Are You A Frazzled-Preneur? – 4

Are you experiencing burnout due to a lack of organization in your business? Staying organized is a vital component to running a successful business.

What are the target goals that you would like to accomplish within the week, month or quarter? What are the tasks that you need to perform to reach the goals that you have set? What are the systems that you need to use, to measure and track in meeting those goals.

Having no set plan or goals results in wasted time and low to no productivity. Even if you are on a budget you can use free tools that will keep you organized for the day to day tasks of your business.

3 Key steps to prevent burnout are:

Objectives
Discipline
Mindset

Having clear goals and objectives is key to preventing burnout and staying focused on important tasks.

Objectives: what are your key objectives that you need to focus on? Create a plan around that objective and become committed to the outcome.

Discipline: becoming disciplined in the day to day tasks takes focus and determination. This is where most entrepreneurs get sidetracked, the tasks that seem challenging get pushed to the back burner and most often these are the tasks that need the most attention. Become committed to achieving your goals even if you have to break it into bite size pieces.

Mindset: There is a mindset shift that needs to happen as you begin your journey into entrepreneurship. You are in a process of not only developing as a business leader, but also evolving as a person. As you grow the business you will discover a lot of things about yourself through various seasons of your business, and for that reason you must develop the type of mindset that can take you through your journey. You may not receive the support from friends, family members or even your spouse, and this is why knowing your why is vital to pressing through in the early stages of your business.

Systems:

ITTT (If This Than That)

All of the above systems are free, and this is gold to those who are bootstrapping their business.

I highly recommend Trello it’s a productivity system that allows you to create project boards, to do lists, week at a glance, and appointments. You can assign team members to projects as well.

I am the type of person that I need structure, or I will be busy but not productive. On Sunday’s I go into Trello to create the tasks that I need to work on for that week.

Business Routine

1. login to Trello first and see what’s on my to-do list for the week,

2. login to Asana to setup any projects or client meetings and monitor my progress, when tasks are completed I check them off.

3. I have made it a rule to spend 5 minutes checking email, while I have my coffee.

Time station is another free resource that I love, because I can setup the various projects that I need to work on, print out a time card with a QR code and it gives me the time I have spent on a project, this is great when you are working with a client for an hourly rate, you can print out the report to show them the billable hrs.

I can download the app on my phone and when I am ready to work on a particular project I will scan the card and login to the project that I need to work on. (don’t forget to logout)

This is such a great resource because you can set up the pay rate and add employees or a VA, and it’s free.

Another favorite resource is Wave Accounting, as entrepreneurs we need to get paid and also keep track of our expenses as well as revenue. Did I say it was free, Yesss! Send invoices, track expenses and accept online payments.

Whew that was exciting, I love sharing with you ways to grow your business and save money at the same time. As you grow you will move on to all-in-one systems, but for now baby steps. You no longer need to be a Frazzled-Prenuer, (unless the coffee pot is empty)