Plan for Success - Plow the Paperwork Mountain Down

I see so many small business owners and on-line entrepreneurs burdened by unaccomplished tasks. And everyday that the task goes undone - the larger the burden becomes. The mental weight of the undone thing becomes larger than the job itself. It's a negative snowball effect which turns a molehill into a mountain.

Here's what most business owners do to solve the problem: they tell themselves over and over again that they need to get it done. But telling yourself you need to get something done and doing it are two different things. OR I hear business owners say time and again that their not good at some aspect of their business that's vital to their success. Telling yourself that your not good at something only re-enforces that in your brain. So you'll never get good at it. So the simple solution is to stop talking and start doing.

We all know that this is easier said than done. Especially if your desk looks like a paper tornado just passed by or if you have 6 months of banks statements still in their envelopes. In business, there's no way around this mountain - you have to go through it. So start at the beginning.

Decide to do something and schedule time to do it. If you don't plan it on your calendar - it won't get done. Whether you want to just get it over with and schedule a full day or you want to tackle the job an hour or two at a time, schedule it and stick to it. In my experience it takes 2-4 hours per month that you're behind to catch up. So if you haven't filed or done your bookkeeping in 6 months it will take 12 - 24 hours to catch up depending on the nature of your business.

Recruit friends or family members to help or hire someone to help - just having someone working along side you will help get the job done and keep you accountable.

Here's the road map that I use when I help someone over the paperwork mountain:

1. Get your paperwork organized into the following categories: financial documents (bank statements, credit card statements, accounts receivable), filing (receipts, correspondence, important papers), contacts & customers (follow up phone calls, updating contact and customer lists), other (whatever is left over).

2. Start with the hardest job first - for most people this is the bookkeeping and related work like accounts receivable and collections. Getting this job done first creates a great sense of relief for most small business owners.

3. Remember to delegate.

4. Take a break if you get overly frustrated but stick to the time you've allotted to get this done.

5. Reward yourself for sticking to your goals.

6. Congratulate yourself when you've finished plowing down the mountain.

7. Schedule time every day, week or month to deal with your paperwork or hire someone to do it for you. You don't want to have to go through mountain plowing again - it's really hard work.

Just get started and it will get done!