All right gang. When I got started on this whole online journey I considered myself a fairly well-organized person. In fact, my mom had always told me that she was shocked at how organized I was in regards to things. The shock factor was caused by the fact that, even though my home appeared “cluttered” to her (mom kept EVERYthing in its place), I could always find things.
My son has been equally impressed and shocked over the years because I can tell him (over the phone), which shelf, corner, and container to find the things he’s looking for. However, something I’ve discovered for myself over the years is that the things I keep most organized are those things that mean a lot to me… photo albums, scrapbooks, music, etc.
Well, my business means a lot to me. And while I thought I was keeping it all neat and organized from the get-go, it seems to get out of hand occasionally as I add more ideas, setting, blogs, plugins, reports… well, you get the idea.
I realize that people use all kinds of methods depending on their own learning style, personality and preferences. That’s why I’m asking for YOUR ideas. Some will resonate and work for some people, other ideas will work for others. And I know that if we put our heads (and ideas) together, we can save other people a lot of time as they start (or even grow) their business.
So, if you don’t mind…
How do you organize your OFFline notes? Maybe you use notebooks or folders or something else. But then how do you find what you’re looking for later?
How do you organize your ONline notes? Do you file by name? Do you file by business model? Or do you clump everything together and use tags?
If you use PLR, how do you keep track of what you’ve edited or where you’ve used it?
For those of you with multiple websites, how do you keep track of where they are or which images you’ve used where? Or does it matter?
And how about your outsource people, Squidoo lenses, plugin settings, favorites, etc.
I’d love to get your responses and I’ll compile them into a PDF and get them to all of you so you can pass it along to the people you know if you’d like. 🙂
Until then…
When setting up websites, I use this plugin:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/install-profiles/
You can save several different types of profile in there and it will then load and install all the plugins that you specify from the WP repository. It can’t do paid plugins but I only use a few of those so I don’t mind.
With my offline clients, I tend to have a containing folder on my hard drive with all of their info inside, organised into sub folders where that makes sense. Any handwritten notes I’ve made during our conversations stay on my physical notebook, although I’m trying to come up with solutions to index those too.
As I also develop software, I’ve got into good habits with that – saving old versions regularly and backing up to my external drive in case of failure.
Karen recently posted..Back to work!
I’ll have to check out that plugin. I don’t set up a lot of sites like I was for a while because I’m focused on Squidoo at the moment, but when I was doing niche sites, I had to keep setting up each plugin for each site. Sounds like this might be a great timesaver.
Notebooks…yes, I have those…several actually and it frustrates the heck out of me when an older idea comes back to me. I know I have lots of notes already and I just can’t always find them! 😮
debij recently posted..I Want Your Organizing Ideas… Please 🙂
Hi Debi,
Considering I have an offline business as well as an online one, I have a method of organization that probably makes most sense to me. LOL
Though, there are a few things that I do to keep my online stuff organized.
I created a directory and called it “MyOnlineBiz” where I’ll place stuff according to the website. So my organization starts with a DOT COM address, such as:
MyOnlineBiz
> BonnieGean.com
>> images
>> docs
>> pdfs
>> free-gifts
> Clients
>> alittlequiltshop.com
>> images
>> consignment
>> blog
>> herodawn.com
>> images
>> blog
>> forums
>> plrhealthadvice.com
>> images
>> dlg
>> blog
> PLRProductions.com
>> images
>> blog
>> dlg
>> Internet PLR
>> Marketing PLR
>> Weight Loss PLR
> Paid-For PLR
>> New
>> Used
This is a great question and I think I’ll do a blog post on it, showing snapshots or even a video. Thanks for the idea!
Bonnie Gean recently posted..The Power To Decide – What’s Your Opinion?
Bonnie,
I have a folder called “Business” and then sub-folders for types and/or people. For example, my “PLR Providers” folder is in there, and then it has sub-folders for each provider, which then has sub-folders for each type of PLR or products I’ve gotten from them (Ruth has Free, Paid, ToyMonthly, ProductMonthly, etc.). The products I’ve paid for are labeled with a $ sign at the start.
What’s gotten tough is that I now have more folders than what I use on a daily basis and I get tired of seeing them there. 🙂 I finally set up a folder for “Not using currently” so I still have them but don’t see them all. LOL
I like the fact that when it’s all on my computer I can do a search, but sometimes that becomes tough too. Maybe I should take a look at doing more tags.
And graphics? That’s the toughest. I’ve purchased graphics packages as well as individual ones. But then I can’t find them easily when I’m looking for a graphic for a post, either because they’re in zip files or separate folders (I have to know who I got them from if ever asked about my usage rights). Frustrating to say the least.
debij recently posted..I Want Your Organizing Ideas… Please 🙂
I have notebooks for offline notes. Sadly, I have no idea what’s in them or where to find what is in them.
I’ve been slowly moving everything (of importance) over to Evernote as it syncs across the tablet, desktop and laptop.
Earlier in the year I was resisting spreadsheets as a way to keep track of my sites. Now I have a spreadsheet with a template file that is copied for each new site. It contains everything “technical” about the site except login info. When I do site maintenance, that spreadsheet is open and updated as I go.
I have a spreadsheet for images that I’ve used and where it came from with link, where I used it with a link, original file name, new name, the date of access/download & use, the rights, a link to license & creator and whether & how I modified it.
With images, it really does matter because you want to easily find and show the rights you have to that image, where and when they were given and by whom, you’ll save your self time and energy.
I’m starting the same type of spreadsheet for PLR.
The one other thing I do is keep a notepad file open to the left of my brower and jot down things as I go. At the end of the day, I can quickly copy/paste that information to the appropriate place.
Minna Bryant recently posted..Friday Follow-up – Removing The Rules
Yeah, I have notebooks with the same issues Minna! And I KNOW there’s good info in there I want to get back to eventually so it just makes me mad! 🙂
I love Evernote and became a fierce advocate towards it when they said they have an app that syncs!! Love it! And yet for some reason I still feel like it’s just not QUITE what I’m looking for yet for fast access… Maybe there’s no such thing?
I have spreadsheets too. But then I start to feel like I have too many because I have to open more than one to find all the stuff I’m using for a project. And yet I’m not willing to put everything into a single file due to size issues and, God forbid, possible corruption of the file itself… although I’m better with backups now so that’s becoming less of an issue (so bad… I used to be a computer programmer and I’m still bad with the backup thing even knowing how important it is!)
Love the notepad idea. Maybe that’s something that could keep me more consistent because I wouldn’t be taking time away from a project to go update my files. And it’s a MUST that I keep them updated. If something ever happens to me my son would have to just trash my entire business if he had to figure out where to find everything, what the passwords are and what I’ve got that’s done, in progress or sent to someone else!!! LOL
debij recently posted..Do You Settle or Keep Moving? – Vlog Challenge Day 4
Offline, I have spiral notebooks so nothing go flying around the room. LOL
I write really big on the cover:
KINDLE
Course Name (like Blogging With John Chow if I’m note taking)
PLR
etc…spirals are easy for me. Better than notebooks with rings where stuff tears out easily.
Online? I just have tons of folders labels whatever I need it to be – but I dig down. Like I have My Webs which is my web page files, PLR, and then all my plr folders in there etc.
Tiffany Dow recently posted..Sunday Vlogging With Miss Tiff
I used to use spirals, but they kept trying to lay down on my shelf instead of standing up like I told them to! So then I stuck them inside binders but they get stuck. So I switched to binders altogether. I liked that cause I could rearrange at will (but I also bought replacement circles for that whole falling out problem!) 🙂
Online… since you’re old-school like I am, does it frustrate you sometimes that you can’t see what you’re working on and ALL your notes you want at the same time?!! :/
debij recently posted..I Want Your Organizing Ideas… Please 🙂