Category: office organizing

10 Professional Organizers To Follow On Twitter

Posted on by Denise Caron-Quinn

Social media makes it easy to keep up with your favorite shops, restaurants and news organizations all from the comfort of your own home. But what about keeping up with professional organizers? There are a ton of professional organizers on Twitter and they frequently share great tips for staying organized and productive. Here are 10 of In Order to Succeed‘s favorite Twitter  organizers.

The following list is in no particular order.

  1. C. Sgrott Wheedleton
  2. Lorie Marrero
  3. NAPO NY
  4. Julie Morgenstern
  5. Jen Tankersley
  6. The Inspired Office
  7. Lisa Zaslow
  8. Blissfully Organized
  9. Buttoned Up
  10. Organizing Tips

Tell Us: Who are some of you favorite organizers on Twitter?

Don’t forget to follow In Order to Succeed on Facebook and  Twitter

Quick Tip: Stop the Interruptions

Posted on by Denise Caron-Quinn

When it is time to focus on a project or do something that requires concentration ­ don’t let interruptions get in the way. They slow down the process, are the cause of mistakes and each interruption no matter how brief tends to interfere with one’s ability to be efficient and swift in getting work done.

Let the phone go to voice mail or have someone else get it. Voice mail messages may be changed to inform the caller that you’ll not be checking messages for xx minutes/hours and if needed your assistant or colleague can be contacted instead.

Shut the door if you have an office. Place a brief note explaining that you are there but unavailable (this can be taped either to door or exterior cubicle wall. -Something such as: “I would like to give you my undivided attention shortly however from xxxx AM/PM to xxxx AM/PM I am working on an assignment that is best to complete without interruptions.”

Find more tips from In Order to Succeed when you follow us  on Facebook and  Twitter.

How to Focus Better: Stop the Interruptions

Posted on by Denise Caron-Quinn

When it is time to focus on a project or do something that requires concentration­ don’t let interruptions get in the way. They slow down the process, are the cause of mistakes and each interruption no matter how brief tends to interfere with one’s ability to be efficient and swift in getting work done. Here’s how to focus better:

Let the phone go to voice mail or have someone else get it. Voice mail messages may be changed to inform the caller that you’ll not be checking messages for xx minutes/hours and if needed your assistant or colleague can be contacted instead.

Shut the door if you have an office. Place a brief note explaining that you are there but unavailable (this can be taped either to door or exterior cubicle wall. – Something such as: I would like to give you my undivided attention shortly however from xxxx AM/PM to xxxx AM/PM I am working on an assignment that is best to complete without interruptions.

Find more tips from In Order to Succeed when you follow us  on Facebook and  Twitter.

How to Choose a Laptop Bag Suitable for You

Posted on by Denise Caron-Quinn

By Panhong Zhou

As technology develops, nowadays more and more people have their own laptops. When you buy a notebook, the sellers may present you a laptop bag at the same time. Then possibly you will ask me now that we have already had one, why shall I buy another one? Suppose when you are on a business trip, don’t you think it is too difficult for you to get on the train when you take your luggage and laptop bag together among a large crowd? Generally speaking, this problem can be easily solved by choosing the right laptop bag.

Buying a laptop bag is as important as buying a notebook. It can hold important work files and school projects. To some extent, it could be the portal to your private world. You need to know that it is not only for protecting your notebook safely, but also shows your personality. Besides cost, there are several factors to consider when you choose a laptop bag: usage, size, material, style, color and etc.

You should take the following aspects into consideration when you choose a laptop bag.

1.Usage
Apart from protecting your notebook, you should consider your primary needs and where it will be going: travelling, going to work, lectures, commute or shopping on holidays.

2.Size
You must make sure your notebook fits well in the laptop bag you choose and there is enough space for holding other accessories such as computer power, mouse, mouse mat and headset.

3.Material
Depending on the environment in your home and working place, you should carefully choose the material of the laptop bag. It should be sturdy and durable and a water-repellent bag is preferred. What’s more, the pressure the belt exerted on shoulders should be as small as possible.

4.Style
Laptop bags are styled to look and act like most other bags. There are different types of laptop cases: metallic bags, backpacks, messenger bags, totes, briefcases, and sleeves. Choose the right one suitable for your life.

5.Color
Surely there’s a color that will best suit you. Black is popular and goes with almost anything, but you can find bags with color accents or just in different colors. This is completely a personal choice.

6.Other factors
I strongly advise that when you choose a laptop bag, you should check the zippers again and again to make sure they work well. In addition, you should make sure there are no broken zipper teeth and zipper openings are firmly connected with the body of the bag. Protective layer is also an important factor. Check the inner layer to see the thickness of the sponge. Buffering function and moisture proof can be seen from it. The thicker, the better. The stitches are also a factor that will decide the durability of the bag.

The above factors commonly decide the cost of the laptop bag. You don’t have to spend a lot on it but just think more and rank your needs before your purchase.

Information for this article provided by  handbag blog at http://www.llsal.com/ and http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Panhong_Zhou. For more help on organizing your work life contact professional organizing firm In Order to Succeed at info@inorderotsucceed.com, on Facebook and on Twitter.

Five Free iPhone Apps To Boost Productivity and Organization

Posted on by Denise Caron-Quinn

These days, our smart phones are practically glued to our hands. Not only do they help us communicate, but also they keep our schedules , to-do lists, even hold passwords. With the iPhone 5 recently released you might want to consider these five free apps to help stay organized and keep life simple.


Toodledo

I use this for my to-do list. It’s a free app for iPhone and iPad that you can use to organize your to-list and notes by priority, start date, due date even by the time or status of the item. If you use it with Toodledo.com it will give you access to tasks even without an internet connection.

Bump

A necessary app for any busy mother and/or professional. The free iPhone app allows users to share information such as contacts, calendars, and photos wirelessly from one phone to another.

YadaHome

Speaking of busy moms, YadaHome is the app that lets you organize your family. The free iPhone app allows you to get a free shared calendar, grocery list even a to-do list. Share photos, to-do items, grocery items with your family and they can update it from their phones as well.

Evernote

This app is how I remember everything. And I mean everything. The free iPhone app is accessible from your phone or computer and lets you store things in an audio, visual or note form. See an article you want to read but don’t have time to right now? No problem, capture it with Evernote and access it later. You can even do that with this article.

Dropbox

The motto of Dropbox is simplify your life and this free app does just that. The free app allows users to share photos, documents and videos between devices such as a computer and phone or between users.  I use it to share photographs with clients and also to store PowerPoints when I am making a presentation am not bringing my computer with me.


Denise Caron-Quinnis the owner of In Order to Succeed, a full service Professional Organizing and Project Management firm serving private individuals and business owners throughout New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Denise works closely with clients helping them to live, work and move in productive, organized and stress free ways.

Four After Work Activities for Increasing Productivity at Work

Posted on by Denise Caron-Quinn

Do you want to be more productive at work? Of course you do. When your productivity increases, you get more done, feel less stressed and impress your boss and clients. Take advantage of these after-work activities and increasing productivity at work will become easier than you thought possible.

Make Time for Exercise

After a long and stressful day, exercise is just what the doctor ordered. Just 30 minutes of activity is proven to reduce stress, clear your head and help you feel your best physically.

It doesn’t matter if you walk the dog, kick box in your home gym or take an aerobics class. As long as you’re exercising every day after work, you feel more energized and less stressed, two traits you need for workday productivity.

Focus on You

All work and no play makes you cranky, miserable and unmotivated. If you want to feel more positive and energized at work, take time for yourself when you’re at home.

Go out for coffee with a friend, read a good book or play football with your buddies. Life is too short to spend your after work hours thinking about estimating companies or focusing on the next day’s to-do list. Take time for you and watch your work productivity increase.

Enjoy a Healthy Dinner

You can’t perform your best at work if you’re running on bad fuel. Eating a healthy dinner is a great way to nourish your body with the nutrition it needs to perform at its best both physically and mentally. A healthy dinner also motivates you to make wise choices in other areas of life, including time management, sleep and work-life balance.

That’s why you should end your day with a balanced meal. Load your plate with whole grains, vegetables, and fruit. With a full stomach, you’re more likely to sleep all night. When you wake up in the morning, you’re ready to eat a balanced breakfast and get on with your productive workday.

Get Enough Rest

Do you want to be alert all day and ready for work? You can’t nap at your desk, so go to bed at night!

That’s easier said than done, especially when you work in a stressful office, handle significant amounts of responsibility or struggle with insomnia. Make bedtime easier when you turn off all your electronics, take a warm bath or do light yoga at night. With a peaceful bedroom routine, a regular bedtime and a quiet night’s sleep, you wake up refreshed and ready to tackle your day.

Before you discount the connection between your free time and your workday, implement at least one of these tips. You’ll find yourself in a more positive and productive frame of mind at work as you enjoy your free time after it!

How To Plan An Office Relocation

Posted on by Denise Caron-Quinn

By: Guest Blogger: Clare Moorhouse of Help Moving Office. Help Moving Office is an online resource that guides companies through the entire office relocation process. Help Moving Office offers free Office Relocation Checklists and Planning Guides to help plan a successful office move.

As companies try to reduce their overheads and prepare for the future, office relocation is proving to be an effective strategy for getting into better, cheaper and more appropriate office space. It can enable a business to consolidate, reduce excessive costs and build a stronger platform from which to grow. But planning an office relocation can be a time-consuming and challenging task, and with so much to do, it can be difficult to know what to do – let alone where to start!

Help Moving Office has put together five key steps on planning a successful office relocation:

1. Are you in a position to move office?

There are many reasons why a company might want to relocate; better facilities, bigger/smaller office space, the need for a better location or simply to reduce overheads.  Whatever the reasons, it is important to be clear about the motivation behind the relocation in order to define criteria and map out your new office requirements.

Questions to ask yourself:

  • Is an office move necessary will it prove beneficial to the business?
  • What are the lease conditions for leaving your existing property (notice period, option to break etc.)
  • How do we exit our office lease and what is the required notice period?
  • Can the business afford to relocate?

Asking these questions, and being clear about the goals/objectives of the move, is a key starting point from which you can formulate a clear and Office Relocation Project Plan.

2. Start the planning early

Many companies make the same mistake and underestimate the amount of time and effort required in planning an office relocation, and this can result in escalating costs, drop in productivity and unnecessary disruption to your staff and business. It’s never too early to start planning your office move, but best practice suggests that, depending on the size of your business, between 9-18 months in advance of your lease expiry date is recommended.

Starting the planning of your office relocation early will not only give you the best possible chance of achieving a smooth transition, but it will also enable you to make the right informed decisions and help to avoid any costly or operational mistakes that might affect your business during the move or even throughout the course of your new tenancy.

Companies moving office should always err on the side of caution and assume that everything will take longer to organize than imagined.

3. Break-down the Office Relocation into manageable bite-size chunks

An office relocation might seem like a daunting project to undertake at first, but by breaking down the process down into simple steps and tasks, it makes the entire project much easier to manage.  Help Moving Office has a range of Office Relocation Checklists  to help manage and execute your office move effectively.  It’s the easiest way to manage your office move and ensures that everything gets done on time and nothing gets forgotten.

4. Hire Professionals

Calling on the help of external professionals plays a big role in helping you achieve a successful relocation and will ensure that neither time nor money is wasted.

The expert advice needed to help with the key stages of your office move should include:

  • Tenant Rep Broker – to help find and secure the ideal office space and negotiate the best office lease terms for your business.
  • Real Estate Lawyer – to review the office lease to ensure everything is properly documented and that your commercial interests are fully protected as a tenant.
  • Office Design Company – to create a functional and inspiring workplace which increases productivity and enables your business to thrive.
  • IT & Telecom Solution Provider – to ensure your IT and phone systems are set up properly in the new office and minimize any disruption to your business throughout the move.
  • Office Moving Company – to ensure your office move day goes like clockwork with everything working and in its right place.

Getting professional help for your office relocation is the single, most important “MUST DO” for companies wishing to achieve a successful outcome.

5. Make sure you don’t forget IT!

Your IT systems and business phones are an indispensible element of the running your business, and without these working properly in your new office – your business could suffer dire consequences.   Planning your IT relocation early will get your business fully operational quickly in the new office without any IT delays or disasters.

Use the IT Relocation Checklist available at Help Moving Office for a step-by-step guide to the migration, infrastructure set up and testing of your IT systems so that disruption is kept to an absolute minimum throughout the relocation.

An office relocation is a huge undertaking for any business, but with the right planning and support you will be in a better position to plan a successful office move that your business deserves.

Ten Strategies For Taming Your Email Inbox

Posted on by Denise Caron-Quinn

If you are like most people, your email inbox is always overflowing. Sorting through your email can be a time-consuming and frustrating task. But you can remedy this by following these ten strategies for taming your email inbox.

1. Spam filters

Every email program has spam filters. It is up to you to make them work for you. Check your email settings and play around with the spam filters until you get it set to the level of privacy you desire. Less spam will mean fewer emails you have to wade through.

2. Unsubscribe

Unsubscribe to those newsletters that you no longer need. Get rid of the ones that just don’t provide useful information. There should be an unsubscribe button or link at the bottom of the email or newsletter.

3. Organize

You organize your paper files at home so why not organize your email? You can create files for your emails such as work mail, personal mail, receipts, etc. Place the appropriate emails in the appropriate files. A lot of email programs will even allow you to label emails from specific addresses according to their purpose. For example, emails coming from your work address will be labeled as work in your inbox. You can even color code your emails for higher efficiency.

4. Dedicated Email Time

Set aside a specific time each day in which you will check your email. It could be the first thing in the morning, or it may be the last thing you do in the evening. If you want to remain productive you have got to stop checking your email periodically throughout the day.

5. Short Responses

When you answer your emails, keep your replies short and to the point. This saves time for you and the person receiving your emails.

6. Spring Cleaning

Once a month or even once a week, set aside time for a little email spring cleaning.  Go through all your saved emails and purge what you don’t need. You want to try to get your email inbox down to 0. This may not be possible every day, but you can significantly reduce the number of items in your inbox and your outbox.

7. Establish Alternate Email Addresses

To cut down on the email clutter it is a good idea to set up several email addresses. You can use one for emails between family members, another for personal emails between friends and yet another address for business-related emails.

8. Learn More About Your System

Did you know that most individuals use less than 20% of the programs found on their system? Take some time to learn more about your system and what it can do. You may be missing out on some program features that could save you a lot of time.

9. Determine Your Next Action

Every time you open an email, make a decision on what your next action will be. Are you going to file it, answer it, or delete it? Make a decision and commit to it. This will reduce the amount of emails found in your email folder.

10. Don’t Forget Sent Mail

It is true email can really clog up your inbox, but you should not neglect your sent mail. Organize your sent messages in folders for each client or job. This makes it easy for you to find the email again if you should need it for reference.

How to Organize Your Email

Posted on by Denise Caron-Quinn

If you are like most people, your email inbox is always overflowing. Sorting through your email can be a time-consuming and frustrating task. But you can remedy this by following these ten strategies on how to organize your email.

1. Spam filters

Every email program has spam filters. It is up to you to make them work for you. Check your email settings and play around with the spam filters until you get it set to the level of privacy you desire. Less spam will mean fewer emails you have to wade through.

2. Unsubscribe

Unsubscribe to those newsletters that you no longer need. Get rid of the ones that just don’t provide useful information. There should be an unsubscribe button or link at the bottom of the email or newsletter.

3. Organize

You organize your paper files at home so why not organize your email? You can create files for your emails such as work mail, personal mail, receipts, etc. Place the appropriate emails in the appropriate files. A lot of email programs will even allow you to label emails from specific addresses according to their purpose. For example, emails coming from your work address will be labeled as work in your inbox. You can even color code your emails for higher efficiency.

4. Dedicated Email Time

Set aside a specific time each day in which you will check your email. It could be the first thing in the morning, or it may be the last thing you do in the evening. If you want to remain productive you have got to stop checking your email periodically throughout the day.

5. Short Responses

When you answer your emails, keep your replies short and to the point. This saves time for you and the person receiving your emails.

6. Spring Cleaning

Once a month or even once a week, set aside time for a little email spring cleaning.  Go through all your saved emails and purge what you don’t need. You want to try to get your email inbox down to 0. This may not be possible every day, but you can significantly reduce the number of items in your inbox and your outbox.

7. Establish Alternate Email Addresses

To cut down on the email clutter, it is a good idea to set up several email addresses. You can use one for emails between family members, another for personal emails between friends and yet another address for business-related emails.

8. Learn More About Your System

Did you know that most individuals use less than 20% of the programs found on their system? Take some time to learn more about your system and what it can do. You may be missing out on some program features that could save you a lot of time.

9. Determine Your Next Action

Every time you open an email, make a decision on what your next action will be. Are you going to file it, answer it, or delete it? Make a decision and commit to it. This will reduce the amount of emails found in your email folder.

10. Don’t Forget Sent Mail

It is true email can really clog up your inbox, but you should not neglect your sent mail. Organize your sent messages in folders for each client or job. This makes it easy for you to find the email again if you should need it for reference.

Mistakes Happen: Check Your Bills Carefully

Posted on by Denise Caron-Quinn

by Guest Blogger Michelle R Jones

Whether you are an individual making purchases from a store, a manager signing off a vendor bill for payment or a business owner making payment decisions, make sure you check the bills before you pay them because mistakes do happen. This is not a matter of somebody trying to cheat you, but simple mistakes such as hitting a wrong key or forgetting that discount you negotiated when you phoned in your order.

People generally do not try to cheat you, but even if they do they would be relying on you not checking. Many stores have a sign by the cash register: “Please check change before you leave!” That’s not just because some try to claim to be short-changed, but also because some are short-changed because the cashier made a mistake.

If you are in business, you should double-check everything financial because genuine mistakes can be made, and that fact will not likely bother you until it happens to you. Then you have to prove that it was made, or in business it might not be noticed until an audit – and even then it might be missed. So you lose money – or gain money (why is that a lot less common?), depending on the error, but it needn’t be like that!

Check your vendor bills against your order. Computers don’t make errors but the people using them do. Make sure the addition is correct and that you have been charged the agreed price for each item. Also make sure that the items listed have been ordered – it wouldn’t be the first time…

If you run a business and are deciding how to make payments, never pay by cash, no matter what the vendor offers you in the form of a discount. Use a credit card that offers a receipt when paid, and check your receipts against your credit card statement charges – whether you use a credit card or bank debit card, is immaterial. The point is you get a receipt with the payment that can be checked against your monthly statements to make sure that the bank or card issuer has not made a mistake – this is not uncommon!

If you are an individual purchasing goods from a store, check your receipt before leaving the store. The addition won’t be wrong because cash registers are generally accurate – otherwise everybody would be charged wrongly. However, the items might be – cash registers often operate from barcodes that rely on humans coding the correct prices – and items! If multi-buy discounts are offered make sure they have been applied, and the same is true of any other form of price reduction.

Mistakes happen, and you would be remiss if you failed to carry out the proper checks to make sure that you are paying exactly as agreed for your purchases, whether from a mall store or a vendor to your business. Make sure your charges and taxes are applied correctly, and if not then complain. Fail to check payments, and you are costing yourself or your company money – something in increasingly short supply these days!

Michell R. Jones; More information on running your business efficiently is available from B & M Financial Management Services, LLC at http://www.bmfms.com where you will also find help on several other issues that improve your business performance

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michelle_R_Jones