Once again that hoped-for fallow time between Christmas and New Year has been filled with catching up with work and a(nother) cold. All the ideas that flurry around my head, vague intentions that I mean to put into some kind of order and plan, continue to nag at me. Following a disastrous November I desperately need to review everything so as not to go off half-cocked and likely fall flat on my face again. Ideally the whole of December would be kept clear, and not just of main projects, but of the bits and bobs I know some of my clients will want to get done before the new year – perhaps next year (hahahaha).
So – what will I do. For goodness’ sake, I’m 53 and still not running the efficient, successful business I should be and am certainly capable of. Sort it out, Babs! Well, I will share how I go about sorting myself out so that it may be useful for others, because I well know that it’s not just me that feels this way, that struggles to pull it together so that the fails are mere gentle dips on the road to business success…
It’s fortunate that I am in a position to shift what I’d wanted to achieve for December into January – just about, financially. It will be a struggle but I know it will be worthwhile over the year and beyond. We all know what we need to do, but often need time out to put those sensible things in place. January 2017 is the time for me to do that with my business projects.
Of course there are still things that need doing – there is never a clean slate, especially as I host and look after a few dozen websites for clients – so I will allocate specific time each week for these, and schedule the rest of my available time to very specific tasks:
- reviewing the different projects I work on and keep meaning to move forward or drop,
- reviewing my working practices in order to work smarter, be more efficient and disciplined,
- and make my office more comfortable and better set up to enable me to work – sofa-working is not ideal.
And it is January – there are accounts to get done – not a huge issue for me so why did I manage to miss the deadline last year (on the very last day, completed my accounts but did not hit the button to submit them – a £100 stupid error that I won’t do again) – what do I need in place to make that simpler – an accounting system that does things as we go, takes care of the invoicing (I use spreadsheet and Word documents still) and the accounting so I just need to gather it together at the end of each financial year.
Basically I don’t have time for all that I want to do, all that I intend. That is what my inefficiencies boil down to – never mind that there is no wiggle room should bad stuff happen (hosting, I’m looking at you!). It is about bloomin’ time I grew past this.
If you’d like to join me with smashing it this year, perhaps hold each other accountable and make it more fun, email me at hello@barbarasaul.com or comment below and we can see what happens. Let’s go for it!
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