One of the biggest administration headaches that small businesses and entrepreneurs come to me with is getting themselves and/or their business organised. This may be simple day to day organisation of administrative tasks such as invoicing, debt chasing, customer relationship management or longer term objectives such as setting sales targets, planning regular board meetings and undertaking competitor analysis.
As a virtual assistant, one of the areas I excel in is organisation; working from home requires dedication, systems and a clear plan of what you wish to achieve and when. Without these three elements organising my working schedule to fit around client deadlines and often last minute projects would fall into chaos.
When asked how many businesses I support clients often cannot comprehend how a virtual assistant can effectively support more than five or ten clients at a time. My solution has always been to create lists relating to each client, their respective project and the tasks associated therein. Once this is outlined it becomes a systematic process of assessing how long each task will take and what is the deadline for the task. From that you can create a daily business task planner.
This daily business task planner is an invaluable arsenal in my box of virtual assistant resources; I use it every day just after closing the office and spend just 20 to 30 minutes outlining my key tasks for the next day; key calls I need to make; the times I need to make them and any important notes that relate to these tasks. This task lists is then printed out and affixed to my desk for the next morning.
Why do I need to plan my time?
We all know the importance of starting our day by eating a healthy breakfast; a proper breakfast provides your body with the fuel it needs to function well.
The same concept should be implemented into your business by ending each day with a business or task planning session. This of it this way, by doing this simple tasks it provides you with the tools you need to make the most out of your business day.
By setting aside just 20 to 30 minutes at the end of the day allows you to focus on your business goals and energise yourself for the day ahead. Spending this time organising yourself at the end of the day will save you time the following day and will ensure you reach your desk with a clear head and a methodical approach to work.
The benefits of business planning
So, remember the three objectives of your daily business planning session:
- review your progress on the specific goals you’ve set;
- set your daily agenda;
- prioritise your tasks of the day.
To help get you started on your business planning why not download my free daily task planner and feel the benefits of how being organised today saves you time and energy tomorrow.
