Get Organized Now

Before you start wondering if you replied to a client email or whether the work they want you to do is worthwhile, you really need to have a process for all of this. If you fly by the seat of your pants you run the risk of letting someone down and losing money, so let's take a second and see some extremely simple ways to get organized.

The Focus: Your Customers

This is the difference between personal to-do apps as opposed to a customer-relationship tool: the focus. One is focused on you, the other is focused on your customer.
It's likely you have a way of getting tasks completed, which is great, but did you think about your customer when you were organizing your daily tasks? Maybe, but if you're focused on your work as opposed to theirs you're doing it wrong and it could cost you.

To show you what I mean, let's take a look at two very useful and FREE tools that can help you with this. You should be looking at them every day when it comes to client work, and when you have meetings, instead of popping things in your reminders or sending yourself an email, use these CRM tools to help you out!

Trello

Here's your task: head over to my personal favorite list thingy, Trello, and have a look at their CRM (customer relationship manager) templates. Some of the automations require an upgraded account, which is pretty cheap, but most of the stuff is free.

Trello is super easy to use and has a desktop and phone app that you can use to organize things when you're on a lunch break. If inspiration hits, pop a card in there!

You'll be able to track who you talked to when and about what. When a project is kicked off, create a board for it and invite your client to join the board so they can see what you're doing - it's a great all around tool.

Airtable

Some people (like me) just dig their spreadsheets and if you're that person too, than Airtable can be your new best friend. They have a set of amazing CRM templates that function as simple spreadsheets. I haven't used these yet (I'm a Trello fan) but I use Airtable for a ton of other things, including tracking billing and expenses, and I absolutely love it.

Just... Go. Do It.

Don't overthink it... just go and set one of these things up before you forget and add it to your backlog pile. You'll see and hear me say this often: don't think about it too much otherwise you'll get paralyzed. Execution is the Big Thing when it comes to doing something like this and the more you can tangibly see, the more motivated you get!