Streamline For Success Keeping your office organized allows you to concentrate on your business.

Keeping your office organized allows you to concentrate onyour business.

Last year, professional organizer Lisa Kanarek of Dallas choseto help organize a home office that was a real"winner"--in a contest for the most cluttered anddisorganized workplace.

First, she streamlined the winning office in terms of furniture,filing systems, paper tracking, and daily organizational structure.She helped the winner to see that a homebased business owner whoworks in a disorganized office is like a hamster on a treadmill."It's like running in place," Kanarek says.

"Disorganized people run in a circle and can never getahead, because they're always catching up."

This year, Kanarek's clients included a couple who both workat home, doing freelance writing and editing. "They had mailand files in the kitchen, and files in the den," she recalls,"even though each had a large home office." Kanarekhelped her clients consolidate their information. "They'dbought a four-drawer file at a thrift store. Because the drawersstuck, they stopped opening them, leaving them filled with oldfiles they no longer needed." Kanarek suggested that, whilebuying a new file cabinet would initially cost money, it wouldeventually save time and money "because they could stopfighting with their file cabinet."

She encouraged them to move their files out of the den, andsuggested they stop handling mail in the kitchen, so they couldconsolidate those files, too. She helped them eliminate tax filesdating back to 1975, keeping only the seven years' worthrequired by the IRS. "They had a hard time parting with oldthings," Kanarek says, "and I explained that if you keepthings but can't find them, they're useless toyou."

While clutter might appear harmless, disorganization and clutterin your home office consumes valuable time; each job becomes harderto complete if you must constantly move stacks of papers andransack your office in search of that important receipt ordocument. Organizing your office promotes peace of mind and savestime and money. With an efficient home office where you enjoyworking, you can increase productivity and professionalism,streamline the way you handle paperwork, take control of your time,and respond swiftly to new developments in your work.

Consider the following ideas to help you organize your homeoffice:

1. If possible, choose a room with a door as your home-officesite. When Kanarek, who is also the author ofEverything's Organized (Career Press, $16.99,800-955-7373), converted her dining room to her home office, shefound that enclosing her office naturally led to organizationaldecisions. "I pared down my nonvital supplies andreferences," she says, "and the smaller space keeps mefrom gathering too many `things.' I've found that whenpeople have too much room, they often fill it--and when you work ona kitchen table, it's easy to let your business creep into therest of your house."

2. Streamline your most important work area--your desk.Kanarek says that an uncluttered desktop eliminates unnecessarydistractions and helps you keep your mind on tasks that needimmediate attention. Keep only the items on your desk that you usedaily or weekly, such as a tape dispenser, business-card holder,pen and pencil holder, desk lamp and phone.

3. Utilize systems to manage what you have. Beyondcleaning, organizing is choosing a way to manage by selecting"systems"--habits or tools--to manage what you have,according to Kathleen Donoghue, general partner in the Buffalo, NewYork-based training and organizational development business AnotherAlternative Resources and member of the National Association ofProfessional Organizers. Two systems she suggests homebasedbusiness owners consider using are in/out-baskets and apaper-sorting system.

The in-basket includes lists of tasks and/or actual documentsyou intend to complete by the end of the workday, and should beempty by the time you leave your office. Your out-basket holdsitems ready for distribution to others. Instead of taking a vitalwork hour to return a form to someone, place it in the out-basketuntil you have enough to warrant a trip out of the office todeliver them all.

Donoghue recommends using a five-slot vertical organizer, thatis near (but not on) your desk, as a paper-sorting system. Labelslots within the sorter as "to do," "read,""await an answer," and "file." With a cleandesk and only a pile of papers to sort through, start by picking upeach paper and deciding in which category it should be placed.After you've sorted all the papers, place ongoing projects in aseparate place near your work surface, such as in a desk drawer. Ifyou have time, file the papers in your "file"section.

When creating a filing system, Donoghue suggests picturingyourself walking into a library. She says, "Recall the Deweydecimal arrangement of major subject areas interfiled withsubcategories." One way of arranging a file system is todivide the file drawer into major categories, such as"customers" or "equipment," followed by tabsindicating the subcategories--the company or individual'snames for customers, or the types of equipment.Typical categories might include "clients,""vendors," "accounts receivable/payable,""equipment" and "operations."

For Kathy Lawless, owner of the homebased Woodjie'sBakehouse in Vienna, Maine, organization includes not only keepingtrack of profits and losses, but also filing all her recipes--forrolls, scones, coffee cakes, and 30 types of breads. Lawless keepsher business plan handy in the front of her filing cabinet.Interfiled in the plan are her mission statement, balance sheet,resume, customer correspondence, and equipment-related documents."I can track my business at a glance by reviewing my businessplan when it is filed at the beginning," Lawless says. Shekeeps her recipes in two master cookbooks, rather than onindividual recipe cards, and hasn't yet lost a recipe.

4. Let equipment and technology help you organize. As ahomebased business owner, Kanarek uses a contact-management programwith an alarm that reminds her of appointments. The program alsoholds a template of a typical business letter from her businessenabling her to create letters quickly. She backs up her computerfiles each day so that she now has three (rather than eight) filedrawers, and plans to run a "paperless" office bymid-1997.

As the owner of Hospitality Basket, a welcome-basket companybased in Milford, Delaware, with representatives in 25 communities,Diane Lane oversees employee records for her own company andmaintains inventory communications with businesses across thecountry that furnish merchandise samples for the baskets, rangingfrom maps to pens to bakery coupons. Her advice? "Resistwriting phone numbers and messages on scratch paper and the backsof envelopes," says Lane. "Write all numbers in a bigspiral notebook. I've looked back a year later and foundnumbers I needed."

To assemble welcome baskets in her kitchen, Lane uses a shelvingunit, usually used for papers, that consists of 75 9-by-11-inchcubbyholes. She keeps a current list of items to include in thebaskets taped to the side of the shelving unit. "I can see allmy inventory and know when to restock," says Lane. "Whileassembling, I start at the top of the shelving unit and move down,checking the list to make sure I don't miss any item."

5. Utilize services to help maintain organization.Kanarek finds that receiving her business mail at a professionalmail service helps her to stay organized. "My personal andoffice mail never mix," she says, "and I feel safer notgiving everyone my home address."

Kanarek also subscribes to one of several voice-mail servicesthat are programmable, so that if she is using her phone, calls areinstantly diverted to her voice mail. She feels that hearing the"call waiting" signal on a business line is intrusive tobusiness transactions. Her office phone also rings only in heroffice, so that business calls don't become intermingled withher family's personal telephone calls.

"Organizationally impaired" homebased entrepreneursmay also find that a weekly housecleaning service frees them frombecoming inundated by clutter and disorder. Because a house cleaneroften requires that surfaces be cleared so he or she won't haveto "clean over papers," a homebased business owner may bemore inclined to include organization in their schedule the daybefore the housekeeper arrives. Also, a cleaning service eases yourresponsibility for cleaning tasks outside the confines of youroffice, freeing your time for home-office organization. As with allorganizing efforts and services, there is a cost--but the payoff isalmost always worth it.

Carolyn Campbell, a home-office entrepreneur for 20 years,has written more than 200 magazine articles.

Time Managers

Consider using these time-management tools to help budgetprecious business hours:

• Calendars. Each Sunday, Jackie Iglehart, publisher ofthe "Penny Pincher" newsletter, plans her week using astandard format, week-at-a-glance calendar that includes hour andhalf-hour spaces for each day. She writes both personal andbusiness appointments on the same calendar. "I find thatit's a relief not to have to carry my schedule in myhead," she says. "I plan my week and I don't forgetanything important that needs to be done."

• Planners. Professional organizer Kathleen Donoghueadvises her clients that planners are an essential aspect oforganization. While not advocating any particular planner, shesuggests that goal-oriented planners are often effective inmotivating sales entrepreneurs; "universal" planners(such as Day Runner) often work best for workers who shift gearsfrequently and are best helped by an "action sheet" forevery day. She adds that less detailed versions may work better forhomebased business owners whose daily schedules don't require alot of description.

• To-do lists. After scheduling her week, Iglehartprepares a daily "to-do" list of important tasks."Feel successful if you accomplish some of the jobs," shesays, "and don't feel you've failed if you have tomove some ahead to the next day. At least they'll be at the topof the list tomorrow!"

Worth Reading

Pam and Peggy: Keeping In Touch, A Series of One Hour TapesFeaturing Monthly Organizing Projects and Ideas, $49.95, forsix-month subscriptions. Sidetracked Home Executives also offers avariety of other organizational books and materials. To order, call(800) 238-8840.

You Can Find More Time For Yourself Every Day and Howto Get Organized When You Don't Have the Time, both byStephanie Culp, founder of the National Association of ProfessionalOrganizers (NAPO); $12.99 and $10.99 respectively; availablethrough professional organizer and NAPO member Kathleen Donoghue atAnother Alternative Resources, (716) 893-9905.

Contact Sources

Another Alternative Resources, 707 Cayuga Creek Rd.,Buffalo, NY 14227, (716) 893-9905.

Hospitality Basket, 439 Kings Hwy., Milford, DE 19963,(302) 422-0937.

Lisa Kanarek, 660 Preston Forest Center, #120, Dallas, TX75230, (214) 361-0556.

Sidetracked Home Executives, P.O. Box 5364, Vancouver, WA98668-5364, (360) 696-4091.

Woodjie's Bakehouse, RR1, Box 950, Vienna, ME04360.