So this week’s episode is all about my top four tips to being more organized or staying organized as a female solopreneur. So this has been something that I struggle with a lot over the years. It’s something that has taken me a lot of time to figure out what works for me, what I like. And trying out different things, trying to figure out the different ways that I can come at this organizational problem. I’ve tried it more times than I want to admit. Or can remember for that matter.
But over the years I have learned a couple of things that have helped me get better organized and stay organized for things that I can keep up with consistently. It’s at the point now where it’s easy for me to do and it’s my second nature.
So just recently I have been organizing my house and doing some decluttering. And my mother lives with us because she moved down from where she was to be with us for a change of pace.
So she has been helping me go through and declutter and get rid of and reorganize the house because I’m currently five and a half months pregnant and she’s that overprotective mother.
But that being said, we’ve been doing a lot of organization and just the other day she told me that I should have gone into business doing something organization related. Funny side note, I actually considered it at one point. But then I decided that organizing other people’s things wasn’t for me. Because I’d have to get over all these different, I guess… humps, if you wanna call ’em. Of getting them to understand the method behind my madness and the logic to it all. And some people just aren’t gonna mesh well with it. So I decided not to. I decided it’s more fun to just have it as a skill I do for myself.
The other flip side of things is that I recently learned about this time last year that I have ADHD.
And upon learning this, it has made me better understand how my brain works. And it’s made me realize the differences between an ADHD brain and someone who is a typical in the ADHD world. As we call it, a neurotypical, someone who is average in terms of their brain process, they think the same way. But an ADHD brain thinks differently. And because we think differently, we see the world a little bit differently. It gives us almost a leg up sometimes on stuff. So for me, I’m able to look at things a little bit differently because I have that ADHD standpoint. So that being said, let’s dive into the four tips.
A Treat to Help You Stay Organized as a Female Solopreneur
I know it’s overwhelming to think about getting organized in your business and staying organized. There’s a lot of moving pieces.
But that’s why I had to make my Organized Business Basics guide. It’ll walk you through everything you need to get started.
So grab your free copy of the Organized Business Basics Guide below.
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Now that you’ve grabbed your copy of that, let’s dive into these 4 tips to stay organized as a female solopreneur. I don’t know about you, but I’m super excited for these.
No. 1 - Keep Like with Like
So my first tip is to keep, like with like. And this may seem simple, but at one point in my life, it wasn’t. But now it’s to the point where if I’m reorganizing my house, I have to have like with like. I can’t stand having the same type of thing in four different places because then I don’t realize how much of it I have.
And it’s kind of the same in business. If you can keep like with like based on categories, and it can be any category. Whatever category your brain comes up with that works for you and your specific business. But if you keep like with like, then it makes it easier because your brain goes, well, this category is kept here, so then it makes it easy. It’s not, well these specific things are here, but that’s over there. It’s all in one place, so it’s really nice.
One thing I like to do is, for example… we all know that being in the online business solopreneur world, usually we have a lot of offers or lead magnets or pieces of our business that we create, and I like to store those in one folder.
So all of the elements of that creation process are in one folder. So I create a folder for all of my offers and products and in. I will sort out what’s a lead magnet and then my products. And then I can even go further and break that up by category if I wanted to. Or I could just go by product name. So it’s really a simple little thing that can help your brain easily identify what types of things go in what categories and where do those categories lie.
Related Reading: How to Organize Your Business as a Solopreneur
No. 2 - Color Code Across Platforms
My second tip, so this is something that when I started doing it, I kind of initially thought, no, it’s not gonna make that big of a deal. But it’s actually been a bit of a game changer cuz my brain doesn’t have to think about all these different things.
So color coding across platforms. And I know it isn’t always easy. Because not every platform has the same kind of colors that they allow you to use. But the big thing is if you can color code as best you can from one platform to the next. So for me, I color code my stuff in Asana.
And then I have a similar folder structure. I’ve copied my Asana structure over to my Google Drive folder structure, and I color code. So that way it makes it easy to find stuff because the structures are the same and they’re color coded.
So that’s a really easy thing to do, and it can make such a difference in terms of how you look at things, how you find things, just by keeping the same folder structure and color coding across those platforms. Because then your brain doesn’t have to go, well, what does this color mean in this platform. Because then it’s just that color and it means this across the board.
Like for example, usually like a sky blue or a light teal, has to do with my content. So all of my content is that color. So then I know, well, if it’s this color, it’s content related.
No. 3 - Do What Makes Sense For Your Brain & Makes Your Day-to-Day Easier
My number three tip is to do what makes sense for your brain and make your day-to-day easier.
So when I say that, let me give you an example. A lot of times lately when I see people recommending how to better organize your day. Or how to manage all of your tasks in a day, they say, go use a Google Calendar or Apple’s version of it, I think it’s called ICalendar. So they recommend a lot, go use a calendar and plug things in and have them set on repeat and do all this.
And I tried that. And it worked a little bit for me. But something was just not quite right. It wasn’t meshing well a hundred percent for me. So I used it for a little bit, but eventually I stopped because it was kind of driving me crazy to use it. I didn’t love it. I didn’t feel like I had the flexibility.
It felt a little too rigid. And as someone like myself with ADHD, things can change. I can go down a rabbit hole and waste an extra half an hour on something that I probably didn’t need to, but feels important at the time. So for me, it feels a little too rigid to use a calendar.
So I have a different system that I have set up for myself. I plug everything into my Asana and I give it a due date.
So I have a different system that I have set up for myself. I plug everything into my Asana and I give it a due date.
And then, I have a dry erase calendar on my wall where I plug in all of my big appointments, doctor’s appointments, zoom calls with clients, and client work. I plug in all of my appointment things where I need to be face-to-face with either a doctor for personal reasons, or for prenatal care, or where I need to be face-to-face with a client.
And then I have those appointments plugged in and I can see the day-to-day things at a glance for the month of all of my appointments. Things where I have to make sure that at this certain time I’m ready to do this. Or I am ready to go on a Zoom call or I’m getting ready to leave to be at this place for this specific time.
And then my tasks are all housed in Asana, and that’s everything I want to get done for the day. And what I’ve been doing, this may be a bit of an ADHD thing, as I’ve recently learned. I give myself a couple little tasks for the day, but then I give myself one big task. And I know not every day can be that way, but I’m finding that with my ADHD brain, if I can come into the office and knock out those little tasks for the day, it leaves me with my one big task for the day.
I feel more accomplished because it’s like… alright, I’m down to one thing and it’s only 9:00 AM for example, or 10:00 AM. And then I have all of my little stuff done and out of the way. And it’s my one big task. That’s all I have to do for the rest of the day is focus on that one big task.
I'm finding that it actually makes it easier for my brain to make sure I get that done.
Because when I can look at my calendar and I can go, okay, well, I don’t have space for this tomorrow. So I have to get this done today. It helps me not get too into the perfectionism of things. It helps me not worry about it too much so that I can do it and go, okay, I’m happy. And I can move on.
But it also helps me understand I have to get this done today. I don’t have time for it tomorrow. So if I want this done, either need to make time on a different day, work late today, or pick up time on the weekend to make it happen. So that’s something that I had to work out for myself. And what makes sense for my brain. For my brain, it makes sense to house all of my tasks in a sauna.
I do leave my appointments in Asana. I do wanna clarify that my Asana even holds my appointments because that’s where I remember them. And then at the end of the month I update my dry erase calendar for the next month. I plug in all of my appointments. But that’s an example of doing what makes sense for my brain.
Everyone recommends to go use Google calendars and it just doesn’t work for my brain. The downside to that one is that it’s gonna take you some time to figure out what does work, but in the end, you’ll find something that works better for your brain. And makes you much happier, makes your day-to-day easier.
No. 4 - Test Things Until You Find Your Favorite
And number four kind of connects into number three. Number four is to test things until you find your favorite. So this is kind of similar to what I was explaining about finding your favorite and what makes things easier for you. But it’s more than just what works better for your brain. It’s a matter of testing things out.
Try tool A, and if you don’t like tool A , then try tool B. So what I mean by that is if you’ve tried Trello and it doesn’t feel like it’s enough for you, then try ClickUp or Asana.
So shortly into my business, I decided that Trello wasn’t enough organization for me. And this is before Trello rolled out a bunch of their new features they have. Which kind of makes it a little bit nicer, but it still just doesn’t mesh well for how my brain needs to see things.
So, so shortly after using Trello, I decided to switch to ClickUp, and I liked it a lot better. But I just wasn’t utilizing it a hundred percent.
It wasn't something that my brain grasped and absolutely loved and latched onto.
And that I was like eager to open things up and check things off, and that I was loving the layout of it.
So for me, ClickUp was an upgrade from Trello, but not how my brain needed to be working either. So I fought with ClickIp for probably close to a year or two until I finally caved and decided to try Asana. I had heard about Asana. All the time, all over the place, but I just felt it was really similar to ClickUp.
So I thought why bother trying. It’s another tool I have to set up. But there’s little nuances between the two that have made my life with Asana so much easier than my life was with ClickUp. So it’s that kind of thing. It may not seem like something that’s important. It may not seem like it’s gonna be a big difference.
Giving it a shot, learning the platform, even if that means investing a little bit of money into a course or something to learn that platform. It can make a big difference in your day-to-day.
My day-to-day is so much better because I use Asana and I switched from ClickUp. It’s nothing against ClickUp. ClickUp is a great tool, but it’s not for me. It’s not for my brain and how my brain works.
Related Reading: 5 Things You Should Organize In Your Online Business
Those 4 Tips to Stay Organized as a Female Solopreneur
So there you have it. My four top tips to staying organized as a female solopreneur. The first one is to keep like with like, number two is to color code across platforms. And if you can copy your folder structure too, a little bonus there for you.
Number three is to do what makes sense for your brain and that makes your day-to-day easier. Even if everyone’s telling you to do it a certain way. And number four is to test things until you find your favorite. And make sure to grab your free copy of the Organized Business Basics guide below.
