| One of the biggest problems we encounter
in our consulting with businesses,
and our students is time management
and organizational techniques.
This article will concentrate
on some good organizational strategies.
Two of the best organizational
techniques I have found over the
years are the Tickler File and
the Chron File. This article will
concentrate on how to use them
everyday in your business.
A Tickler file is used extensively
in the legal arena. A Tickler
file is a file in which you put
items that you need to take care
of by a certain date. For example,
an accordion file is used in the
legal office, the accordion file
has dates from 1-31 with monthly
folders (January-December). If
a court case is to go to trial
on June 13th with depositions
to take place through May, the
case would be put in the accordion
file in April, so that letters
could be sent out in April to
those who need to be deposed in
May. The letter for a particular
individual would be placed in
the appropriate day for May that
the person was to come in, or
even the day before with a note
to call and remind this individual
they have an appointment. Anyway
you get the idea. The tickler
file allows you to put notes,
files or letters in them as a
reminder (tickle your memory)
for you to do something. The tickler
file is also a great way to get
all the papers off your desk.
When I am done at the end of the
day, I place my to do list (with
the items to be done), in my tickler
file. My tickler file is a legal
size accordion file, which is
numbered 1-31. I have made up
my own monthly files. Yes, you
can purchase manila files with
the months already on them, however,
they are expensive, an expense
I don't think is necessary. My
tickler file is in the drawer
of my desk. When I am finished
at the end of the day, all of
the items I am still working on
are placed in my tickler file
for the next day. So the tickler
file can serve a two-fold purpose,
clearing off your desk at the
end of the day, along with acting
as reminder and keeping track
of what need to be done in the
upcoming days and months for you.
For those of you running your
own Lease Purchasing business
it also allows you to tickle a
reminder to yourself to run your
ads on a consistent basis, utilize
your marketing strategies, Real
Estate meetings, speeches, and
articles to write, along with
the other items you need to do.
I know many of you use computer
programs that act as tickler files
do. This is fine, as long as you
use them. I know you can set up
a system like this one in Outlook
and many of the Personal Management
Programs. That's fine. However,
I find that most people don't
follow through with the computer
programs, and have found when
consulting with businesses that
the old fashioned way makes them
more comfortable, since they are
handling paper and files and don't
have to bring up a specific program
to look for something. However,
if you are more comfortable with
a computer program, please feel
free to employ one. Just remember,
to be organized, you do have to
use it.
Another issue that comes up quite
often is finding a particular
letter or memo in a file. One
of the best ways to keep track
of correspondence is by using
a Chron File. A chron file is
a chronological file of all the
correspondence you send out on
a monthly basis. You would have
chron files for all twelve months
with the letters sent out that
month in date order. If you use
client files, you can still use
the chron file, just make a second
copy of the letter for your chron
file. It might seem extra work
for you, however, I have found
over time, not everyone can remember
a particular clients' name, and
it is much easier to remember
they did a letter in a particular
month, and find it that way. Chron
files are very handy for those
businesses that don't send out
a lot of correspondence and don't
want to have to make a file for
one piece of correspondence. Your
correspondence is organized by
month and year and much easier
to retrieve if you need to. I
keep the current monthly chron
file and the past two months in
my desk drawer before my tickler
file.
For those running a lease purchase
business, your chron file is perfect
for those follow-up letters from
telephone calls to sellers, marketing
letters to mortgage brokers, real
estate agents, etc. You don't
need to make a separate file for
those type of letters, just place
them in your chron file.
For more organizational and time
management strategies, check out
our Complete Home Based Business
Manual at:
http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com/products/hbmanual.htm
Copyright DeFiore Enterprises
2001
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