Are you building up your organizational skills?

Posted on 25 April 2012 by

Reminders, Organization, Oh My!Organization is what keeps us from going insane. I am convinced of this. As someone who sometimes seriously lacks any organizational skills whatsoever, I can relate to people who throw their hands up in the air in sheer dismay at never getting anything done or from time to time making those mistakes that make us want to hang our head.

I also know that there is maybe not a cure for what ails us, but there are help for those of us that are disorganized! When we are building our businesses (coaching or not) it is important that we understand organization is one of the backbones of ensuring that we get it all started off right and on a good foot! There are some great methods for simple organizational skills that I find work.

Here are some ways that you can begin getting organized right now!

DropBox

Are your files all over the place? Great. Now it’s time to “stop the madness”. DropBox is an essential tool of getting your files under control and under new management. DropBox allows you to create folders, store files, share folders, and is adaptable to not just your current work-flow but it’s also got mobile capability. This amazing, web-based storage system will be there for you when your computer says “No”, and is one of the perfect “clouds” for you. Your information is there, all backed up, it’s as quick as “drag and drop”.

Elimination Time!

It’s time to eliminate – and that’s kind of like a sport, right? Could be fun!

Since I am a paper hoarder this is a particularly painful process for myself but I do get it right from time to time. Be it real or virtual I know that I cannot hoard everything I want. So be it weekly or monthly, I sit myself down on a weekend and go through my files, eliminating what is not needed.

What does this do? It helps me to clear the clutter and believe it or not, the confusion. The confusion is the backbone, for me, in terms of making mistakes. I encourage you to take that time out and start going through your things, eliminate what isn’t needed and don’t make justifications for keeping something you no longer use.

And if it’s a virtual file – and you REALLY don’t want to throw it out? Store it in an archive folder on DropBox where you don’t see it and aren’t bothered by it.

Reminders

Gentle reminders work. For those of us who are bogged down in tasks day in and day out, we do lapse times every now and again. Set reminders for yourself for the important things. If something lapses, fix it and then set a reminder for next time. Do this for anything of significance or things that you know you have to do daily, that HAVE to be done (i.e. blog posts). There are some great apps out there that will send you mobile reminders or even programs that will e-mail you when you have to do something.

I promise that trying just these two things will save you from an overkill of grief and despair! (Or at least keep you from shaking your head at yourself!)

Tax Season Prep – How did you do this year?

Posted on 18 April 2012 by

Taxes? Forms? Receipts? Wha?

Before I begin this blog post and as I do with any blog post that might discuss finances of any sort – it is always highly suggest, recommended at, pointed to, and nodded at the belief and suggestion that you should always consult an expert when dealing with your finances at any time. Especially at tax season!

So this year in the US (Where I am) – today is the last day to file your taxes. If you are an owner of your own business like I am, no doubt you know how hard it can be to get motivated to deal with it all. Each year I have more and more friends, even family, that come to me in frustration, pulling out their hair and screaming from the top of their lungs that they haven’t…

  • Had time to prepare..
  • Had the chance to gather all their information…
  • Don’t know how to file for their income bracket..
  • Don’t know how to file deductions..
  • ..Insert reason X, Y, and Z here…

Because of this, I wanted to talk about the best ways to be prepared for your tax season. So regardless of if you are beginning, ending, or in a mad rush to meet with your tax expert on the last day of tax season (and you know who you are) – you finally have some great methods for ensuring that you are doing what you can to prepare. Here are some of the things I do:

Make a pre-tax season checklist

Each year, at the end of the current tax season and the beginning of the next one I make a pre-tax season checklist and either post it to my computer or post it on a corkboard by my computer. This checklist is helpful because as I go along the year, I am able to list the items and forms I will need at the end of the year, and I can check them off as they are collected. When tax season comes, guess what? That checklist is there to help guide me and show me what I do and do not need for that year.
No running around like a chicken with my head cut off. No fuss.

Collect and Sort

After I make the checklist I start to collect and sort through any receipts from that year that I am going to need at tax season. I grab each and every receipt that I know will be needed and I pile it up in front of me, categorizing it and then storing it in it’s own folder. After these are categorized I then scan them all and make copies, storing them on my hard drive and in a closet.
By the time tax season comes – I’ve got it all done and dusted.

Keep up with EVERYTHING

I see too many of my friends scrambling to get through tax season and look in 823234234 billion places for information on what they are able to deduct or what credits they may be eligible for. To reduce this, I admit I am diligent. Because I am in the states I check out the internal revenue service website and consult a tax professional. I make sure I keep up on the news and whenever I hear of a potential credit or a change to the laws I note it on that checklist and then investigate.

The point of this post is to tell you that a successful and RELAXED tax season all comes down to preparation. It doesn’t have to be hard, it doesn’t have to end in tears, it doesn’t have to have you run screaming down the road if you’ll only remember that preparation is key.

JigsawBox Tip: Reasons to Delay Your Modules

Posted on 23 March 2012 by

Clients love courses!When launching a program, you may have created a series of content that you want distributed at certain times. Be it by the day, week, or month, you have customized your coaching program so that it is a multi-course study and now, thanks to JigsawBox, you can have those courses released at exactly the point in time that you want them. If you’ve never considered delaying the release of your modules, here are some of the fantastic reasons why you should:

Time Management

Delaying the release of your modules allows your clients and yourself to focus on courses one at a time. These singular studies will help your client to really get down to work and learn the material, completing it all at their own discretion and keeping track of what they do at their own pace.

You give your clients the know-how to build upon their knowledge in a multi-tiered way.

Membership

The membership option works beautifully with the delay of modules. If you wanted to use JigsawBox in this manner you could easily set up modules that contain audio, video, learning logs, and questions but then release them by the month. This type of feature puts an emphasis not just on the focus but also the exclusivity of that membership.

Monthly Learning Log

In addition to your regular packages, you could set up a monthly learning log for your clients so that monthly they will be able to submit their ideas, their comments, their questions, and their answers in response to their own course materials. The learning log can be used by you to improve your coaching program, decide on what your clients need from you, and even plan future programs based off of the tabulated responses your clients give you.

We are always anxious to learn how the delay of modules benefits you – let us know by going responding to us via Twitter or Facebook!