I had an epiphany this week about how my wheels have literally been SPINNING since I quit my full time job on February 4th of this year.  I knew it would be difficult at first to get things rolling, but I didn’t know how difficult it would be to actually GET ORGANIZED.  I tried with all my might to focus and get things done, but as I looked around me, everything was utter chaos.  Some might think that’s just how I am.  I am a creative type.  They may think I like disorder.  But for me, that’s not the case.  I actually CRAVE order.  And even though my life doesn’t always reflect that in how I organize my pantry or do my laundry, I still want to have some sense of what I am supposed to be doing, where I’m supposed to be, and how I’m supposed to be doing it.  And friends, this was NOT happening those first few days of being a solo entrepreneur.  To say I was spinning my wheels was an understatement of the year.  I was flailing and walking in circles.  I was so determined NOT to waste time, that I was, in fact, wasting it by not getting super clear and super organized in my business and personal life.  Does that sound at all familiar to you?

So I literally pressed pause on everything I was trying to do and decided to dedicate the month of February to GETTING ORGANIZED.  It started with sitting down and writing on a blank piece of paper (I love blank paper!!) what I needed to accomplish in my business.  At this point, it wasn’t in any particular order.  It was more of a brainstorm of all the things, processes and ideas about what I wanted to do written out in front of me.

1. Get my domain registered
2. Get my domain hosted
3. Pick a website theme
4. Create logos and graphics
5. Find out about course creation platforms
6. Set up my social media accounts for my business
7. Year Plan
8. Month Plan
9. Daily Plan
10. Budget personal expenses (aka Family Budget)
11. Budget business expenses
12. business schedule
13. family schedule
14. grand schedule (combination of two schedules)
15. studio (office) cleaned up and organized so I can think clearly and get things done

After I did this, I began taking these steps and putting them in order of importance.  In other words, what needs to happen before this happens.  Now, as you can see, there was a LOT to be put into place BEFORE I could actually BEGIN the steps of creating my business and working on it.  And like you may be thinking, I was admittedly a bit overwhelmed by the thought of having to put all these things in place.  But I also knew that I needed to set myself up for success and these steps were super important in order to do that. For instance, if I didn’t have my family budget in place, how could I do my business budget? And if I didn’t know what I wanted to accomplish this YEAR, how could I get crystal clear on what I wanted to accomplish this MONTH, this WEEK and ultimately TODAY???

After I wrote that all out, I made myself another cup of coffee and started to get really excited!  I pulled out my Erin Condren calendar/planner to the month and day I was in and began to map out what days I would spend working.  At this point, I’m not thinking about specific tasks, but rather, what TIMES of what DAYS will I allot to my business.  I made a decision that I would be working on my business from Tuesday to Friday, 5am to 1:30pm. That may seem random to you, but that is the same schedule I had at my full-time job at Apple, so I was already used to this schedule and so was my family.  After I made that decision, I opened up my Google Sheets (have I mentioned how much I love love love Google Sheets??) and began to make columns for MONTHS horizontally like this:  January (already over but still)…February…March…April…(got it?)  Good.  I then took my business checklist I had just written and organized on a piece of paper and wrote the checklist items under each month with things that needed to be done in THAT month.  So under February, I put:  Develop Yearly Plan, Monthly Plan, Daily Plan, Get budget in order, register and host website.  Then in March, I wrote some of the other things I knew I wouldn’t be able to fit in February.  Now, this step was super important because it gave me GOALS to reach and it forced me to be realistic what I could and could NOT accomplish in each given month.  And can I just emphasize that BEING REALISTIC is half the battle for us as business owners–or maybe even more like 98.2%.  For instance, I was already IN February when I began to write out this schedule, so I needed to realize that I would have a shorter time frame in the month of February to get certain things done.  I also knew that, in March, I would have an entire week of not working over spring break, so I had to factor that in as well.  But right now, all I was doing was taking one column per month and writing out an ESTIMATE of what I wanted to do in that month.  Realize that it may change and that’s ok.  This is not a time to be perfect.  (is there ever a time for that?)  This is a time to just start the infant phases of getting a skeletal framework in place and give yourself a visual picture of what you are going to achieve in your business.  Before you do that, you are just spinning.  Does that make sense?  So we’re not even talking about DAYS or WEEKS yet to be clear.  At this point, I was simply just writing out what needed to be done under each month.

After I clarified what it was I needed to do in each month, I then backtracked a bit and wrote out what was compromisable and uncompromisable for me in my life, or, a grand checklist of everything in my life if you will.  Now this step is SUPER important, so please don’t skip this step.  If we don’t take the time to write out what we will and what we won’t compromise, we will be unclear as we go along and make necessary sacrifices in our lives.  This is vital in getting clear as to our understanding of what we’re doing so we can make CONSCIOUS SACRIFICES and not feel GUILTY when we do what we need to do.  I remember, when I had my son, I would get really upset when I would have to go to the bathroom and he would start crying.  It would make me so crazy that I would end up bringing him to the bathroom with me and holding him while trying to go.  Great mental image, I know.  So, my wise sister, seeing how miserable I was said to me, “You need to make a decision about what you will and won’t do as a new Mommy, and stick to it.  Give yourself some groundrules right from the gate.”  This was the best advice I ever got.  From that point on, I decided that I would not be carrying him to the bathroom with me.  If he was upset about my leaving the room, I could put him in front of the open door, but he would not be held while I was going to the bathroom.  It was such a simple decision, but it made such a huge difference and it freed me up and eventually trained him, too.  Miraculous!!  I said all that to say, making a decision on what you will and will not do is necessary for every part of our lives, and our business and family life are no exception.  So, to break this down, here’s what your compromisable and uncompromisable list might look like:

The important part of making these lists is to get really specific here.  That way, you can always come back to this list and say, “Oh, yeah…I said I wouldn’t compromise that, and it looks like I am.  Time to change gears!”  It’s a guide.  And that guide is based on who you are and what you are about.  It is the heart of what you do and how you do it!  Don’t skip this!

So…moving on!  After I had created my business checklist of all the things I needed to do, I knew what days and times of the week I’d be working on that and I knew what was important to me and what I would and would not compromise to make it happen, THEN and ONLY then could I get clear on how I was going to go about all of it.  And that meant some really explicit and detailed scheduling — sometimes down to the MINUTE — so that I could make sure it all happened according to the plans I had laid out.  I began the scheduling with a GRAND SCHEDULE which I will provide. This schedule literally maps out my entire week and it includes my family and personal commitments.  I have half-hour times in the first column and then, I have the days of the week horizontally on top:  Sunday, Monday, Tuesday…, and then I have half-hour time slots for each activity.  This looks a lot like a calendar or a day planner.  But the difference between this and your day planner is that it is specifically laid out in time slots.  My biggest piece of advice on this is to get really specific about how you are breaking it all down in terms of when you’ll do what.  Now, this is not the schedule to get super specific about work tasks, but it is merely a framework and screenshot of what your week will look like.  Here’s why this is important:  If you can have a mental image of what your week needs to look like, you won’t be pulled in 10 different directions and you can easily go back to that GRAND SCHEDULE and say, “Nope…I committed to this at this time on this day and it’s happening come hell or high water.”  I have included a downloadable sample of my GRAND SCHEDULE for you to customize and personalize for yourself in this post.

Now, (are you still with me???  please don’t check out YET) after I’ve done all of those steps and made my GRAND SCHEDULE, I then start breaking up tasks and determining when I will do what in my business.  Again, this is not hard and fast.  You can always go back and tweak things and change them as you need to, but it is awesome to have it in writing.  Something about having it in writing keeps you on track and helps you focus on what is important.  The BUSINESS SCHEDULE looks almost identical to the GRAND SCHEDULE except for the fact that I’ve left out the personal details.  This is the schedule to get REALLY specific about how I will break down my business tasks that I had laid out for each month earlier on.  I will still have the time slots in the first column and the days of the week on top, but I will break down my tasks into slots that include specific tasks I will perform on those days at that time.  OH. MY. GOSH. you guys!  Doing this has CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER!!  Knowing what I’m supposed to be doing and when has made my life so much easier.  When someone sends me a text and says, “Hey, you wanna meet for coffee?” I can look at my schedule and say, “You know what?  I’d love to do that, but I have this to do at that time.”  or “You know what?  I would love to!  I have from 11am to 11:45am and then I have to get back to work!”  Talk about DERAIL PREVENTION!!  That’s what this is.  It is DERAIL PREVENTION.  We are preventing ourselves from getting derailed in our dreams and pursuits and we’re planning for our success.

Now that I’ve laid out for you how I got ORGANIZED ABOUT GETTING ORGANIZED in my life and in my business, I want to briefly (this post is already long enough) just talk about some of the fears and hesitation you may be having in even reading this.

…I’m not that organized…

You may be thinking, “Great for her, but I’m just not that organized!”  Well, neither am I, truthfully.  Yes, I have it in me.  And I believe YOU do too.  But it wasn’t until I began to get really serious about my goals for my business that I began to realize the importance of breaking all this down and making it doable for myself.  And here’s the bonus of this:  I did all the heavy lifting FOR YOU!  I created the schedules and laid it out so that all you have to do is put your specific information in there.

…I don’t have that kind of time…

Another thing you may be thinking is, “I don’t have that kind of time!  I work full time.  or I have 3 kids that need me 24/7! or I am a single mom. or I have so much to do!”  You know what?  I get it.  I may not be a single mom, but I am a mother of 3 young children.  I don’t have any family members closeby who can help with the kids.  I was working full-time up until now.  I have quite a few responsibilities.  But you know what?  Nothing in this life is easy.  I know that’s harsh, but it’s true.  If you really want to achieve some goals and make some things happen, you HAVE TO GET ORGANIZED.  Sacrifice is inevitable.  Something will always have to be sacrificed.  Whether it’s sleep…time with your kids…time with your husband…time with friends or extended family members…watching t.v…being on FB…SOMETHING has to give.  And this is merely an exercise in figuring out what you can afford to sacrifice and making it happen intentionally.  Again, I’ve laid out the groundwork for you to do this, so you don’t have to invent the process like I had to, AND I have to remind you that your schedule may look much much different than mine.  You may have only 2 hours a day 4 days a week that you can dedicate to your business…or perhaps even LESS.  The point is, make this YOURS!

…this is a lot of work…I’m not ready for this!

Another thought you might be thinking is, “Wow…this is more involved than I thought it would be!  I’m not ready for this!”  And you know what?  That information is really good to know.  If you aren’t in a position where you are ready to get all of this in order, then you can know that you’re not ready to go into business for yourself…right now.  That doesn’t mean you won’t be ready a few months from now or sometime down the road.  If this is you, don’t be discouraged.  I beg you!!  If you feel like this is just too intense, that is your call.  And I will not hold it against  you.  I have had business ideas for YEARS, but I would be lying to you if I told you I was ready to do it before now.  It just wasn’t a priority for me.  But I’m going to be tough love on you again here.  If you are saying this to yourself, you need to ask yourself if you’re just feeling afraid or you are just being lazy.  I know…again…I don’t want to offend you here, but I want to lovingly say that you need to decide what is holding you back.  If you truly don’t think you’re ready, that’s a legit feeling to have.  But if you have an inner nudge that says you need to do this and it keeps coming up for you over and over again, FOR THE LOVE!!!  Just do it!!  And don’t resist this step in getting organized about HOW you do it!!  It is so important for your success.

There’s so much more to say here, but I will leave you with this information for now.  My sincere hope is that it is helpful for you, and I hope that you would share this post with people you know who are struggling with getting organized in their business.  Also, take a moment if you will to subscribe to my email list so you can get more information like this.  And lastly, please comment below.  It helps me to know your feedback and how this has or has not helped you along your journey.

…here’s some FREE stuff for you!!

I’ve included a My Schedule printable download for you to customize to fit your business and schedule.  Like I said, I use and cannot speak highly enough about Google Sheets to help me get really clear on what I need to be doing and when.  Google sheets is great for creating spreadsheets, and if you have a Google account, it can be found in all the extras like docs and photos that you can use with Google.  If you haven’t heard of it, it’s like Excel and it’s free.  You can also share your google sheets with others if you are collaborating.

Enjoy!!!

(and don’t forget that feedback!)

xoxo,

Amy

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