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Business binder

In a previous post I shared my management binder with you, today is all about my business binder. At the moment this is part of my management binder but will eventually be moved to it's own binder.

In my business binder I have the following;

Future things to do - this includes two lists. The 1st one is things I would like to accomplish this year. This is then broken down onto the 2nd list into monthly items. These are similar to my goals but are things that actually need to get done to grow and move the business forward as opposed to things I would like to accomplish for the business. I use this when I am planning out my monthly and weekly planners.

Supply inventory - this is a record of items I have purchased - where from, item, cost, amount (metres. etc) as I purchase fabric and need to know the cost per metre for costings of items I make.

An envelope for business cards and a sheet for business contacts.

Stats, etc - a stats page for each of my social media platforms which I update at the end of each month so I can keep track of how I am doing for followers, etc. This helps me to know if one platform is working better than others, etc.
A page to track my search engine rankings for various keywords.
A page to track my advertising - where advertised, date started, how long for, cost (if any) and did it work (any sales, etc)
A page to track my sales, where from (website,misi,etc), customer contact details, products they purchased, amount (£), paid, items sent and any notes.

Misi & Etsy each have their own top tabs which include the stats for each shop.

Blog - the 1st thing in this section is a laminated check list that I use for every blog post. This is just a list of things I need to do for each post like take photos edit photos, post links after post is written, etc.
Editorial calender so I can keep track of my posts. Each blog has it's own colour so I know which one I have posted on.
A running list of to do's that need to be done on each blog.
Blog ideas which is followed by a sheet for breaking down the ideas to form the basis of a post.
Inspiration from other blogs - this is so that I can include links back to the blog if relevant from my post.
Posts that have gone live on the blog with the date and the title of the post.
Posts that I have started with the title and whether photo's have been taken and what stage the post is at (draft, etc)
In this section I also keep a list of blogs that I follow and ones that I read occasionally or have a specific post I liked.

Youtube - this section holds the same sections as the blog only based on my Youtube channel.

At the back of the business section I keep a note of any favourite websites and people I follow on twitter, Pinterest and Youtube.
Most of the sheets I have used in this section I have made myself using Microsoft Word.

I used to have a few more items in this section but they are now housed in different locations.

Twitter # hours I participate in and other quick notes for my business are in my Filofax.

I have a spiral bound notebook which keeps track of all my listings for my website, misi and etsy plus any other info about them like renewal dates, layouts and colours used, etc.

I also keep copies of all my blog posts in a folder so that I have hard copies as you never know if something is going to happen to technology.

Some of the sheets in my business binder.

How to you keep organized in your business?

Stationery goodies

So I went food shopping to Asda today and ended up coming home with a few new stationery bits and pieces.

All my goodies

Set of Sharpie pens

Heart post-its and Bic pen

Metal ruler

Notebook

The sharpies were on offer £6 for the set.

Bic pen is the fashion colours (purple,pink,green and blue). Heart shaped sticky notes (also on offer)

The Metal ruler is something I have been after for a while to use with my craft knife (blade + plastic = damaged ruler)

The notebook is for me to keep track of my different business things (items for sale, blog posts, etc)
All this was on offer as part of the back to school section and cost me in total £14.

Do you purchase any of your items during back to school time?

Hairdresser clips to change quilt cover

Just a short post today with a tip I find so useful. I came across this by accident when I had been using my hairdressing clips and then needed something to hold my quilt.
I insert the quilt into the cover like normal, then once I have the corners etc into the correct position I place hairdressing clips all along the top ensuring to catch the cover and internal quilt. I then slowly work down the quilt pulling it straight inside the cover. As I go down the quilt I fold it over, the clips will hold it in place.

Here is a pic of the clips on the top of the quilt.

New Organiser

This is not the post I had planned but..... today I caved in and purchased an organiser.
I have been looking at stalking various Filofax Pinterest boards, Youtube videos and blogs but couldn't justify the price for my needs. I made myself a management binder for at home, as I talked about in this post but as it is A4 size it is too big to carry out and about with me.
I went to paperchase for the 1st time today and whilst there came across their version of the Filofax and for £22 for the A5 size I couldn't walk out without one. It is also purple which is not only my favourite colour but also my business colours plus I recently had a birthday and still had the money I received.
The planner inserts run for 18 months (from July 2014 to December 2015). Filofax inserts will fit this organiser but paperchase do their own brand of inserts.
So without further ado I present my paperchase organiser (there is nothing in it yet as I have not had time to set it up)

Here it is in the box

Just out of the box

Lovely purple colour with embossed floral design

Inside front with zip pocket and card slots

Inside back with 2 pockets, 1 top, 1 side opening

The dividers it came with

I will be changing a few things as well as adding a few - especially the tabs. Why do you need agenda, diary and planner tabs?
The organiser also came with a set of year at a glance for 2014 & 2015, timetable pages, year planner for both years, Wo2P for both years, address pages, notes pages plus some graph, plain and lined coloured paper.
I will see how I get on with this but it seems to be of a good quality for the price. I will do an update once I have everything to my liking and have been using it for a while.

Do you have one of these organisers? What do you think of it?

Management binder

I know we are already in July but I've only just begun to use a management binder properly. I have been thinking about and researching making a planner/home binder for a few months and now that I have started to use it I thought I would share my setup and thoughts.

*WARNING* this is a long post with quite a few photo's.

My advice if you are thinking of setting up your own binder is look at Youtube videos, blogs and Pinterest boards, just don't get too overwhelmed by what you see. Use them as guides but then look at what you really need to include to make your life run smoothly.
Most of the pages I use are ones I have made myself using Microsoft Word after looking at other people's pages and taking the bits that work for me to make my own. I have added the links for the sheets I have downloaded. I am still changing bits as I get used to using the binder and find what works well, what doesn't work and what I am missing.

The 1st page of my binder is a fly leaf that I made by laminating a photo of my beloved dogs. The back of this gets used for any notes I have until I can move them to the relevant section. (I had slight problems with the laminating sheet).

Management binder

Flyleaf

I then have my tabs set out as follows;

• calender
• finance
• personal
• recipes
• business
• stats
• blog
• sewing

These sections are then broken down into sub sections as follows;
Calender 

• Monthly - this is colour coded for personal, business, etc.
• Weekly - this is filled in using the monthly pages.
• My daily pages are in a day per page diary I already had. Again this is filled in using the monthly and weekly pages.

  These pages are behind the above

• General brain dump page that anything that pops into my head goes on until it can be put into the relevant section.
• To do list - a general list and a sewing list (which is colour coded in priority level).
• Household to do bullet list which is then broken down to individual to do's (inspired by Organised Jen her youtube videos are great to watch).
• Master to do  list - this is things that need to be done at some point but not necessarily immediately.
• Meal planner and food diary.
• Special dates and events - this holds birthdays,anniversaries,etc and is a perpetual calender.
• Present's idea list.
• Cleaning list - this gets added to the monthly and weekly calenders as they need doing.

Sub category Goals

• Personal and work goals. I have my goals as a list and then a goals by month page which I use for when I would like to accomplish each goal during the year.

Finance

• Bills checklist (from Dimplicity crafty blog) I use this and tick each month as my bills are paid to keep track.
• Monthly bills and the amounts.
• Cash register - I withdraw specific amounts each payday which then gets split into my budget envelopes. As the money gets spent I note down the amount and the place spent gets entered into the cash register with a running total of cash I should have left over. This really helps when it comes to budgeting your money as you can see exactly where the money goes.
• Xmas fund envelope - a set amount of money is added to this each month so come Christmas I have money ready for buying gifts, etc.
• Car maintenance log. This isn't really finance related but this is the section I think it fits in best.

Shopping 
This section includes a plastic wallet for any coupons I get.

• Items purchased - this is for any big purchases I make and includes the item, how much it cost and where I bought it from. On the back I make little check boxes if the item is being paid on finance so I can keep a running total on how much has been paid.
• Item wish list.
• Sticky note list for the regular places I shop with a list of items needed - when I am heading to these shops I just grab the relevant sticky note ( this was an idea I picked up from a Youtube video - sorry but I can't remember who posted the video).
• Clothing needed - a list of clothing items I need.
• Item inventory - this is a list of all the items I have purchased and includes the date, what shop, the cost and the warranty (if any). In the back of this wallet I keep the manuals for the products.

Personal

• Personal contact info including next of kin, doctor contact details and allergies I have.
• Dog personal info including breed, age, vets details and anything she has had done.
• Addresses - just a few contacts I may need for posting birthday cards etc.
• Important numbers including hospital, out of hours doctor, dentist, etc. Any number you think you may need in a n emergency should be put on this list.
• User names for various websites I use.
• Illness & Medication - this includes any operations I have had with the date,the medication includes what taken for and the date and period taken for.

Sub category Weight

• this includes my measurements which I take at the start of each month. 
• a picture of me now and at my target weight to help keep me on track (from modelmydiet),
• a graph showing my weight loss/gain for each week.  
• an exercise chart where I mark the days that I have exercised & what set (which I have marked on the back with various combinations of the exercise I do).
• I also have a plastic wallet for exercises I have taken from magazines/online.

Sub category Relax

• this includes list's of Cd's, Books and DVDs I own. 
• a reading list including the author and if it is a book or on the kindle.
• books I would like (on lined paper).
• film's I've watched (on lined paper).
• music I like (on lined paper).
• places I would like to visit (on lined paper).
• quotes I have come across and liked (on lined paper at moment but I am going to be changing this).

Business - I will do a separate post on this section as it is quite detailed as it holds a lot of info (this post is long enough already)

Sub category Recipes

• My favourite recipes - this is where I go when planning my monthly meals.
• Recipes I would like to try and the source (cookbook, Pinterest,etc).
• Recipes - printed from online or copied from a source (book,etc) with the source noted for future reference.

The final section of my binder is what started my business Sewing

• Items I am working on - this is in no particular order and the priority level is noted when they are added to the sewing to do list.
• Needle change - this is a table so that I can keep track of when I have changed needles on my various machines and what type they are plus the date.
• Things I need to buy (on lined paper)
• Things I would like to buy (on lined paper)
• Sewing books I own (on lined paper)
• Sewing books I would like. (on lined paper)

I did have a bigger sewing section but it was getting un-manageable so I have moved it to it's own binder so that I can split it into more categories - I will do a post on that binder in the future.

At the very back I have a plastic wallet that holds all my sticky notes. A plastic pencil case type wallet with zip slide holds all the pens I need for colour coding plus a pencil, rubber and highlighters - this also goes in the plastic wallet.

I also store copies of all the sheets I use ( my own and printables from others) so I know next year I will have everything I need for my binder. 

That post was even longer than I thought so if you have stayed to the end thank you and I hope it helps.

How do you stay organised? Share your binders in the comments section. 

If you would like any of the sheets just leave a comment and I will see what I can do.

New blog

Hi everyone.
I have just launched this new blog of mine to keep my business blog separate from my organizing and general blog posts.
I hope you enjoy reading my posts and find some of the tips useful.