Organize Your Workspace: Adjusting to a Home Office
Many of the rules for getting organized at your work office can also be applied to your home office, says Leist, who largely works from home. She stresses, however, that a key difference is that a home office worker needs to "understand that they definitely need to have a dedicated workspace."
Partitioning your work life from your home life is partly mental; it's easier to enter and exit a state of productivity if it's cordoned off in a separate space. But the separation can also have more tangible benefits. For example, having a separate computer for your kids to play on can be crucial to avoid nasty viruses that can muck up your business and endanger sensitive data.
Dig Deeper: How to Set Up a Home Office
Organize Your Workspace: Common Mistakes
The first organizing mistake business owners make is not even making time to assess their mess.
"Clutter is so often the result of a time management problem rather than an actual organizing problem," explains Morgenstern. "Entrepreneurs are often so overwhelmed, they have so much to do, and the last thing they want is to 'waste' their time on putting things away. But if you can, build in 15 minutes at the end of the day to put everything back where it belongs."
Another common mistake is storing your papers and your stuff wherever there's room for it rather than where it gets used. If your filing cabinet is stuffed into the hall closet rather than sitting next to your desk, the documents inside it are likely to get overlooked or misplaced when they are needed most.
A final mistake that entrepreneurs and others often make is confusing the process of throwing away with actually getting organized. While organizing is putting systems in place to find what you need when you need it, "decluttering is what you do when you're trying to make a significant change in your life or your business. You're in some form of transition and you're feeling stuck," says Morgenstern. It's "about identifying what is obsolete and getting rid of it to make room for what you plan to do next."
Dig Deeper: How to Organize Your E-mail Inbox
Organize Your Workspace: Tools
Leist counsels, half in jest, that the best tools for organizing your workspace are the recycling bin and the shredder. Here are some products that can help you keep your workspace in order:
If you've digitized a substantial portion of your business' information, it's probably wise to invest in a service that automatically backs up your data. Pash recommends Mozy.
For business owners who haven't yet digitized their paper, Pash recommends the Fujitsu Scansnap scanner.
Even with the iPad, accessing your information remotely can be a hassle but Leist suggests that LogMeIn is a good tool for accessing the data on your work computer from anywhere. Morgenstern favors gotomypc.com.
When you're investing in filing drawers for your office make sure you get a model that extends fully. Otherwise prepare for frustration and unreachable documents.
When it comes to CRM tools, the experts we interviewed point to Salesforce, Act!, and, for those on a budget, the business contact manager in Outlook.
Pash recommends the Brother P-touch labeler for setting up an organizing system and whipping your files into shape.
Dig Deeper: 10 Free Software Programs for SMBs
Organize Your Workspace: Resources
The website for the National Association of Professional Organizers lets you search for its members by zip code.
Lifehacker.com is a website that offers daily productivity tips and tricks.
The Unclutterer is a site that is even more focused on the issues surrounding getting your space organized.
Julie Morgenstern is a productivity consultant and the author of Organizing from the Inside Out.
