Don’t Give Up on Planning Until You’ve Tried These Organization Tricks

Do you struggle with staying organized in your business?

Do you desperately crave order but just aren’t sure how to get it?

In this post, I’m going to share 6 organization tricks for small business owners – to help you save time, become more productive, and stay on top of the things that really matter in your business!

1. Clear the Clutter

Making sure your desk and office space are free of clutter is a great place to start.

While you may not consciously be thinking about the mess in front of you, it undoubtedly has an impact on your productivity and capacity to plan.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Limit your desk space to items you use on a daily basis. This likely includes your laptop, a pen, paper, and not much else!
• Survey your workspace to see if any household items have migrated to your office. Be ruthless in removing anything non-business related.
• Have designated areas for all your office supplies. I love those desktop organizers that have space for incoming and outgoing paperwork, writing utensils and other basics.
• Keep your filing system close to where you sit. If it’s at the other end of the office, you’re more likely to procrastinate; whereas if it’s within arm’s reach, you have no excuse not to file it right away.

2. Track Your Time

Time management software is excellent for making sure you’re a good steward of your time. Use it to track how long you spend on email, social media, word processing, travel time, breaks…pretty much everything!

A free tool like Toggl (pictured above) will let you track your time from your phone or computer, showing you exactly how much time you spend on different tasks.

Looking for a tool that will actually let you block certain distracting websites (I’m looking at you Facebook!) while tracking your time? Then RescueTime might be the right tool for you.

3. Keep Your Files in the Cloud

Want to ensure you never lose important information, and have access to it from any computer or phone, anywhere, anytime?

Using a cloud-based storage system will let you do just that. Of course, Dropbox (above) is a favorite for small business owners, as is Google Drive.

Both of these tools are great for ensuring your files stay safe and organized, and that you can easily share them…even with remote team members and is a MUST organization trick for business owners.

4. Keep a To-Do List…and Actually, Use It!

Having trouble staying on top of your social media management, administrative tasks or business finances?

Breaking these jobs up into smaller, more manageable tasks and putting them on your to-do list can be a great help – not only to keep you more organized but to get those tasks out of your head.

According to the Zeigarnik Effect, unfinished tasks can intrude on your thoughts, making you more stressed and less productive…neither of which we want!

According to the Zeigarnik Effect, unfinished tasks can intrude on your thoughts, making you more stressed and less productive…neither of which we want!Click To Tweet

So, at the beginning of each day, create a new to-do list of tasks you want to get done and cross them off as you go along. I recommend using an app like Todoist. These make it super easy to create a to-do list you can access anywhere, from any device!

5. Organize Your Passwords

This organization trick for business owners will reduce your time wasted searching on your computer (or sticky notes!) for your passwords.

You can easily manage all your online and offline passwords using an app like 1Password. Simply enter in all your existing passwords and login information, and the app will automatically fill these in right when you need them.

The app also lets you automatically generate super-complicated passwords for an additional layer of security, and syncs your data across all your devices…so you’ll always have your passwords and login info right at your fingertips.

6. Regularly Clean up Your Electronic Files

Decluttering isn’t just for your physical office space! Make sure you set aside time at least once per month to go through and clean up your computer files.

Decluttering isn’t just for your physical office space! Make sure you set aside time at least once per month to go through and clean up your computer files.Click To Tweet

Here’s the process I like to use:

• Delete all unnecessary files from your computer. Check your desktop, downloads folder and trash folder and make sure these are all neat and tidy.
• Delete all apps you’re not using. Apps can take up a huge amount of space, so regularly culling those you’re not using will keep your computer running smoothly.
• Look through your document folders. Make sure all files have landed in the proper folders, and add new folders as necessary.
• Organize your email inbox. Make a goal of getting your inbox down to zero by placing all emails in their appropriate folders.

Final Thoughts

Are you ready to get proactive and start organizing your business? I trust these 6 organization tricks for small business owners have given you a good place to start!

Need even more help with organizing? Check out this post for 5 more tips:

5 Organization Tips for Overwhelmed Small Business Owners

Looking for tips for getting more streamlined in your business, using systems? Check this one out:

How to Systemize Your Small Business to Have More Freedom and Flexibility.

Which organization tricks are you going to start with? Let me know in the comments below!

UPDATED on January 17, 2022