This blog post has been authored by Stand Out Online Member Kristy Carruthers, SHEcorporated
Systems aren’t sexy (at all).
Yes I said it. Systems aren’t sexy, but they will save you hours of frustration and tons of headaches – and that IS sexy.
From day one (or right now ) you need to get some basic systems in place to make your life easier.
Once you’ve made the decision to start your business, begin by keeping your receipts, tracking your expenses and coming up with the organizational system you need to run your type of business.
It’s so much easier to keep it all separate and organized from the start, than to try to backtrack later, when you are knee deep running your newly launched business.
Systems you need in place now:
Receipt tracking:
That may be a shoe box where you throw all your receipts so you don’t lose them (my personal system ) or a spreadsheet, or even an app, where you scan the receipts and email them to your bookkeeper. But you are throwing money away if you aren’t keeping all your receipts.
Email organization:
Everyone has their own method, like folders, or read/unread markers, but you need a way to keep track of emails to be answered and followed up with. Boomerang is a tool that I love, that you can set to email you to remind you to follow up, if no one responds to your email in a certain period.
File Organization:
At some point your business will require multiple people to access all those files that are currently on your computer desktop. Organizing them now is much easier than later. Set it up right from the start, so it’s accessible on the go and by anyone on your team. Trello is a free tool that is great for keeping track of your files, projects and allows multiple people to collaborate. We also use Dropbox in our office to store all our files so the team has access from anywhere.
Bookkeeping:
This is a service I would pay for right from the start, unless you have a solid understanding of accounting principles. When I started my business, I thought I could do it myself. It took hours and hours, I hated it, and in the end it was all wrong. Why would I spend 10 hours on something an actual bookkeeper could do in 1 hour? Your time has value too.
In the excitement of starting a new business, or the daily madness of running an existing one, it seems like there’s no time to get these systems in place. But you need to make the time to get your systems in place and they will pay you back, in time saved for years to come.
Kristy is passionate about empowering women to create the life and business of their dreams, for themselves and their families.
As an entrepreneur, speaker, mentor, and podcast host, she works with women from around North America, to help them start and scale their businesses, and create freedom through entrepreneurship.