Are You Ready to Start a Business? Why Organization is Everything.

Are You Ready to Start a Business? Why Organization is Everything.

How to turn your side hustle into your main hustle. That was our first blog for the month and since then we talked about how to organize your time most effectively. Time management was our first topic to hone in on because it should be first on any business owner’s mind. How much time do I have on a project and how much time do I need to do X. To accurately hold yourself accountable to your schedule, you need to be organized.

We touched on organization in the last two blog posts this month, but today we are digging deeper. Organization is often treated like something we’re born with. We often hear clients say something like “I’m not an organized person” but organization is not like a race or gender identity in that it’s decided when you’re born and sticks with you as in identity, it’s a skill that anyone can develop.

Organization is non-negotiable for a business owner. An unorganized business is like a ticking time bomb; you can handle it for a little while, but at a certain point your business will crash on its own inefficiency. Guaranteed. The good news is that it is never too late to work on your organization, and once you find something that works for you, you will see immediate results in your business.

Organization is Different For Everyone

This is the first and most important point: organization is different for everyone. Some people want everything within eyesight, others prefer as little clutter as possible. Sometimes electronics work well but others may prefer pen and paper.

Your responsibility is to try out different ways of organizing yourself before finding something right for you. If you try something, like google calendar, for example, and you have trouble updating it, then Google Calendar isn’t right for you.

Humans are weird that way, we have hundreds of apps that do the same thing, but most of them do not work. That’s fine, and you will save yourself a lot of time by moving on to something new instead of trying to force yourself into one organizational method and then blaming yourself when it doesn’t work.

Have a Place for Everything

Organization doesn’t have to look like you’re a home decorator on Instagram. While aesthetics can be a great source of motivation, it is far from necessary. All you need to stay organized is a place for everything.

Creating the right filing system will take time. Again, organization has no universal rules. It might help to create a master list of where you keep everything. Try a filing bin for your paperwork and anything that you need to save, then use vertical storage so that anything you work on is visible and in reach.

If you have an item that is not visible, then you need something in place to counter the risk of forgetting where that item is. What good is having a place for everything and everything in its place when you don’t remember where those places are? Sometimes rote memorization is good enough but adding labels and shelves in visible spots can help tremendously.

And don’t think we’re talking about your paperwork, this advice applies to electronics too! Have a running list of all the apps you use, when to use them, how to use them, and how to access them in a way that is visible but not too cluttering.

You are almost ready to turn your side hustle into your main hustle. You have a good timeline, goals, and organization in your favor. All that’s left is to research everything else you don’t know. Do you know how to do taxes as a business? Marketing? Customer service? No one knows everything right off the bat, and you always have new information to learn, so stay tuned next week when we go over ways to research business skills and information any business owner should have!