Hey there! As you can probably tell from my lack of presence on my own blog, I’ve been mighty busy lately! I’ve gotten several new clients over the past few weeks and it always takes me a bit to get them worked into my routine before things work smoothly. I guess some folks would call it an organization issue! (I prefer calling it adjusting without pressure!) The trouble is when you work in a deadline based world, like freelance writing, working under pressure is part of the game. Having a great system to stay organized can ease the psi between your ears, but getting that organization going can be a job in itself.

I’ve tried the one notebook method. You simply use an actual hard backed wire bound notebook with real paper and an actual pen and keep a page (or 2) for each day. List everything you need to do, cross it off when its done and move the leftovers to the next day’s page. For a long time it worked just fine, but lately I have a need to see more of a big picture view of my week- and my month – so I started searching for a new system.

Then I tried going Google the whole nine yards. I use gmail and have always loved it- the labeling, the archiving- great features. You can add a tasks list, incorporate your calendar and all sorts of dandy things. I really do love Google, but as I am working with more and more clients (and some extra writers) Google doesn’t seem to cut it for what I am looking for either.

My latest venture is BaseCamp. I’ve used other people’s BaseCamp before and have really liked it, so I thought I’d give their free trial a whirl. So far, so good- I’ll let you know as time goes on.

What I really need is a VA so I can hand over things like outsourcing and scheduling and invoicing. These are all chores that aren’t really my forte’ so I’d just as soon get rid of them. I know a couple of fabulous VA’s like Arika Liddiard and Stephanie Fish so it might be time to set those girls up!

Keeping it all organized is key to completing tasks on time and keeping the clients happy. So for now, I’ve been considering giving up cooking! If I don’t cook, there will be no dishes, crumbs won’t hit the floor, so I won’t need to vacuum and I won’t spill things on my shirt, so it will cut down on laundry. I’m thinking this could be the greatest time saver ever!  In the interest of helping you keep things organzied at home so you can keep things organized in your business, I just have to tell you about a fabulous contest I found on Twitter!  Bidmycleaning.com is having a contest and the winner gets a YEAR OF FREE MAID SERVICE! Check out all the details here: http://blog.bidmycleaning.com/

Get on over there and enter- because the contest ends on February 11 at 11:50 PM PST.  Get a little organization in YOUR day!  Woo Hoo!