Organisation - The Small Business Tool

When you’re running your small business out of your own little home, one of the most important things you need to stay on top of is organisation - without being organised with your small business you could find yourself falling like a ton of bricks.

Granted, there are many positive aspects to running a business from your home: you are your own boss, you are seconds away from the kitchen, and you can work naked if that’s your thing.

However, when people work from home they manage to forget that staying organised is one of the most vital steps to keeping the business running smoothly.  Bad organisation can lead to stress, confusion and overall bad business - read on to find out how you can keep your home office organised without all the fuss…

Filing System

You undoubtedly have a ton of paperwork cluttering your desk, floor, window sills, etc…you need to come up with a strong filing system that you can turn to whenever you need to.

You should work at keeping relevant paperwork together and irrelevant paperwork apart in separate sections - this way you should be able to know what you’re looking for and find it without any issues.

This will save you time, effort and will make you look and sound professional, especially if a client is waiting on the phone for you to find a specific piece of paper.

Desktop

There is nothing more frustrating than an untidy workspace.  You end up putting off work because you don’t feel comfortable at your desk, you can’t find what you’re looking for anymore and you literally can’t think because a ‘cluttered desk is a cluttered mind’.

Tidy up that mess and keep everything tidy - you’ll find that you will be able to work a lot better and you’ll start to enjoy sitting at your tidy desk once again.  If there needs to be one area in your whole house that should be pristine it should be the place where you do your work!

Tax

If you want to avoid trouble from the law you should keep on top of your tax records - you should make accurate and frequent records so you can be sure that there will be no problems down the line.

You should make sure that you are always on time with your VAT returns and any other paperwork involving the Inland Revenue such as Annual Companies House returns or liability payments.  A good accountant will give you peace of mind!

Emails

You should try not to let an email go unanswered for any longer than 48 hours - if you don’t reply in a prompt manner you and your business will look unprofessional and unorganised.

It is a good idea to allocate a certain portion of the day to replying to business emails, generally at the beginning of the day - this way you can get the emails out of the way and spend the rest of the working day on other things.

Organised?

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