Are You Running Your Business or Does Your Business Run You

  • Do you feel overwhelmed, inundated by your office, out of control, overscheduled and full of mental and physical stress?
  • Are you running faster, multi-tasking more and feeling that you can’t get ahead?
  • Do you accumulate piles of all the things you need to “decide”? e.g. “I might need this info some day!”, “I don’t know if this is important”, “I don’t have time to deal with this now”…
  • Do you spend money on expos, advertising, brochures, networking etc. without a clear understanding of the real costs or payback (ROI – return on investment both for money AND time)?
  • Do you lose sales and opportunities because of lack of timely follow-up?
    Running a home-based business or working as an entrepreneur is different! Time management skills and workflow/follow-up processes are critical for success. When you do not have strong, well thought out decision making criteria, it’s easy for piles to accumulate, procrastination to set in and time to fly by unproductively.

It’s about getting a 30,000 foot view:
It’s not about multitasking faster, sleeping less, buying more storage containers and
forcing your inbox to 0. These only deal with symptoms vs. the causes.

THE KEY to being organized and productive LONG-TERM is the ability for you to see the bigger picture and assess where you are and what you want to accomplish. This includes planning and goal setting. You get stuck and stressed when you don’t have a plan because you don’t know where to start. Getting organized and productively managing time requires having the following decision making criteria in place:

1) What to let in
2) Where is it going to go – schedule & space
3) When are you done & 4) what’s the exit strategy?
I help my clients with these questions every day. It is the foundation to all work – at
office, home and life. These are some tips that will get you going in the right direction:

3 Secrets to long term success:
1) Work with someone on big picture goals. Determine what is important – set priorities.
2) Be selective. Set up appropriate decision making criteria to realistically assess
opportunities and obligations you take on. This is the number 1 thing I coach my clients
on – ALWAYS!
3) Simplify your life. Develop good habits and get into routines that keep you on track
both at work and at home.

It’s Really All About You (and your market) Questions:
What is your biggest issue?
What do you need to work on?
What is keeping you from moving forward on this?
Is it time to call Within Reach Organizing Services?

Mary Dykstra Novess MBA, CRTS, CPO is a Certified Professional Organizer, speaker and Time Management Coach. Mary helps corporate, residential and entrepreneurial clients get organized long term and has extensive experience in working with people with ADD/ADHD. She is past Director of Examination Development for The Board of Certified Professional Organizers and past National President of National Association of Professional Organizers. (616) 453-2976 mary@withinreach.biz.