts is an excellent time management technique.
Dale Little, Business Strategist – http://www.dalelittle.com
—
Put Recurring Tasks on Auto-Pilot
I highly recommend using OmniFocus on the Mac (or a similar software like Nozbe if you’re stuck on a PC) to help keep recurring tasks documented so you can forget about them until it’s time to accomplish them.
Ben Thompson, Creative Director, Studiofluid, Inc. – http://studiofluid.com

Other Time Saving Gems

Keep the Supply Cabinet Stocked
One way to save time that is simple but requires discipline is to stay stocked up on necessary supplies. My wife Beverly who handles my business always has spare printer ink refills, stationary, stamps, etc. You can also save money by stocking up on supplies when they are on sale.
Pablo Solomon, Artist & Designer – http://www.pablosolomon.com
—
Do Some Planting
My big tip for home workers is this: just plant your feet under the desk and go to work. When people ask me where I get the discipline, I say “the mortgage is all the discipline I need.”
Linda West Eckhardt, James Beard award winning cookbook author and food writer – http://www.thesilverclouddiet.com
—
Impress the Boss
The single best tip I know for small business time management is this. When you’re your own boss, your boss is watching you all the time. So act according. Work just as diligently and responsibly as you would if you were right under the nose of the best boss you ever had: the one you really wanted to please; the one you really wanted to impress.
Barry Maher, Barry Maher & Associates – www.barrymaher.com

—

So now that you’ve finished your coffee and made some time management notes – what are you waiting for?!
Go manage (Don’t forget to Retweet!) and take control of your time!

Tomorrow: Handling the small biz nightmare known as “Administration”

Cheers to a prosperous day!
A

HAPPY SMALL BUSINESS WEEK!!!

As I mentioned last week, we are going to be having a week-long celebration – complete with PRIZES!!

All throughout the week, I will be posting tip lists about how to start a business (or grow yours) on the right path. I’ll touch on everything from saving money, marketing for less than $500, handling admin tasks and even time management. Please accept my apologies in advance as you will be receiving 1post a day (only for this week), but I know you will not be disappointed with the content!

So far, our Small Biz Week Prizes include:

• A $265 Small business Tax Package from Hilary McDonald Accounting
• A Virtual Office Subscription from 5050Biz
• The Couponizer coupon system
• New York Times best seller “One Year to an Organized Work Life” from the author herself Regina Leeds
• Limited edition T-shirts from RIPT Apparel
• The book 101 Media and Marketing Tips for the Sole Proprietor from Nanette Miner, a.k.a. The Training Doctor
• .. more prizes arriving daily!!

Every time you Retweet the post you’ll receive one entry to win a prize!

Prizes will be given out at the very end of the week – Keep the Retweets and Comments coming!
—

Our first article is about setting up a proper home office.

I asked business owners across North America what they thought were Mandatory, Desired and Unwanted items for an optimal home office setup. I got some FAB tips – and even pretty cool pics of home offices. Read on and then let your creativity flow into your office space!!

Mandatory Items for a Functional Home Office

A Multi-Function Centre
Invest in a four-in-one office machine: printer, fax, scanner, and copier.
For the desk space footprint of one machine you get four functions.
It is also easier to scan papers to be filed in the computer than it is to just file them in the drawer.
This upgrade really helps professionals who want to go more paperless in their office.
Eve Abbott, Organizer Extraordinaire
—

A Label Maker
Everybody needs a label maker. Labelling files, containers, and drawers helps to define where your stuff and your paper live, and makes their homes more official. When things are clearly labelled, it’s easier to put things away and to stay organized. Label makers aren’t too expensive – some of my favourite Brother models can be found on sale at many office supply stores for under $30. Keep your label maker and extra label cassettes handy, and as soon as you create new file folders or put stuff in a container, create a label immediately.
Joshua Zerkel, Professional Organizer – http://www.customlivingsolutions.com
—
A Table Lamp
Put a lamp on your desk; not a desk lamp with an occlusive shade, but a table lamp with a translucent shade. This gives you a larger and more softly diffused circle of light on your work surface. Why is this important? Less eye strain and fewer headaches. Use “warm white” or “soft white” compact fluorescent light bulbs in the lamp. “Cool white” and “bright white” give any room a cold institutional look.
Linda Varone – Nurturing Spaces Consulting
—
Current Software
Get the current version of the software used by your customers, and then buy a machine that’s adequate to support it. Don’t “cheap out” on video cards or monitors: you’ll be staring at the screen for four to eight hours a day, so you’ll be smart to get the largest, sharpest display you can afford. It’s a lot easier to compromise on machine speed or memory, but top-notch video quality is essential.
Bill Horne
—

Paper & Pens
Lots of pens and paper, for capturing ideas. I personally have a few open notepads open around me so I can capture notes and ideas wherever I am in the house/office.

Good Coffee-Maker
Although coffee is usually not good in the office, at your home office you have the opportunity to have the best coffee in town.
Harry Mylonadis, Mimimoko Design

—

Plenty of Supplies for You AND Your Family!
The family’s scissors, tape, markers, pens and pencils should be in an area that is easily accessible to them so they won’t have to interrupt you in order to use your supplies. Make sure they understand that your office is not the family’s office supply store.
Holly Uverity, Certified Professional Organizer®, Office Organizers – The Entrepreneur’s Organizer
—
Ergo Chair & Keyboard Tray
The most important tools in a home office are the correct chair and a keyboard tray. A chair that fits your body correctly can alleviate or prevent all types of aches and pains. An adjustable keyboard tray, not a single height keyboard drawer, allows you to get the keyboard and mouse to the correct height reducing strain on the neck and shoulders as well as alleviate contact pressures and adjust the wrist angle to minimize risk for carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis.
Chris Sorrells OTR, CHT, CEAS, President, ErgonomicsSimplified.com
—
Room Separator
If you absolutely cannot get your own room, get a room partition or oriental screen to separate the work portion of the room. (This is what I do). You do not want to be able to see the unmade bed, or that pile of laundry, or any other mess from your normal life or you will find yourself doing chores instead of working.
Kris Hull – KR15.com
—

Desirable Items for a Functional Home Office

Uninterrupted Power Supply
This doesn’t always come cheap but it’s a good investment. A UPS will save you and pay you back the investment when you are working on that very important project, the power goes out and you hadn’t saved a thing.
Harry Mylonadis, Mimimoko Design
—
Labelled Notebooks & Bookcase
For some, hundreds of files can be daunting. It is helpful to have a bookcase with frequently used information contained in easily accessible labelled notebooks
Anne Jones
—
Two Monitors
Set up a two monitor system. One to put your email, social network, news sites on. And the other you can do your work
Gary Unger, Creative-at-large – www.garyunger.com
—
Custom Designed Workspace
Get a custom designed workspace to make the most of your available space. One that anchors to the wall with shelves is a particularly effective without using much of your floor plan. Also a standing height work surface make a great variation for tasks such as cutting or mounting, or just a change in posture.
Ben Thompson, Creative Director – Studiofluid, Inc.
—
Microphone & Headset
One way to make money is to create your own products. A great product is to do a teleclass and charge for it. “Make money in your p.j.s” is a common phrase (although I don’t recommend doing business in p.j.s for the simple reason that when you’re not dressed you don’t feel as professional and may not come across as one on the telephone.)
Eileen Roth, Your Organizing Tour Guide – Speaker and Author of Organizing For Dummies(R)
—

Unwanted Items for a Functional Home Office

A Television
…this is a time waster and if you are like me you will want to watch CNN or HGTV for a few minutes and 30minutes later you are still watching…
Leslie Jacobs – www.lesmess.com
—

Other Necessary Items for a Functional Home Office

A Post Office Box
For safety purposes, consider getting a P.O. Box instead of using your home address for your business mail. You never know what crazies may be out there.

Professional Clothing
Get up every morning and dress professionally enough that if a surprise opportunity presented itself, you wouldn’t be caught with bed-head in your bathrobe.
Susan Wilson Solovic – SBTV.com
—
Interior Décor Foresight
Sit comfortably at the desk and sweep your arm left to right. The desktop under the space between your elbows to your wrist should be empty or have just your keyboard/mouse – this is the active workspace. Place things you grab daily – stapler, tape, pens etc. in the space covered by your wrist to your fingertips. Place things you grab less frequently just past the finger tips and place decorative items to the back corners.
These are my Frequency of Use Rules:
Use it every day – place in or on the desk. Use it every week – put it in the desk or within reach of the desk. Use it at least once a month – it should be within reach of the desk or elsewhere in the room. Use it less than once a month -it can be in the room or even somewhere else in the house.
Placement has a big impact on clutter and productivity. Use this information on where to place things and you’ll have a big head start of setting up an effective and efficient home office.
Susan Lannis, Time Liberation Agent, ORGANIZATION Plus! Inc.
—
I hope you’re inpsired to start setting up your home office, or to rearrange – get in gear and be productive and profitable!
Feel free to download the tip list here (PDF format!)

Don’t forget to Retweet this post to be entered in to win one of our amazing prizes – every retweet is an entry!!
Have a great Monday!!
A