Empowering women

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Empowering moms to be their best is what I am passionate about!  I love to learn and share the best of what I learn with others.  Here are 2 recent conference experiences and what I gleaned.

I recently attended the Women Business Owners conference (www.womenbizowners.org) and learned so much from my peers! As I listened to speakers like Linda Stiles  (www.lindastiles.com) and Michele DeKinder-Smith (www.janeoutofthebox.com) many important ideas emerged. Here is a little of what I found most valuable in sharing the day with remarkable women entrepreneurs.

Find partners in  and out of your industry.  As an entrepreneur it can be lonely! Find people who are courageous to take the leap, mindful of the different responsibities of their jobs, and empowering of others.  Linda shared with us the 4 types of leaders, the take charge, the fun loving, the detail person, and the .  Have  one of each of these in your mastermind group to add balance for everyone.  Michele has a survey on her website to learn the kind of entrepreneur you are.  Again, it is about finding your strenghths and partnering with those who can empower you.  

Women are motivated by many different things including helping others, financial gain, and passion.  Most motivating can be stepping up to those things that are hard work for us and make us stronger!   Finding a strategy to help us with tough aspects of our business, including cold calls and asking others for help, can make those things happen.

Ask for help when you need it.  Taking your business to the next level happens when you ask a mentor or coach to be a part of your team.   No need to reinvent the wheel! Find someone who can help you that is ahead of you in or out of your industry to help you strategize and be accountable.  Have them be on your team too to take you beyond your comfort zone and be the best you can be.

I also had the privilege of attending the Texas  Conference for Women (www.txconferenceforwomen.org).  In a convention hall with 5000 other intelligent, creative, and stunning women, I experienced learning on a big level!  Tory Johnson (http://www.womenforhire.com/about_us/tory_johnson_founder_ceo) shared with us to put yourself out there and be on top of your game.    Marcus Buckingham (www.marcusbuckingham.com)  helped us recognize it is most valuable to build on our strengths and manage our weaknesses.  His concept is that we should catch and cradle the best of our days to create our best experiences.  Suze Orman told us to take care of ourselves first.  Sharing the day learning on so many levels as a woman made we realize just how blessed I am to have the opportunities to continue to learn and love each day of it. 

Marcus Buckingham summed up his thoughts with this.

Be deliberate.

Be creative.

Celebrate!

Is that what we all want as women? Share with me how you are all of these!

 

 

Organized Office

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Whether it is your home office, your small business office or your corporate office, getting down to business at your desk is a chore if it is piled with papers! Establishing a comfortable area for paper work and other office activities is important for productivity.

Create a Work Zone

As you begin, determine what tasks you are doing in your office and the tools needed for these tasks. By making these decisions at the outset, you are preparing your space for accomplishment. Create areas designating the best access for most frequent activities. As for room arrangement, place your desk in a position that allows maximum use of natural light. Position the desk in a direct ion that allows for direct viewing of all who enter without you having to turn.

Desk drawers should have only what you use at the desk in them. Store your additional office supplies in another area. Keep specific categories of items individually stored in different drawers. One drawer should contain checks and bill paying items, one drawer stationary and note pads, one drawer with a pencil tray holding pencils, pens, tape, stapler and scissors. Again, keep just enough to use and not over stuff the drawers. Place books on book shelves, magazines or reading material in a basket to grab and go. Be sure that your telephone, computer and other essentials are placed easily in reach.

 

A Personalized Paper Plan

A “paper plan” is most important in this work zone. Create an area for “Action” files. This is a temporary home where papers live until either filed away or thrown away. Papers used frequently or that are a “hot topic” need a basket, vertical file, or other space on your desk. Label them according to what actions or terms fit best with your needs. These files can be call, file, mail, or pay. Or these can be named by client name, project name, or other key word that comes to mind quickly. Clearly label your files so you will always know what is in them, and just as importantly, the labels will remind you what not to put in them.

 

Organize with access in mind

 

Arrange for the placement of frequently used files to be placed in the desk’s file drawer. Less frequently accessed files can be placed in a separate filing cabinet. As for filing cabinets, use a low-lying, two-drawer cabinet that can be placed next to or near your desk for the added use of its top for other items that you often need.

 

Your filing system should be simple easy and manageable. Create categories in your files for the different major work/home areas. For work it may be clients, administrative, financial. For home it may be home/auto, personal, and financial. Use general key words that come to mind quickly, and sub categorize as needed. An example would be Car – insurance, Car – maintenance, or Insurance – Car, Insurance – Home. Think about how YOU think about the paper to find it. Color-coding your files makes it faster to find information. Use one color hanging file to easily slip information into a file. Label the file with a tab using a label maker!   Decide when papers go into an archive area. These are papers you seldom access, but need to keep.  Arrange for storage in the least accessible drawer, in a file box in the top of a closet, or at an auxiliary location.

 

Maximize your space to maximize productivity!  A clear desk makes it easy to sit down and get started on your work.

15 Office Organizing Tasks that take 15 Minutes

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 office organizing

 

Office life tends to be very messy. We have so much going on all the time! We have so much paper and stuff.  It all becomes disorganized very quickly. When do we have time to get organized? 

 

In his book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey tells the story of a woodcutter. 

A man was walking in a forest one day, and he met a woodcutter hard at work sawing down a tree. It was a hot day, and he stopped and engaged in some friendly banter with the woodcutter about the weather and such.  The man continued on his way and a couple of hours later as he came back through the forest he came upon the woodcutter again who was still hard at and sweating profusely from the heat and his efforts. He asked, “Mr. Woodcutter, how long have you been sawing that tree? You haven’t made much progress. Perhaps your saw is too blunt. Why don’t you sharpen it?”  “I could” the woodcutter sighed. “The saw has not been sharpened for a long while.  But I don’t really have the time.”  We have to sharpen our ax too!  With organizing we are more efficient, effective and productive! 

What can we do in 15 minutes?

  •  Eliminate unnecessary paper from a completed project.
  •   Set up a file for the current project.    
  • Get papers back into their files.
  • Organize your top right drawer where your office supplies are. Is it overcrowded with unused items? Return them, donate them, or share them with co-workers.
  • Make a group of all the items that need returning to others in the office and take them to them.
  • Gather your daily resources, such as company phone directories, directions for using products, or other work related items together and place them on an easy to access shelf. 
  • Gather all your personal memorabilia and assess the quantity. Are there too many family photos, small wind up toys, or other items taking space on your desk?
  •  Delete emails from your “Sent” folder.
  •  Delete subfolders in your Inbox.
  •  Return a phone call or make personal appointments for hair, nails or doctors.
  • Review your calendar for upcoming appointments.
  • Enter upcoming dates into your calendar.
  • Add to your master list.
  •  Review and prioritize your master list.
  • End your day with 15 minutes of organizing, getting things back into order.

 

What are you doing with your 15 minutes of office organizing?

 

 

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