Fun Update On Productivity & Home Office Goals

The other night Ricky and I went out to dinner, and mapped out the rearranging of my Home Office space on the paper tablecloth - with crayons. 🙂 LOL.

I thought I'd give you a quick update on how things are going, what changes I'm making, and some of the cool resources I've found - plus new decisions I've been making along the way (and why).

This Home Office Organization thing has been a HUGE project. It started out as my "July Project", but we're into August already and I'm STILL working on this one. That's okay. Sometimes you miss a deadline. Just keep at it, stay on a roll, adjust your "deadline" and GET IT DONE...

That's been my phrase for the last few weeks, by the way:

"GET IT DONE"

Anytime I feel overwhelmed or exhausted with it, I just stop and say "get it done". Then go right back to a single task. Just one thing. ANY one thing. Then GET IT DONE. I find this extremely helpful in staying on track with my goals, no matter the goal, but especially with larger projects.

The best thing you can do is break it down into small manageable micro-tasks.

And that's exactly what I've been doing...

 

"July Project" is now "Home Office Project"

I started this with the Tag "julyproject" but I changed it to Home Office Project. I've been doing my home office update / rearrange / organization publicly, to share some great productivity & workflow tips with you along the way - and also give you ideas to use in your own home office.

What I've really enjoyed about this project is how many of you have joined in! It turns out several people got motivated and inspired to update, clean, organize and/or rearrange their own home office - which has been a lot of fun. 🙂

 

Outsourcing & Out-Tasking (or: Calling In HELP!)

There is no way I could get everything done myself, on my own. Not within any kind of reasonable time frame anyway. 😛 So many things have changed in my life and business over the last few years...

My two children grew up and left home (they ran a lot of errands for me! lol), my housekeeping team quit, I got sick and had surgery - which got me behind on everything, I started some new projects - things changed with my business, etc yada yada yada. The bottom line: what was working before just wasn't working anymore.

As part of this whole process, which included a lot more than just a Home Office Makeover, I also: hired a new housekeeper, found someone to repaint the front porch & sidewalk, outsourced more work tasks, I set up a new bed for a more recuperative sleep (which is GREAT for productivity!), I'm calling Lowe's to come install a ceiling fan in my "outdoor office" (on the back deck), etc. I am ON it. 🙂

The best thing to do is sit down and make a complete list of all the "problems" - whether it's things that need to be done, or things you're having a hard time getting to yourself. OR things that are simply NOT the best use of YOUR time.

Once you make that list, figure out what you can knock out yourself real quick, and then find someone to do the rest. GET IT DONE. That's my motto.

And let me just say... I make good money, but I have a personal rule for this sort of thing. I prefer for every dollar I spend to be an investment, not an expense.

If I want to spend money on something, like hiring someone or buying something I need or want, I do one of two things:

I either make the money first, before I spend it. Or I task myself to earn more than I'm spending, while I'm spending it. Let's take the housekeeper for example. She just started last week (and did an amazing job!). During the time she was here, I sat down and made more money than she cost. It was a better use of my time and skills, and it contributes to the financial well-being of a local entrepreneur. WIN/WIN.

That's a good policy to put in place. 😉

Know what you're good at - and don't waste time doing the stuff you're not.

 

Restructuring My Digital Workspace... TOO

The same applies to your business and digital space: make a complete list of the problems, bottlenecks, and basically anything holding you back from being "super efficient and incredibly profitable". Then figure out a solution for each thing on the list... and get it done.

When it comes to outsourcing for my business, I'm VERY picky. I'm not opposed to using Fiverr.com for quick one-time creative jobs, but for the bigger things I want someone I feel good working with more closely.

I have one main VA (Virtual Assistant) I've been working with for years. Close to a decade now, I think.

Her name is Angie Newton.

I love this look she's giving me in this picture (LOL). No telling what we were talking about there! 😛

We've traveled together quite a bit, and she's always a huge help when I'm speaking at an event - and just a fun travel partner for "brainstorming getaways" too! She has a travel blog like I do - hers is Newtons' Travels. And mine is TravelingLowCarb.com

Anyway we've been sorta running on auto-pilot for the last few years while everything has been in flux on my end - which is actually pretty nice, that she quietly stays on task in the background. But then she's always there when I need her too. So as part of my reorganization project, I scheduled a meeting with her and we went over "problems and solutions" - and made strategic decisions for moving forward.

Once I knew what needed to be fixed and things that needed to be changed, next I reached out to and hired Cindy Bidar. Keep that name and link handy. If you ever need any technical work or ongoing work done, she's top notch!

One of the major decisions I made is to move everything over to aMember - which is a robust membership site script for digital product delivery & membership sites. This will be a HUGE help in organizing my products, customer support, and improving my overall user experience across my products & services.

 

What's Next In The Home Office Space...

It's been a productive few weeks! I got the 2nd desk set up with the new chair (you can see a video here), got my new planners in and ready to PLAN, and I totally LOVE the new Shoji Screen divider/backdrop!

^ This gives you a good idea of how I'm using it, and shows a couple of video examples with it too.

I still have to rearrange my office, which I'm doing specifically for better workflow - and because I've added tables and a photography / video setup to my home office for my food blog & quick, easy video shoots. Stay tuned for the "after" pictures! 🙂

 

What's Coming Up Next From Me Work-Wise

Obviously I'm making a lot of improvements in my actual work as well. I fell behind on a few projects over the last year, so I'm reworking my schedule and outsourcing some of the newer tasks. I'm on target to FINALLY get caught up and on a better schedule for meeting my project deadlines. *whew*

I'll be bringing an Affiliate Program back for the Private Brainstorming Group, which is exciting! This will all be set up in aMember along with each of my digital products, with the option to promote via JVzoo OR ClickBank.

On that note, I have a lot of products to bring back online (once revised), and some great new products in the works too, so there will be a lot of cool stuff to promote.

I don't have this fully set up yet, but if you want to go ahead and Get on my Super Affiliate List - feel free to do that. That way you'll get updates when my new affiliate programs are available, and new products are ready to promote - and you'll also get "super affiliate tips" to help you be a more successful affiliate too. Meaning: how to earn more commissions and make more money!

That, like everything else right now, is a work in progress. But you might want to get on the list now so you don't forget. That way you'll be the first in the loop when there's money to be made.

Members of my Private Brainstorming Group will be the first to get affiliate access of course, and I haven't decided yet if you'll need to be a member in order to promote the membership (which makes sense), but the other products will definitely have a public affiliate program. First though, I aim to get my members taken care of with a cool new brainstorming & download area to enjoy!

This was just a casual update, letting you know what's going on behind the scenes and what I'm working on here at ClickNewz. I'll keep you posted on new resources & ideas, and anything useful I learn along the way that I think you'll enjoy as well. 🙂 *cheers*

Best,

p.s. I would love to hear what you're working on, or if you've been reorganizing and restructuring things lately as well. You can find the whole Home Office Series here. Thoughts, questions, resources or ideas you want to share? I'm all ears!