Staying organized and working at home is one of the hardest things I have ever done. An online business is way different than a brick and mortar business since most of your business and connections are online. You have to promote your business using social media, create content so people can find your business, and run your business. Add kids to that and you have a potential recipe for a disaster such as a missed opportunity or worse the eventual failure of your business.
How can you do all of the things you need to do to be successful not to mention entertain (and constantly feed) your children?
System for Success
Google’s GSuite is my hub for most things organization. I used to tell my team that I cannot create a system for them. They have to come up with their own system based on the tools and tips that I would provide. This was anything from desk organizers, colored folders, tips on how to use software to get the desired results, and paper lists. Figure out what you need to implement in order to not let things fall through the cracks constantly. Knowing what you need to do daily, weekly, and monthly can help you tackle each day prepared.
Projects vs. Tasks
Whatever you do, do not make a task list that is a mile long. You will never get to the end.
Create a list of projects that you want to work on now or in the future but do not include them on your task list. Review your list of projects every week so you can add/remove and possibly implement them into the upcoming week. This is specifically for something that you need to work on in steps to accomplish like a writing or video series. To track projects I recommend and use ClickUp to keep a running list of ideas. Once a week create a tentative task list for the week to help accomplish a particular project.
A task is more of a simple item that needs to take place. Think making calls, editing an article, or minor website changes. To track tasks, use a weekly/monthly Planner like this one for your tasks and breaking down projects. Do not overextend yourself either so if you need to push something to the next day then do it.
Bonus – if the task will take you less than two minutes to complete, just do it.
Editorial Calendar
Having an editorial calendar has been a lifesaver for me. I would still manage to get my one post finished a week but there were times that it was finished on Friday morning right before my newsletter went out. Not cool, lady. That means I didn’t really get to edit it or provide as much detail as I would like.
Ideally you should try to work ahead, a tip from Ruth at Living Well Spending Less in her extremely helpful book How to Blog for Profit Without Selling Your Soul. A must read for those who blog.
Without an editorial calendar you might just settle on content that isn’t necessarily helpful to your audience. It actually gives you more purpose with your content and it can help you avoid the time suck of roaming around online aimlessly with no direction although we all justify the purpose. The editorial calendar that I use is in a free tool, Airtable.
Create a system that works for you in a space that is conducive to you accomplishing the things on your list. Go get it done.
