Getting Organized Yields Real Results

Posted on October 19, 2009 by dailyramble
Filing Fatigue

Filing Fatigue

Potential and new clients frequently ask me, “Does getting organized really result in dollars saved?”

I can unequivocally say, “Yes, it does. And many times it translates into more dollars earned as well.”

Consider the following scenarios that I’ve seen with my clients:

  • A week spent organizing a client’s office, files, and receipts yielded over $10,000 in reimbursable expenses for the client. That’s money in his pocket, due to him from his company.
  • After creating a system to pay bills regularly using QuickBooks, this client saw an almost 100% elimination in late fees, overdraft charges, and bounced check fees.
  • Through an organized and targeted mailing campaign, a client noticed that the hits on his website rose substantially during that month. He’s now seeing an increase in sign ups for workshops.
  • Just by participating in a 3-hour office audit, this small business realized just how much information wasn’t being shared between the administrative staff and management. In those three hours, I helped them identify a dozen ways to share information, input data to use for marketing purposes, and very specific ways to delegate projects to the administrative staff. This directly impacts the management’s ability to focus on contacting existing and potential clients – and bringing in more money for the firm. I also helped them clearly map out the process their clients are moved through, including the crucial steps that need the most attention. The administrative staff was unaware of process AND the crucial steps. By educating the administrative staff, they are now able to focus on the process, red flag the crucial steps, and take on a larger role in moving through the process quickly and effectively.
  • After going through a complete office re-organization, a team can now find crucial papers, passwords, and information they need to access on a daily and occasional basis. This ability to quickly find what they need eliminates frustration, time lost searching, and money (time) spent re-creating that information.

    • As you can see from the examples above, getting organized saves time and money. It also opens up new avenues of communication, eliminates frustration, and helps the entire team understand what’s going on.

    If you’re ready to get organized, give Mattson Business Services, Inc. a call. If it’s a quick fix, try out our new 30 in 30 — we’re searching for 30 business to help solve a specific organizational challenge via phone in 30 minutes.

    Call us to schedule a 30 in 30 or to participate in an organizational audit. Call (704) 553-8082 or email angie@mattsonbusiness.com.

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    Virtual Organizing

    Posted on October 8, 2009 by dailyramble

    This morning’s exercise was so fun! Nope, I didn’t go running. Or biking. Or kayaking. In fact, I never even left my office.

    What kind of exercise did I do?

    I virtually organized a home-based business owner’s office.

    Yes. Virtually. This particular business owner lives in Louisiana. she’d commented a few times on Twitter and Facebook about how disorganized and chaotic she was feeling. I offered to help her solve this in about half an hour. It would have been FAR too expensive to travel to her home to organize such a small space.

    Here’s how it worked — we used email and the phone to quickly lay out a plan. She sent me half a dozen pictures of the room she worked in, we reviewed each of them, targeted the biggest areas of disorganization and clutter and found creative and easy solutions for her to implement.

    Things like:

  • Reduce visual clutter
  • Contain client information
  • print and file resource articles electronically rather than generating more paper
  • Archive old information to create room for NEW clients, projects, prospects and opportunities
  • Resist the urge to jot on sticky notes – find a better system for passwords and logins

    • In a half-hour phone conversation, we solved a number of problems that will allow her to create a clutter-free workspace. Her comment at the end, “I’m feeling more peaceful already.”

    Are you ready to create some order and find peace and calm in your home office workspace? If so, give Mattson Business Services, Inc. a call at (704) 553-8082 or email angie@mattsonbusiness.com today.

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    The Real Secret to Getting Things Done

    Posted on September 10, 2009 by dailyramble

    I’m going to let you in on a little secret about why you, Mr. or Ms. Business Owner, seem unable to get much accomplished these days…

    Are you ready?

    Are you sure you want to hear it…?

    The answer: you’re doing so many other things that half the time you can’t even GET STARTED.

    It’s true! And I only really realized this today.

    Two very important things happened: I had an illuminating conversation with a client about her marketing and I had someone pose the question, “What is it that you really do for clients?”

    For me, the real answer to the question, “What is it that your really do for your clients?” is twofold:

    1. I help my clients get organized by creating systems and processes
    AND
    2. I help them get projects started

    The first part is so important because removing all the mental and physical clutter releases so much energy that my clients then begin to have thoughts of MORE. It goes something like this:

    “Gosh, Angie. My filing system really works. I can find papers. I know where to put things. My email is more manageable. There’s a system to follow up on prospects. I have a system for marketing. My welcome packets are all put together. Now I’m thinking about…” and they start spouting out new ideas to create more value for their clients, more ways to service their existing clients, more creativity in contacting prospects, and more products and services in general. Organization and systems in one area encourages organization and systems in other areas.

    This leads to the second part: getting things started.

    It’s easy to generate ideas, but when faced with an empty sheet of paper or a blank document on the screen, procrastination sets in. Other stuff suddenly becomes a priority.

    And this is where I come in. It’s music to my ears to hear clients say, “Hey, Angie, can you at least take this information, organize it and get it started?” It’s the first step in a crucial growth process for many solopreneurs and small business owners:

    DELEGATION

    And for some clients, it’s music to THEIR ears to hear me say, “Hey, Client, give this to me to get started. I’ll create a rough draft that you can then take and finesse with your own thoughts, images and words. But I can at least get the project started for you.”

    My satisfaction comes when I hear the relief in their voice because someone can help them AND they feel confident enough to allow that person to do so.

    For almost seven years now, I’ve been helping my clients to get and stay organized. And for almost seven years now, my clients have been released from clutter and disorganization to get in the MORE mode: more creativity, more ideas, and more energy. I’ve gotten a whole lot of projects started for them that have in turn given them a lot more time, clients, and money.

    Think it’s your turn?

    I sure do. Call me at (704) 553-8082 or email me at angie@mattsonbusiness.com. We will get some things started — and done!

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    Give your team members the gift of delegation

    Posted on September 3, 2009 by dailyramble

    I was reading a blog post recently by coach Melanie Benson Strick. In this post, she outlines 10 ways that business owners become “the Bottleneck” and speedbump in their business. They can’t grow because they won’t let go.

    This got me thinking about a couple of recent interactions I’ve had with clients and their administrative teams. One of the conversations went like this:

    Business Owner: “I can’t get my administrative assistant to get me information to finish project X.”

    Admin Assistant: “Well, he won’t let me call the client to get the information I need so he can finish project X.”

    Uh-huh.

    To put it simply, the business owner didn’t trust his assistant to call the client to collect the necessary information. The assistant wasn’t confident enough to gently push her boss by saying, “I can help you with this. Please let me call the client.”

    In the end it became a standoff.

    The client suffered because he wasn’t being well served. The boss suffered because he felt like his assistant was underperforming (or at least not being helpful). And the assistant suffered because she wasn’t being fully utilized and felt like she wasn’t a “trusted” member of the team!

    A variety of techniques could solve this issue quickly. Some include letting the business owner continue being the “Bottleneck” that Melanie Benson Strick talks about. Better solutions would include the boss taking time to train the assistant how to call a client and collect information or simply letting the assistant do it and then talk about the results. Either way, the boss would be “empowering” the assistant to a job that she is (probably) perfectly capable of doing. This would free up the business owner to do other work AND the project would get much closer to being completed.

    Going forward, consider investing some time and training into your administrative staff. Do some role-playing as customer and business owner. Demonstrate to your assistant how you’d like things done. Ask for feedback. Allow time for questions. Create a script, a step-by-step process manual, or work on the project together the first time. Then next time, allow your assistant the freedom to do it on his or her own. Evaluate the outcome, tweak the process, and viola! You’ve successfully created a process and delegated something.

    The long and short of this story: by “empowering” your team with the ability to make some independent decisions and take some independent actions, you are conveying (1) trust and (2) demonstrating accountability and (3) giving them initiative to start, handle and finish projects on their own. This allows them to feel more ownership in your company – that they are part of making things happen, part of the decision making process and thus a valued team member rather than one cog in the wheel. And most importantly, this frees up YOUR time to handle the big parts of your business that you do the best.

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    How You Can Afford to Delegate

    Posted on August 18, 2009 by dailyramble

    As a business owner, are you struggling with a to-do list a mile long? Are you constantly searching for lost files, returning calls and trying to figure out how to create a decent looking PowerPoint presentation for tomorrow’s meeting – often all at the same time?

    Consider this: what if you could hand off the tasks that you don’t like doing to someone who LOVES to handle the details? How much more time would that give you to create new business ideas, increase your profits or to just have dinner with your family each night?

    How’s this for a solution?

    You may have heard of a niche market in the work-from-home industry called Virtual Assisting. Basically, a Virtual Assistant is someone (usually a woman) who works out of her home and provides a variety of administrative services to small business professionals. Work is exchanged via e-mail, fax or courier. For more hands-on help, a Mobile Administrative Assistant can come to your home office to help you get organized and help you stay that way. Most Mobile Assistants also offer virtual services as well.

    Mobile and Virtual Assistants are business owners themselves, work on a contract-basis, and get paid by the hour. Many work on monthly retainer to guarantee their time. As contract workers, they receive no benefits (i.e. no health insurance, retirement benefits or paid time off) which eliminates the hassle of full- or part-time employment obligations for the small business owner.

    These assistants love to-do lists. They love the details. And most are experts at creating presentations of any sort.

    The numbers really work, too. Suppose your hourly rate is $125 and it takes you, on average, five hours a week to enter business cards into your contract management software, send out correspondence, manage your calendar, and make time for filing and other office work. And just for fun, throw in another hour a week “searching” for lost papers, notes and numbers. That’s six hours of non-income generating work per week (or a whopping 24 hours per month!).

    In all, those tasks could be costing you $750 a week.

    Now, review that to-do list I mentioned earlier. In red, circle the things you love doing. Put an big X next to things you do, but would gladly hand off. Cross through those things you hate and wish never to do again.

    If you delegated those things you put an X next to or completely crossed through, how would that change your to-do list?

    Suppose you decide to hire a Mobile or Virtual Assistant on retainer for four hours a week at $45/hour. She spends two hours in your office helping with filing and managing the mountain of paper and mail. The other two hours she works virtually on a variety of projects for you. And because she loves the details, she works faster and more efficiently than you on those “other” tasks. What took you six hours only takes her four. Guess what? Those four hours only cost you $180 a week.

    You save 100% of your time and $570.

    PLUS, you’ve now freed up six hours of YOUR time per week to strategize and go after new business. AND you’ve stopped doing tasks that you don’t love. See how this works?

    In order to grow your business – and retain your sanity – hiring a Mobile or Virtual Assistant as part of your team can be a lifesaver. And it’s worth noting that although they tend to work with six or eight clients, a long-term working relationship is still the goal for Mobile and Virtual Assistants, because your success is their success. (And the numbers still work if you think about hiring someone part-time or even full-time, albeit more of a commitment to go this route.)

    If you need help hiring a Mobile or Virtual Assistant, don’t hesitate to call Mattson Business Services, Inc. at (704) 553-8082.

    [This article was originally published in the Women With Know How Guide, 2009]

    Filed under: processes, small business, support staff | Leave a Comment »

    The Uphills Make Us Focus

    Posted on August 4, 2009 by dailyramble

    Today I was reading a blog post by Seth Godin . He was talking about business lessons he learned on a bike. Specifically, that his big wins came during the uphill parts. He said, “The best time to engage with an employee is when everything falls apart, not when you’re hitting every milestone.”

    And that really got me thinking.

    If everything is working, people are feeling secure in their jobs, and there are no waves being made, where’s the incentive for your employee to listen to you or give constructive feedback? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?

    But, if you are having the good fortune to be seeing a lot of broken things in your business these days, now is exactly the right time to gather your team, figure out what’s not working, and fix it!

    So, what might now be working in your business right now? Well, if you’re working 14 hour days and your assistant isn’t asking how she can help more, something’s broken. If you walk by your team’s area and see Facebook or Twitter open on two of four computers, something’s broken. If you give your assistant a new project, and he or she walks away without asking a single question, something’s broken. If customer complaints are on the rise, something’s broken. And if your assistant appears to be working, but no actual work that impacts the company’s bottom line is being generated, something’s definitely broken.

    I know, I know. Most everyone is scared to spend money, to invest in themselves, their people, or the business right now. But I have to say, if business is slow, you have the the perfect opportunity to test your systems, create new processes, clear out the old office clutter, and most importantly, to invest in your people.

    Why? Because as soon as the economic ball gets rolling again (and it appears to be starting a slow uphill crawl), your people will be perfectly aligned with the company’s mission, totally focused on the company’s goals, AND ready, willing, able to help your customers as they come rolling in the door.

    Even if you’ve downsided your team and are asking them to do more with less, you can find creative ways to strengthen their initiative, accountability, and ownership in their roles and responsibilities within the company.

    So, are you ready to invest in your people – and not just your sales folks, but your administrative staff, too?

    Mattson Business Services, Inc. can show you how to get a better ROI on your administrative functions.

    Working with your administrative team, we’ll:
    1. establish more effective and efficient processes and communications systems,
    2. streamline the delegation process, and
    3. strengthen your teams’ initiative, accountability, and ownership of their position

    Call us today at (704) 553-8082 and let’s talk about what MBS, Inc. can do for you. As thanks, we’ll send you our eBook, “10 Things Every Business Owner Wants in their Administrative Team, but Don’t Even Know to Ask About.”

    Filed under: processes, small business, support staff, systems | Leave a Comment »

    It’s ALL just “stuff”

    Posted on July 21, 2009 by dailyramble

    Ok, so I’m going to admit something that often gets me in trouble with clients and my family (mostly my mom).

    I have a couple of very specific opinions about “family heirlooms” stuff and they go something like this:

    I see people placing FAR too much emotional weight onto stuff – I call this “incorrect emotional attachment.” And I see too many people drowning under clutter for two reasons: they feel that gifts (given in a will or otherwise) are obligations, or they fear getting rid of stuff will force them to stop living in the past and own up to who they really are today.

    So many people believe that keeping “family heirlooms” stuff is an obligation — something they cannot refuse. Gifts are not obligations. Items that have been given to us by way of a will or passed down through generations are not an obligation. Admitting you do not like a particular piece of stuff is not rejecting the PERSON that gave it to you – it is simply you saying, “This is where I am today. Accepting this stuff will not enhance my life. No thank you.”

    And stuff is just stuff. At the end of our lives, it will do us no good to have accumulated anything except love and memories. And even those we may not be able to take with us.

    “But that sideboard was passed down through generations. My grandmother gave me that sideboard – it was written in her will that she wanted me to have it.”

    My question ALWAYS is: And do you love it? Does it bring you joy? And are you delighted to add it to the things already in your house?

    If there is any measure of hesitation in the answer, or if I begin to hear a story about keeping the piece out of family responsibility, I know we have an issue of incorrect emotional attachment.

    Consider how easily the emotional attachment can be severed from stuff:

    1. An episode of a popular appraisal show: a family is clearly excited to display their prized family heirloom for the host to appraise. They launch into a story about the history, charm, beauty, and worth of the object that had been passed down through generations. However, upon examination, the host regretfully informs the family that the piece they have a fake. Watching the family literally step back from the formerly treasured object, they are totally deflated. Their parting comment, “Guess we don’t need to keep that old thing around anymore.”

    2. A family keeps a box of tea pots and mugs in a hall closet. When Nana comes to visit, they prominently display the mugs and pots on the living room table. The minute Nana is out the door, the mugs and pots are swept back into the closet until the next visit. Nana dies a year later. During spring cleaning, both the husband and wife feel genuine relief donating those pots and mugs to Goodwill.

    3. The chic California couple has a modern home, filled with fabulous art, retro furniture, and gorgeous white rugs. Neither the children nor the two fluffy Persian kittens are allowed in the living room, dining room, or library. Entertaining is a popular past time for the couple, and they take enormous pride in giving their guests a tour of the home. They are careful to drop artists’ names and sometimes even prices they paid for the pieces. However, very early one morning, California wildfires begin to rage. Police drive their cars up and down the street, shouting into the bullhorn, “Your neighborhood is being evacuated immediately. Gather your family and GET OUT NOW.” As this chic California couple faces the prospect of leaving their home, their only thoughts are to gather the children and the kittens. Everything else is left behind with barely a second glance. As they drive away, the fire advances and their home and belongings burn to the ground.

    Consider the post I wrote a few weeks ago: imagine you have to leave your house and can only take one or two objects from each room. Really, are you going to grab the shell mirror that great aunt Bertha made and left you in her will? The one that has never matched your decor or style and that is a bitch to dust anyway?

    I didn’t think so.

    When I’m working with clients to clean out their homes and offices, our biggest struggle comes when they are holding onto something that they are falsely or incorrectly attached to.

    They think by holding onto the art supplies, maybe they will take up being artist again. Never mind that they haven’t touch the stuff in over 20 years, the space it is cluttering up could be make more available for something more life affirming, or more practically, that ALL the paint is dried up and unusable.

    By throwing this stuff out, they have to admit:
    1. I don’t use this stuff anymore.
    2. I feel that by throwing it out, I’m being wasteful. I feel regret for not using this stuff when it was good.
    and
    3. By getting rid of this stuff, I will be admitting to myself that my art is not as big a piece of my life as I’ve been telling myself (and everyone else?) that it was.

    It’s really all just stuff. Who you are today is FAR more important that who you used to be. And having things in your home that are appropriately functional, bring you joy, and provide beauty are FAR more important than living with stuff from your parents’ or grandparents’ homes simply because you have incorrectly attached the emotion of the story or the people to their stuff.

    If you can begin to look at STUFF as simply objects made of different materials; if you can begin to view stuff from the perspective of who you are today; if you can look at stuff with a mentality of abundance (I am enough, I have enough), rather than lack; then and only then does the process of cleaning out clutter become easier.

    If you’re stuck clearing out clutter from your home or office, let me know. Let’s get to the root of your emotional attachment to something that is essentially bits of wood, plastic or metal. Let’s get clear on why you’re saving something – and if in the end, the real reason isn’t good enough for YOU, then you’ll have made great strides in clearing out the clutter.

    Filed under: organization, small business | Leave a Comment »

    Have a different conversation with your team

    Posted on July 20, 2009 by dailyramble

    On Friday, I started interviewing administrative assistants (mostly virtual) to start helping me in my business. It won’t be a huge amount of time at first (maybe 10 hours a month) and I probably won’t get them started until September 1st.

    That being said, I was impressed by one candidate in particular. She actually took time to interview ME – to find out where I was with my business and where I wanted it to go. She told me plainly about the work she does want to do and what doesn’t light her fire. And she gave me some suggestions for a branch of my business that is languishing right now – suggestions I hadn’t even thought of!

    After thinking about this a bit, I realized that we ALL need to be having these conversations. If you are a small business owner, gather your team. Schedule an hour, turn off the phones, and ban all email checking. Create a safe round table discussion and have a frank conversation about the work everyone is doing – this includes your receptionist, administrative assistants, and anyone else that works for you. If you’re all virtual, then schedule a virtual meeting.

    Ask your team:
    1. What are your top 3 favorite things to do here at work?
    2. What are your 3 least favorite things to do here at work?
    3. What is the goal of this company? What is your role in achieving that goal? (If they don’t have a clear answer to both these questions, then you as the business owner have some real homework to do…)
    4. What is one way, in your opinion, that we could do things better or different around here?
    5. Give me one new way to reach our customers.
    6. If there was one thing that I could do to make your job better or easier, what would that be?

    You might be very surprised at the suggestions and feedback you get – especially from your receptionist and administrative assistant. These folks can be first in line to talk to your customers, and many times customers feel more free to unload their frustrations on them than they would be to unload them on you. Take your team’s advice, comments, and suggestions seriously. Allow them space to contribute. Listen. And when they come up with a great idea, thank them for their contribution and give them a role in implementing any changes.

    And when the discussion is finished, let the real work begin. And then let your team know this meeting will happen again in 6 months – where you’ll come up with more groovy ideas and give everyone on your team a voice in keeping the business successfully moving forward.

    Filed under: small business, support staff | Leave a Comment »

    Decide, create, and delegate

    Posted on July 13, 2009 by dailyramble

    I’m going through a process in my business right now that I’m expanding to teach to my clients.

    It goes something like this:

    I’m too busy. I’m working a ton, but not quite billing enough hours. I need to be marketing more regularly, but can’t seem to find the time. My list of potential contacts is terrific – but I’m not staying in front of them regularly enough. I need someone to help me remember to write marketing materials, post articles on this blog, submit them to E-zine Articles, and to update my teaching website and e-zine at Define Your Day. I also have two book ideas and need someone to help me self-publish and promote them.

    Does any of this sound familiar? If you’re a small business owner, I bet it does!

    And what does it mean? SYSTEMS. PROCESSES. ORGANIZATION.

    All the things I preach and teach – well, frankly, it’s time for me to implement them, too. So, starting today, I’m on the hunt for a worthy team member. Someone who will be interested in helping me grow my business. Perhaps someone who would want to learn from me – to do what I do, both for me and for their OWN clients.

    If you know of such a person – highly qualified, technologically savvy, interested in research, great at editing, and interested in adding a new client to their growing Virtual or Mobile Assisting practice – please have them contact me.

    At the same time, if you’re interested in learning from me and having a real partner for your growing business, I’d love to help you systematize, organize, and create processes that move you forward towards reaching YOUR business goals.

    Filed under: organization, processes, small business, systems | Leave a Comment »

    Quit buying cheap crap

    Posted on July 6, 2009 by dailyramble

    Because I am in and out of small business offices in people’s homes each week, I see a huge and wide variety of “stuff.”

    Cruise through any national retail chain and you’ll see a huge variety of “stuff.”

    Heck, take a walk through your local grocery store and you’ll be overwhelmed with choices for “stuff” — and I use the word STUFF rather than FOOD because in reality, more than half of what’s in those stores isn’t really food. Or isn’t REAL FOOD, to be very specific.

    Why am I on this soapbox today?

    I guess it’s because I received a panicked call from a client recently. She had driven out west to clean out her ailing father’s house. Her 10 pm call was filled with frustration and anxiety mostly because of the amount of STUFF in her father’s house. Stuff that he hadn’t looked at in over a year, because he was living in a senior home near my client.

    And her anxiety-filled call wasn’t about starving children, her ailing father, or fears of imminent physical harm. These weren’t the things stressing her out. STUFF was!

    And without even stepping foot in that house, I bet you there were probably 20 items in that structure really worth worrying about – that had real monetary or sentimental value. The rest of it? Cheap crap that will end up in our landfills, polluting our soil and water. And I won’t go into the labor that created all that cheap crap, or the fossil fuels burned to ship that cheap crap over to America.

    Here’s a great exercise for you to go through when you are overwhelmed with stuff in your office or in your home.

    Pretend you have to leave your house and can never come back.
    You can leave with your car and perhaps a trailer.
    You can take enough clothes to fill one suitcase. Enough toiletries for your overnight bag. And your pets.
    And you can only take two other things from each room. Big or small, it doesn’t matter. But ONLY two things.

    You will get very clear very quickly about what matters to you.

    In this country, we have so many options, so many choices, and consistently exercise that power of choice by buying STUFF. Stuff we don’t need, stuff that serves a very shallow purpose, and stuff that will, again, end up in our land fills, polluting our soils and water, and perpetuating the myth that cheap crap is easy to get and has no consequence for the future (because it seemingly has so little consequence for our wallet).

    I challenge you to see how long you can use a pen before buying more. I challenge you to run out of paper towels, envelopes and toilet paper before you “buy more.” I challenge you to always buy recycled – even if it costs a little more. I challenge you to buy REAL food that will nourish your body, rather than just shoveling in empty calories while driving down the interstate.

    I challenge you to think before you buy – to ask yourself: whose labor make this? was it under good working conditions and a fair wage? did the production of this thing pollute, spoil, or otherwise degrade our precious natural resources? if I died, would ANYONE want this (and would I want a house full of this stuff and force my children or family to deal with it later?)

    I understand that spending money keeps the economy chugging along. All I’m asking is that you spend your dollars wisely – buy the best you can afford, buy only what you need, be sure your purchase is making the best use of our precious natural resources, and don’t succumb to the easy seduction of buying cheap crap.

    Filed under: organization, systems | 5 Comments »

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