Friday 5’s: Top 5 Business Organization Tools

These are crazy times, y’all. I know some of us have suddenly found ourselves with abundant free time to start a business or grow the one we already have. Others of us have kissed our work time goodbye as we try to juggle working and suddenly having charge of our children 24-7. If either of these is you, read on to see my top 5 business organization tools. I personally am somewhere in the middle. I already had a business, and I was already homeschooling so juggling the two is nothing new for me. What IS new for me is having Kyle here working from home all day.

This Ain’t Easy

Now, please don’t get me wrong. I LOVE having Kyle working from home. Knowing he’s safe and healthy is something we count as a great blessing, and the fact that he can do that without taking a financial hit is something we thank God for every. Single. Day. The things that have changed and presented new challenges for us are:

1. Kyle is temporarily using Elias’ room as an office, so Elias’ naps are extra challenging and even, at times, nonexistent. This means our school day is a lot more broken up, interrupted, and spread out than normal. In an ideal world we’d use Elias’ morning nap for school and his afternoon nap as free play/work time.
2. Since Elias’ naps are thrown off, his night sleep has gotten worse, too. My early mornings alone have gone because I’m up with him so much at night.
3. When all 3 are awake I’m juggling school and keeping them all relatively quiet (aka we stay outside) to keep them from interrupting Kyle, especially if he’s on a call.

It’s Not Forever

So, my opportunities to do my own work are typically short and inconsistent at this time. I know it’s just a season, and I’m honestly just so thankful that we can all be home and healthy that I’m not dwelling on the frustrations. And, on the bright side, it’s made me double down on using the tools I set in place at the beginning of this year to keep myself organized. You can do a lot more in an hour if you don’t waste the first 20 minutes of it trying to figure out what it is you really need to do!

Knowing that many of you may be in a similar place, I thought today would be the perfect time to resurrect my Friday Fives and share my top 5 business organization tools. I hope it helps you, too!

Top 5 Business Organization Tools

1. Trello

I first learned about Trello from this blog post. It really is as easy and amazing as they say!! The cards I’ve organized mine into are Today, This Week, Next Week, Weddings, and Engagements. Each evening I update the cards, archiving the things I’ve completed and loading the Today card with the things I want/need to accomplish the next day. That way, when I wake up it’s easy to look and see what’s on my to-do list for the day. The Weddings and Engagements cards include a template checklist that I created detailing each step from inquiry to gallery delivery. These checklists outline every gift, every timeline, every email I send, etc. I can move checklists and items from the checklists from the weddings to the Today card when I have something to do from one of those cards. We also have a joint login for Kyle and my to priorities and plan house projects, share grocery lists, etc.

2. Elegant Excellence Goals Journal

I ordered this kind of on a whim back in December. I honestly wasn’t sure how much I’d use the actual journal. I already own a journal and a day planner I love, so I was primarily excited about the free education content that came with it. But then I held it in my hands, and it was love at first sight. It’s different from a journal or your typical day planner in that it has space to specifically dream and goal-set. The education that comes with it prompts you and enables you to turn your 10-, 5-, and 1- year goals into today’s actionable baby steps. And it looks beautiful. No ugly paper products on my desk, please. Seriously. I won’t use them. I use this in conjunction with Trello. Each weekend I plan out my week, organizing my to-do lists into 3 types of activities: high priority/multi-step projects, lower priority/one-and-done projects, and things that could wait until the following week if I can’t fit them in. I then update Trello accordingly.

3. The Day Designer

This is the same day planner I used last year, and I remain ever faithful to it. Last year I bought it at Target, but I ordered this year’s on Amazon because I needed it before Target had them in stock. I use it in the traditional sense in that I put birthdays, trips, events, etc on the monthly calendar, but it’s also where I plan my blogs and social media. I plan the entire month of blog posts on the monthly view pages, and then use the weekly/daily pages to put each day’s top 3 to-dos. I get these from Trello and the Goals Journal. I also sketch out our goal day/schedule.

4. Later

Later is the program I use to schedule out a week+ of Instagram posts all at once. Since mine is a photography business, Instagram and social media play an important role in what I do. I rely on this ability to plan ahead and batch one whole aspect of my business in one place.

5. Treehouse Schoolhouse’s Homeschool Planner

This isn’t business related, but we’re talking about juggling all the things, so I’m including it. I plan two weeks of school at a time. Normally I use my school planning time to also request any needed books from the library and to order any supplies we need. With libraries being closed, we now are relying on YouTube for a lot of our books. But the plannings aspect remains the same. This planner has been invaluable! It allows me to see our school week in one glance and works with the planners mentioned above to make sure it all fits together.

So, there you have it!! My top five business organization tools. What do you rely on to keep yourself organized? Tell me in the comments! I want to know!!

Honorable mention goes to every mompreneur’s favorite beverage: coffee!! Check out a previous Friday 5‘s for Charlotte’s best!