Organizing, part 2

Now that you have had a chance to go through everything in your work area and get an idea of what you would like to do there it's now time to look at your paperwork and filing systems. This might actually be more important than product organizing, but for many of us it's even harder. We think artistically not analytically.

When it comes to paperwork the number one answer from my fellow Etsians was to use a computer program like Excel or iWorks to document all your expenditures and profits. Another great thing to do is to have bins, photoboxes, expanding folders with all your receipts, invoices and other paperwork. smittenkittenorig goes one step further and organizes her paperwork by each month. Then at the end of the year she hands everything over to her accountant. I recommend using an accountant, spend the $125-150 to get their expertise. It's a tax right off and they can help you save money in places you would never expect.

LisasLovlies says she makes up "grocery lists" in different notebooks to keep track of sales, orders, designs - measurements and other related paperwork. And lolbaby says that she uses Google Earth to keep track of her sales and where she ships to.

For keeping tracking of my schedule I use the calendar on my phone. It's always with me and I can set an alarm if I need to. Our favorite contributor TheWorldsDresser prints out a weekly schedule from Outlook. Each day has her appointments/meetings along with 2 hours of crafting, 1 hour of promoting (posting, creating or handing out samples...) and 3 hours of studying. I also recommend color coding your schedule. Pick different colors for different reoccurring things in your life. Business meetings, craft fairs, kids schedules, dates, dr appointments, etc. That way at a glance you can look at your schedule and know what type of things you have going on that day.

Email is another thing that needs to be organized. Most email systems have folders systems that you can utilize. Keep track of your custom orders, inquires, purchases, billing and anything else that you need to organize. Wrapsberry swears by this, along with bookmarking pages that she needs for supplies, blogs and sales/marketing tools. These can be but into folders as well for easy access to your information.

If you have more ideas please post them in the comments here. Or if you would like me to cover another topic let me know. I love sharing knowledge, whether it's mine own or borrowed. I like to help those around me the way that others have done for me. Thanks for reading!