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Feb 02
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How to Get Your Small Business Ready for Tax Season

By Blog, Business Organizing, Checklists No Comments

As a business owner, you may experience mixed feelings when it comes time to get your small business ready for tax season.

 

Tax season is a stressful time for many of us personally, but add business to the mix? It’s a whole other world!

 

With receipts scattered, documents misplaced, and procrastination looming, it’s no wonder we avoid all tax-related tasks until the last minute.

 

In this blog post, I’m sharing my simple organizing strategies honed over two decades. With these systems in place, you can keep your taxes organized for both personal and business use year after year.

 

 

Let’s dive into the five best tips to kickstart a stress-free tax season!

 

How to Get Your Small Business Ready for Tax Season

 

 

Centralized System for Receipts:

 

Organizing receipts is crucial for a smooth tax filing process. Designate a specific spot in your wallet, desk, or car for collecting receipts. Use durable zipper pouches labeled with categories like “Business Expenses” or “Medical Receipts” for easy sorting and retrieval. Regularly empty these pouches into your central tax folder to keep everything tidy and in one accessible place come tax season.

 

Digital Tax Folder:

Since we’re living in the digital age, it’s beneficial for you to digitize as many documents as you can to get your small business ready for tax season. Start by creating dedicated tax folders on your computer for both personal and business taxes. As you receive documents, scan or photograph them and file them directly into their respective folders. This ensures a well-organized digital archive for easy reference whenever you need something!

Personalized Tax Checklists:

 

Develop customized tax checklists for your specific needs. You can find free basic templates online to start with and just tweak them where needed. For business owners, maintain separate checklists for personal and business taxes. Customize these lists to streamline the gathering of required documents for tax season.

 

 

File Folders with Expanding Pockets:

If you haven’t already, choose a filing system that suits your needs. File folders work well for smaller amounts of documentation while folders with expanding pockets are ideal for larger volumes. To get your small business ready for tax season and beyond, prepare labels for upcoming years to save time in the future and recycle old folders as needed. This ensures a seamless transition from one tax year to the next!

 

Archive System:

 

Establish an archive system for past tax years. Keep only the current year and the two previous years in your immediate workspace for reference. Use labeled hanging files or expanding file pockets for each year to separate and store them in a designated area, such as a home office or storage space. Make sure these paper documents stay safe from damage by moisture or any other potential cause by using at least a banker’s box or even fire-proof storage.

 

 

Now you’re prepared to get your small business ready for tax season!

 

Implementing these organizing tips will transform your tax season experience from a last-minute scramble to a perfectly planned filing time!

 

From simply managing receipts to creating a digital archive, personalized checklists, and an efficient paper-to-digital filing system, you’ll be well-prepared for stress-free tax filing year after year.

 

Remember, the key is consistency. Find a system that works for you, customize it to your needs, and stick with it. The more you switch around your system the easier it is for pieces to fall through the cracks.

 

As tax season approaches, you’ll appreciate the ease and efficiency of having all your documents in order!

 

If you have secret tips of your own or more questions about how to get your small business ready for tax season, feel free to share them in the comments below!

 

 

 

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Jan 10
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Simplify Your Business with Effective Systems

By Blog, Business Organizing, Digital Minimalism, Digital Organizing No Comments

Looking to simplify your business with effective systems but not sure where to start?

 

Picture a digital workspace where chaos and clutter are replaced with streamlined effective systems. You can finally close down the tabs in your brain and your day-to-day operations are easy. An efficient business workspace for you and/or your whole team to easily navigate!

 

Below, I’ll be guiding you through the art of creating effective systems to simplify your business. We’ll cover the three basic steps of setting up highly efficient systems in your business. This includes defining a pathway to save time and optimize your workflows.

 

To begin, it’s important to think carefully about how you’ll be setting up strategic storage of digital assets. The key word we’ll focus on here is retrieval; specifically HOW and WHERE you will find what you’re organizing.

 

Next, I will help you draw up a plan of action. Don’t worry, we won’t be going back to your dusty digital files from a decade ago. We’re going in with a bite-sized approach starting with TODAY and MOVING FORWARD!

 

Lastly, we’ll be crafting an efficiency plan to keep it all together for years to come. Say adios to chaos and embrace a workspace where sophistication meets simplicity!

Get started on organizing your folder structure with my FREE Digital File Cabinet PDF: Click here to download!

 

Keep reading to learn how to create effective systems that reduce clutter and simplify your business. You’ll soon enjoy saving time, closing the open tabs in your brain, and working with ease.

 

 

Simplify Your Business with Effective Systems

 

 

1. Determine the WHERE

Write a list of everything you use in your business (a starting point is listed for you below). Ask yourself the following question for each category:

 

Where will this be stored or filed so it can be easily found and shared?

 

Now brainstorm where will you store and organize your…

  • Notes and ideas (Google Drive, Asana, Evernote, OneNote, Reminders App, Google Keep, etc.)
  • Frequently visited links (Bookmark folders, spreadsheet, etc.)
  • Passwords (Lastpass, 1Password, spreadsheet, etc.)
  • Files, videos, course content (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, etc.)
  • Digital assets (Canva, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, etc.)
  • Tasks and projects (Asana, Monday, Notion, ClickUp, Trello, etc.)
  • Receipts (Evernote, Google Drive, etc.)
  • Apps (Folders, groups, pages, etc.)

 

 

2. Plan the HOW

At this stage, you will have drafted a simple outline for your categories and where you may store everything. Take a moment here to think about any frequent roadblocks you encounter in your workday:

  • What often causes you to lose momentum?
  • What distracts you?
  • What is your team constantly asking you to resolve?

 

With a defined list of frictions at hand, ask yourself the following question to come up with resolutions to simplify your business for each one:

 

What are the exact steps I will commit to taking in order to increase efficiency?

 

Where can I…

  • Make duplicates or clones
  • Create a template
  • Automate
  • Delegate
  • Downsize
  • Create an SOP

Benefits of Implementing a System

  • Easy to store
  • Easy to locate
  • Easy to grant access
  • Easy to share
  • Easy to edit
  • Easy to duplicate
  • Easy to delegate
  • Easy to automate

Important Reminders

  • Start your adjustments TODAY and moving forward
  • Your systems will be imperfect to start and improve over time
  • Document what you are doing as you go for recurring tasks so you can create SOPs later
  • Create effective systems to simplify your business that are duplicatable and scalable
  • When in doubt, write it out

 

 

3. Get it GOING

As Barbara Hemphill once said, “Clutter is nothing more than postponed decisions.” The best way to combat clutter is to take action against it. Motion leads to momentum, and once you get going, I know you will be inspired to continue to simplify your business!

 

First, you must accept that you’re going to go through a bit of a process to make it to the other side. Since clutter did not happen overnight, decluttering is not going to happen overnight either. Organization is a lifestyle not a one-off kind of thing.

 

Think about how your life will function once these effective systems are in place. As well as the little habits (see below) you will implement to keep it running smoothly and stay organized.

You have now brainstormed WHERE you’re going to organize your business’ digital assets and planned out HOW you’re going to simplify your business. Equipped with this blueprint of effective systems, you are more than ready to take the first steps today!

 

While sorting your files, if you encounter a roadblock with your new system, remember to refer back to the questions from step two. Use these to untangle your thoughts and don’t hesitate to write it out if you need to.

 

If you’d like some support along the way or are ready to streamline your business even further, join our community in Organize Your Business.

This is our community-focused course where you can meet other business owners like yourself with similar goals of:

 

✔️ A smoother, more productive workday where you have quick access to all of your frequently used bookmarks and web tools

✔️ Implementing a simple solution for storing passwords securely and accessing them seamlessly across all devices

✔️ Creating the systems your online business needs for effortless file retrieval and managing your team’s flow of content creation

✔️ Obtaining a personalized plan for scheduling important tasks throughout your week and then letting go of the rest, guilt-free

✔️ Setting up a structure for easy file, photo, and content retrieval, with confidence that your team can navigate it

ORGANIZE YOUR BUSINESS →

 

 

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Dec 12
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The 5 Daily Digital Habits of Successful People

By Blog, Business Organizing, Digital Minimalism, Digital Organizing No Comments

Ever wonder what the 5 daily digital habits of successful people are, and how you can start adopting them today?

 

If you’ve experienced the overwhelm of desperate searches in the depths of your digital files… keep reading, this one’s for you!

 

The frustration of navigating through an unruly inbox or a cluttered desktop is a commonly shared struggle. It’s not easy to avoid in our hyper-connected world today. The constant incoming emails, habits of saving everything to the desktop for “later,” and the perpetual fear of losing important information – it is a digital jungle out there.

 

Inevitably, your digital files will soon enough become a mess. It gets so overwhelming that you don’t even know where to start picking through.

 

Below, we’ll delve into the very real challenges of digital disarray. As well as combat each of the 5 struggles with an even stronger habit to overcome them. Also known as the 5 daily digital habits of successful people!

Being digitally organized is not just a matter of convenience. It’s a key to reclaiming your peace of mind and boosting your overall productivity. Allow these 5 habits to be your compass in navigating the sea of digital clutter. Together, we’ll work toward guiding you towards a more streamlined workspace and stress-free digital experience.

 

 

Here are The 5 Daily Digital Habits of Successful People:

 

Tip 1: Schedule Dedicated Email Time

 

Getting up first thing in the morning and going straight to check your phone is going to derail your day. Not to mention heavily impact your productivity.

 

Seeing all the emails that you have waiting is never going to do your mental health any favours. Avoid diving digitally head first upon waking up. Instead, schedule two or three times a day to check your email regularly. This first habit of the 5 daily digital habits of successful people creates space in your schedule. Now you can work on improving the other four habits. Make sure you implement this as soon as possible to be able to move on to the others!

 

During those blocks of time, you can quickly process your emails. Review them, reply to anything that takes less than two minutes, schedule appointments into your calendar, and so on. Whatever it may be, just get it off your plate, then archive it out of sight.

 

Tip 2: Avoid Computer Desktop Clutter

 

Don’t save files to your desktop and leave them there to deal with later. This is not one of the 5 daily digital habits of successful people, as staying successful means staying organized.

 

What happens when you save files to your desktop, you may ask? Your desktop becomes a big, cluttered mess. It may appear convenient at first. But there is only so much room for convenience until it becomes in-convenient to find what you’re looking for. We have the ability to create folders for a reason, right!

 

Once it piles up, then you’ll say, “I’ll deal with it later.” But as we all know… later doesn’t come. Then it’s just a huge, annoying, time-consuming, daunting task. Let’s face it – it’s overwhelming to deal with a cluttered computer desktop!

 

So do yourself a favour and deal with it in the moment. Save your files in a folder that makes sense to you. The next time you go to retrieve that file, you will be able to find it.

 

Tip 3: Implement a File-Naming System

 

If you are already practicing a system of where to save your files, it makes it a lot easier to name your files. And to find them again!

 

You may want to file them by date format or alphabetically (A – Z). I highly recommend that when you’re naming the files you use a space, underscore, or dash between keywords. You can also use a capital letter for each word. This makes it easy for you to scan quickly. It’s a whole lot simpler to search for your files when you separate the keywords in the file name.

 

You won’t waste any time searching through your computer again. It will be much easier to find your files the next time you need to access them!

 

Tip 4: Save Files Where They Belong

 

Saving your files immediately where they belong in your folder structure is quite possibly the most important habit.

 

To use the default computer Downloads folder, make an agreement with yourself to only save files there temporarily. Know that you can do a quick delete after you’ve used what you need.

 

I delete the contents of my Downloads folder about once every 2 – 3 weeks. It’s not information I need to save. This releases any stress about having important files randomly saved in there or needing to spend time-saving them beforehand. My files have already been saved into my folder structure the moment I downloaded them.

 

Tip 5: Filter Email Subscriptions

 

Create a filter in your email system for subscriptions. You can thank me later!

 

This last habit of the 5 daily digital habits of successful people is a simple automation. Predetermined emails will skip your inbox and go directly to the folder you set up in the filter. You won’t have to process them one by one manually, which is going to save you time every single day. You can adjust your filter settings for specific email addresses to be forwarded directly into a label or folder in your email upon arrival. This is a great hands-free way to declutter your inbox.

 

To view the sorted emails you can simply go to your subscription folder at your leisure. And the emails are not cluttering up your main inbox!

This week, put into practice the 5 daily digital habits of successful people! You will definitely see a massive difference in your productivity in only one week.

 

You won’t have anything piling up, causing you stress, and wasting your time anymore. Maintaining digital organization does require consistent effort, but the benefits far outweigh the initial investment of time.

 

What is your top tip for keeping digital clutter from piling up? Share with us below!

 

 

 

 

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