• Jan 02, 2019
• Melinda Avellino
• 0

Start this year off in the right direction by becoming more productive and organized so you can focus on more important things like sales, marketing and improving the bottom line in your business.

Here are some quick tips to get you going:

Wrangle your inbox

Waking up to a pile of unopened emails makes for a rough start to your day. Decluttering and organizing your inbox is a great way to get in control and actually help you gain an hour or two in your day. A great place to start is with Unroll.me, a service that can automatically unsubscribe you from all of those mailing lists that are cluttering your inbox and distracting you from important client emails.

After decluttering and cleaning up your inbox, set up some auto-filters to direct any of your personal emails into a specific folder. Also consider setting up a dedicated inbox folder for each of your clients. These subfolders make it quick and easy to reference emails later, and prioritize which ones you need to read first.

Hop on the cloud

Simple storage technology can be a powerful way to get organized fast. Apps like Dropbox, Box and Evernote make it easy to store, search for, and share documents from any device, wherever you are.

Google Docs is another popular tool that allows you to store, share and access your files from one secure place. A great feature of Google Docs is it’s easy word processing and collaboration capabilities, which allow multiple people to view and edit the same document in real time.

Take digital notes

Tracking your work notes, billable hours or client details on a piece of paper is never a good idea. Apart from it looking unprofessional, things get lost. Put down the sticky pad and whip out your smartphone when you need to jot down a quick note or to-do list. Apps like Todoist make sure your digital notes are accessible from all your devices and can easily be shared with customers and colleagues.

Automate mileage tracking

Simplify your mileage logging by setting up a mileage tracker, like MileIQ, on your phone. MileIQ works in the background as you drive, automatically logging your miles and creating a record of all your tax deductible and reimbursable mileage. With MileIQ, you can move confidently into 2019 knowing that you’ve got it all under control.

Get a password manager

Appointments, addresses, job numbers, hours, client names, and so much more. Small business owners have a lot to remember in any given workday. Services like Lastpass offer you a great way to free up much needed brain space as they allow you to safely save all of your passwords, and log in to sites with one single click.

Just these few changes can make your life so much easier and let you reclaim hours a day so you can do whatever is most important to you. You can make more time to find new clients, come up with new products and services to make your business and your clients more successful.

Wishing you a very happy and prosperous 2019!

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About the Author

Melinda Avellino is a Virtual Administrator and Project Management and Workflow Systems Consultant, supporting entrepreneurs, professionals, and small business owners with valuable services that, in return, afford them freedom to focus on growing their businesses.

Offering a wide range of essential services from administrative support to project management, workflow management, email marketing, social media management, web design and maintenance, and more. For more information, visit Versatile VA.

Melinda Avellino

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