6 Ways to Keep Organised While Running a Business
As a business owner, you’ll understand that your time is limited during the working day, with constant disruptions and new problems around the corner.
To stop yourself from falling behind, you’ll need to keep to a strict routine so you can remain organised and productive. At times it can feel impossible to keep organised with unexpected emails and phone calls coming your way. However, there are ways to stop these things becoming an enormous burden for you to deal with on a daily basis.
Read on to discover a number of simple and important ways to keep yourself organised while running a business.
Keep a plan
First things first, it’s very beneficial to keep a planner or a calendar so you can keep yourself up to date with all the things you need to do throughout the week.
With meetings popping up out of nowhere, it’s very important that you have something that will allow you to rearrange certain tasks or events with ease.
To keep yourself in line it’s best to have your plans not only in written form but online too. For the latter, you can keep yourself organised with either a Google or Outlook calendar, which both have notification functions so you can be reminded of upcoming deadlines.
Utilise your team
When you’re running a business, you’re only going to lose more time if you try to do everything by yourself. By utilising your employees, you can be fully aware of how your organisation is running and if things are getting done on time.
If you’re lucky enough to have a personal assistant, their job is to keep you in check. If you don’t have this luxury, then you’ll need to invest your trust in managers and heads of department to make sure that things keeping ticking over smoothly.
By using managers and department heads to relay your instructions, you’re not going to have your time bogged down with general day to day tasks that your employees could easily deal with. 
Reduce meetings
Meetings are common place in any organisation, however, despite their importance, you should look to cut the length and the number of them wherever you possibly can.
Meetings are time-consuming for not only one person but potentially several members of staff, cutting essential time that can be used for something more productive.
When you’re running a business, it’s understandable that you’re going to want to know exactly what’s going on day to day and what other projects are on the horizon. However, if you sit in on every meeting then you’re only going to be delaying your own work and disrupting your organised schedule.
Set time aside time to go through emails
As the top figure in your business, you can expect an enormous amount of emails to fall into your inbox daily.
Many of them will be of no interest to you, but many will be. It’s important to set apart time in your day to go through your emails and make sure that you’re up to date and not forgetting important messages, whether they’re incoming or outgoing.
If you commute to work via public transport, this is perhaps the best time to go through your emails as it won’t disrupt your daily routine. Alternatively, you could also set up your inbox to ensure that your PA is receiving your emails and arrange it so that they can answer on your behalf.
Have your own office space
When you’re surrounded by others, you keep yourself open to distractions.
By having your own office, you’re going to have the chance to focus solely on your own work, which will only enhance your productivity.
For those who have the luxury of working from home, setting up a work office is a good place to start. Make sure you have everything you need to perform efficiently, such as a strong internet connection, an efficient desktop or laptop, a multifunction printer and a mobile phone, then you’ll be good to go.
Try and keep phone time limited
Business owners are normally responsible for bringing in new business. Things such as this will require a lot of time on the phone which can certainly be a productivity killer.
By preparing your questions for new business calls in advance, you can cut the time spent considerably. By having qualifying questions for every call, you’re going to get a good early impression of whether the enquiry is going to be of any benefit to your business and whether they’re worth your time on the phone.
It’s easier said than done to stay off your phone during working hours, but by cutting off notifications to social applications and text messages too, then you’re making a good start.
Organising your own routine can be hard enough, but organising an entire business can be a monumental challenge. Many business owners are accustomed to long working days and handling stress, but by getting yourself organised you’re sure to limit both.
By prioritising your daily routine and getting the best out of your staff, the daily operations of your business are going to run as smoothly as possible.
