How to Be Profitably Organized Every Day

Do you think it’s possible to be profitably organized every day when you work from home?

When I first started working at home there were jobs I didn’t realize I would have to do. Coming from a corporate job at the bank I relied on different departments to help me. When our doors opened and business started to come in the excitement of earning money from home was my primary focus.

I’ll never forget though the first month that a phone call came in from the phone company. They reminded me my payment was late. I had never been late on any payment, let alone my phone bill. Embarrassed I hurriedly made my payment over the phone. I promised to not be late in the coming months.

Has anything like that ever happened to you? Well, if you are like me odds are it has probably already happened. If not it will one day if you aren’t profitably organized.

As a business owner who has no employees, you are responsible for every aspect of your day-to-day operations. You will find yourself sometimes overwhelmed. You are responsible for marketing, sales, customer service, accounts payable, accounts receivable, janitorial, and of course there’s the office clerk and filing clerk.

How on earth are we supposed to do it all and do it well to boot? Even though I’ve been self-employed and have worked from home for the past seventeen years I don’t have all the answers for every business or business owner. I know, shocking isn’t it?

But, remember that article I wrote sometime back, “50 Things I Wish I Knew Before Going Into Business For Myself”?

Tip number 2 was to use a calendar.

That tip may have sounded somewhat trivial without much use to a new business owner. However, that very tip is what has saved my bacon time and again. How so?

How to be profitably organized every day

A good friend once told me, “Carla, never leave your bank account to your memory”. Now, think about that for just a moment. Take that thought and apply it to your household chores like grocery shopping, clothes shopping, or packing for a business trip. If you’re like I am using a list helps you remember what you need, right?

grocery listI’ll bet you’ve gone shopping once or twice and thought “I can do this without a shopping list”. You buy what you remember you needed. It’s now the night of the dinner party. You get ready to fix your favorite recipe and now you find you are short an ingredient or two…drat!

If you’d had that list with every ingredient on it you wouldn’t be running back to the store now when it’s time to be fixing the meal.

Running a profitably organized business from home is similar to running your household.

There is no way one person can remember every detail that needs to be tended to all the time. Write it down on a calendar – don’t use your iPhone the battery can die, it can get dropped in water or on the floor, who knows what can happen to it. Use a desk calendar with daily pages to note deadlines, due dates for bills, invoices, and delivery dates. This will free up your mind to focus on your number one priority every day – your customer. If you struggle to make invoices, it might be worth checking out an invoice template to help make your life easier. It’ll save you a lot of time too!

Another benefit to using a desk calendar is that it can serve as your to-do list. Each night before leaving the office you can transfer any tasks that didn’t get done to the next day. In the morning you can prioritize the daily tasks and none will be forgotten.

So, when you begin redefining success after 50 don’t leave your bank account to your memory. You can be profitably organized every day by using a desk calendar. Believe it or not, organizing can take the whole stress away from your life. This guide by Groom & Style can guide you through creating your very own stress-free day.

If you have profitably organized your home office, share your tips that have helped increase efficiency and your bottom line in the comments below.