Time management ideas and help needed

[moomum]

T has been fab at school recently so I can relax a little and assume I have the day to work in as well as the evenings. I still don't make appointments though in case I have to rush into school.

Anyway, with this new freedom of time I have been trying to get on top of work and I am really struggling - I spent most of last week ploughing through emails and trying to clear them but more of the poxy things come in. There is always a huge list of things I never get to do because I am fire fighting all the time.

This week I have been totally distracted by media but I think that is time reasonably well spent, to have a mention of my name and Lactivist on the World Service, BBC news and Channel 4 news, ohh, and the Daily Mail I think is not bad for business!

I feel like I am trying to do far too many things but all of them need doing. Here is my ongoing list:
Lactivist - orders out and stocks replenished, PR, blog and website updates
Naked Website - mostly maintainance as I am not taking on new clients but I keep forgetting to charge people for hosting so that is a total mess!
Lactivist Bling - I have a new supplier to put on and that is heaps of work, well at least an evenings!
Home - I am ebaying like mad so we have less stuff to take when we move next year hopefully
Other work - little bits of typesetting or image manipulation that just need doing and I can get on with are not much problem as they actually end when I have done them!

I get distracted by forums and facebook but I feel like I am working all the time and I treat myself with breaks on them.

So, where to start folks? How do you get rid of the things that need doing that take forever? For example I have new stock photos taken, but because it was done cheaply I have to clear up all the backgrounds which is a long job, then I have to promote the lady who took the pictures (part of the deal) and make sure she is credited on the pages I use them on my website, I actually have to upload them to the website too after making them the right size.........then I have to make a new flyer for Lactivist using the photos and get it printed......... sourcing the cheapest options....... you get the drift, I just can't bear to start, and that is just one of the things i need to be doing!

help!

[Arianna]

Right well this is how I tend to do things - so may not work 100% for you.

Basically on the days I work from home I get up in the morning and once Eithne and DH are out the door (I get Eithne ready for nursery while DH gets ready for work), I grab my breakfast and plonk myself in front of the pc and check e-mails, read the forums etc. I try to then start work no later than 8:15am.

If there have been orders on Delicate Dreams the night before I will get those printed off and packed up. I don't enter them into quickbooks straight away - simply because I do that when I update the accounts later on or unless there's been a huge amount of orders.

If I have any bills that need paying I also do this straight away.

Once that's out of the way I will start client work. If I have a bunch of little tiny jobs to do then I get all of those done first - so any easy to do website maintenance/updates - that sort of thing.

With accounts work, I will sit and work for an hour or two strictly on that client's stuff.

I take breaks every half hour at the moment for about 10 minutes - I can't really type much past a half an hour atm due to my hands - otherwise I'd probably work right through. I use this time to have a quick forum read, get a drink, use the loo, whatever.

I then come back and work till noon.

If the weather is decent I will either head to the post office straight after I have my lunch or I might leave it till DH gets home.

I also write out all of the jobs I have to do for the week and I break it down. I do this the night before.

For example, Client A - process paypal sales, reconcile bank; Client B - update photo on website - that sort of thing - and I cross off each individual task once it's done. It helps me to know the individual things I need to do. If it's something big - like Client C - work on website design - I simply put that - but if it's a bunch of small things for a client I break it down.

I also then put in the stuff I need to do for my own business - pay bills, update accounts, do invoices etc - and cross of each thing as I go.

No idea if this helps or makes sense, but it's how it works for me. I've also dedicated 2 nights a week to client stuff only. The other nights of the week are for me to do my own personal stuff or my own business stuff.

Hope this helps hun!

Arianna

[moomum]

I am always in awe of how organised you are Arianna, that is very helpful but you are so disciplined!
You have reminded me I need to write a big list - I'm at my folks this weekend so I'll do it there, it might be easier if I am away from it all.

How do you keep track of when to invoice people for hosting? Or is that a professional secret? :-)

[moomum]

Ohh, just a thought, I am using Outlook for my email now, are there any tools I can use on there to help me? I'm finding it rather clumsy after Opera but at least it is a bit more stable!

[Arianna]

I am always in awe of how organised you are Arianna, that is very helpful but you are so disciplined!
You have reminded me I need to write a big list - I'm at my folks this weekend so I'll do it there, it might be easier if I am away from it all.

How do you keep track of when to invoice people for hosting? Or is that a professional secret? :-)

LOL I'm only disciplined some days. Some days I wake up and go "ugh I soo don't want to work". LOL

Nope not a professional secret. :D Spreadsheets are my good friend (though I need to find an easier way to sort it out). Basically when I set up hosting for someone I just enter it into an excel workbook - I have a sheet set up for every month. I put in the domain name, date, what package, cost etc, and renewal date. Then every month - towards the beginning - I go through the spreadsheet for the next month and send out the invoices. I always put this on my job list to do for the first/second week of every month.

For my invoices, I basically print them all off and they go into a big binder and each week I go through them and shift out any that have been paid, and any that haven't been, if they are past the due date or renewal date - then they get a reminder. I usally do it the week after it's fallen due to give things a chance to arrive in the post.

With Outlook - could you try putting stuff on the calendar? I do this for some things that I need to remember sometimes. :D

HTH!

Arianna

[Black Cat]

Damn - no secret way to remember to invoice people for hosting - my biggest failing too!! I think I just need to list clients by month, and write a note in my diary every month to send invoices out.

I agree with Arianna - lists are the way to go. I LOVE crossing things off lists, so the more detailed the better (more to cross off!)

Hope you can sort something out - its horrible when things feel out of control :-(

[moomum]

I set up spreadsheets but I never check the things! the only ones I am good at are my timesheets when I am working on an hourly rate.

[Arianna]

I set up spreadsheets but I never check the things! the only ones I am good at are my timesheets when I am working on an hourly rate.

I only check them when I create someone's hosting account or when I do my monthly invoicing. Other than that I don't look at it. LOL It's just become routine for me really. :D

Arianna

[Black Cat]

Oh and forgot to say - Moomum that's fab news that T's more settled in school now:happy72:

[blush]

time management, if someone knows the secret please share!
Just when I think I have it cracked somethign else comes along.1

[naturalnursery]

I set up spreadsheets but I never check the things! the only ones I am good at are my timesheets when I am working on an hourly rate.


When I was a solicitor I used to have a brought forward diary system - in addition to computer diary etc.

Basically, one of those expanding file things, with a slot for every month.

Then just any old bit of paper with brief details of what needed to be done.

Use to use it for things like court dates etc - ones that were quite far in advance.

Then on the first working day of the month, just grab the bits of paper, deal with them and then put them back in ready for next year, if necessary.

Would work really well for hosting etc and you couuld prob do it with just a normal doc wallet and paper clips.

The real advantage is that is takes less than 10 secs to add each reminder -no need to load up a program on the pooter etc, any old bit of paper will do.

Axx

[naturalnursery]

My new plan is to do one type of task each day, in additon to all the daily stuff.

So once all the queries have been dealt with and ordering done etc, I will then start on the task for that day.

Eg Monday - updating the website
Tuesday - online marketing
Wednesday - sourcing new products

etc.

Axx

[Arianna]

You could use Arabella's idea but instead maybe get a notebook and divide it out into months and then write down a list on each page for each month what sites need renewing and the dates.

Arianna

[Black Cat]

Arabella & Arianna - that is such a simple idea, and so easily set up - thank you BOTH :-)

[Arianna]

Arabella & Arianna - that is such a simple idea, and so easily set up - thank you BOTH :-)

I hope it works for you. :D

Arianna

[Chiggs]

I agree with Arianna - lists are the way to go. I LOVE crossing things off lists, so the more detailed the better (more to cross off!)



I'm big on lists, too, and the first thing on my list is always "write to-do list" so then I always have something to cross off quickly :D

[BellaMiller]

I mind map a lot these days too - you can get lots of free programs such as freemind (Mac and PC) also free version of mindnode for the Mac.

[BellaMiller]

drat! posted wronf place!

[Black Cat]

I'm big on lists, too, and the first thing on my list is always "write to-do list" so then I always have something to cross off quickly :D

:hysterica

[loopylou121]

Hellish! I think lists are the answer too and having set times for certain things but u have to be disciplined.

[Miranda]

Ohh, just a thought, I am using Outlook for my email now, are there any tools I can use on there to help me? I'm finding it rather clumsy after Opera but at least it is a bit more stable!

You could try the calendar function on Outlook, I used to use this at work and set up regular meetings/reminders for months in advance - it pops up as a reminder when you open it

[moomum]

I could use the calandar to remind me to do things on certain days like Arabella - Monday is traditionally get weekend orders to the post office day and sort out emails anyway, so I could allocate the rest of the week to things too. that is very helpful! thank you

[moomum]

just a quick thanks to everyone who helped on this - I am a lot more focussed now and have some strategies that are working, basically it is a huge list and on monday I try to do as much of it as possible :-)

[Miranda]

That's great news, and good to hear T is doing so well at school now.:clapping:20061010