In order to stay organized in your business, you need to have a set of systems in place. There are four categories I’m going to cover in this post – Credit Card Processing, Invoicing, Email, Onboarding, and Project Management/Task Management.
CREDIT CARD PROCESSING
First, you need to decide on a credit card processor. How will you get paid? The three most popular forms of payment are Paypal, Stripe, and Square.
However, if you are using a bookkeeping software I would use whatever will easily sync with it so that everything is all in one place.
And once you pick one just stick to it. It can get very confusing if you are using more than one credit card processor. But it is a good idea to have a backup in case you are in a rural area at a craft fair and one isn’t working for whatever reason. But only use that one if necessary.
INVOICING
The same goes with invoicing as credit card processing. Pick one invoicing software and stick with it. There are SO many programs that can do this. Freshbooks is very popular with online businesses.
If you are using a time tracking software like Harvest or Paymo you can invoice through those programs. But in all honesty, the easiest thing to do is to invoice through whatever bookkeeping software you are using.
If you are using a bookkeeping software you should just invoice through those programs. And if you don’t like the way the templates look ask your bookkeeper or a graphic designer to set it up the way you would like it to look. They all have customizable invoices. And most of the programs have apps so you can use it on an ipad or phone when you are out in the field.
SCHEDULING
Get out of your email trying to schedule meetings back and forth. Calendy is a very good appointment calendar and the one that I use. If you click here you can see what mine looks like.
But there are many others out there. Just find one and stick with it. (that is the main theme of this post ha).
Email is my BIGGEST struggle. I’m not perfect at it but I am getting better. So do as I say not as I do.
Only check your email at certain times of the day. I’m so bad about having my email opened all day long and looking at it. I’m sure most of us can relate to this.
Create label filters for certain emails at a glance. I have all my “deal” emails go into a folder automatically and if I’m looking to go shopping I look at that folder.
Some email management apps are:
- Polymail – I used this one a while ago but don’t remember why I stopped.
- MixMax – This one looks really cool. It has a lot of stats and looks like it may work as a CRM as well.
- Postbox
- Spark – What I currently use
- Mailstrom – Also what I currently use. This makes it easy to go through large amounts of email and sorts by a sender, dates, subject, etc.
- The Email Game – This helps speed through 100 emails at once and makes it a game. At the end, it even gives you a score.
If you use Gmail there are a lot of bonus features in the “Gmail labs.” One that I’ve been using is the one where you have a second inbox. So on the right, you can set u searches for certain clients or starred emails.
ONBOARDING
This is the process from getting from your website to being a client. You need to come up with some sort of flow for this. Usually the typical flow is filling out a form, scheduling a meeting and then from the meeting sending a contract and setting up a start date. This doesn’t have to be complicated and can all be done in google drive.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Okay, this is a big one that people are CONSTANTLY talking about. And really this doesn’t have to be hard.
It can be as simple as using a bullet journal or planner. Or you can use asana, slack, trello, or another program.
Just don’t make things so complicated for yourself. I have found if you aren’t working with anyone that pen and paper are the easiest ways to do. You don’t have all the shiny objects to deal with and it’s on your desk to check off. Or maybe I just have a pen and notebook obsession. LOL
Whatever programs you decide to use in your business it doesn’t matter but you need to pick a few and stick with them.
So many people are wasting too much time researching apps and programs and not getting any work in their business done.
If you have any questions about any of the apps or programs I have mentioned here just let me know.
What is your favorite one that you want to check out? Or is there a program you are using that I didn’t mention? Let me know!