When your business provides a service, you could be handling a number of jobs all at the same time. Whether you work in construction, finance or PR, working with multiple clients isn’t easy. Although you may enjoy having a heavy workload, you can still feel overwhelmed. Managing projects effectively makes it easier to meet your deadlines and your clients’ needs. Do you struggle to keep up with all the jobs you have on the go? If so, the methods below could help you to get organized. Use them to start handling your projects efficiently and ensuring you finish on time.
Prioritize
Being able to prioritize all the tasks you need to complete is essential. You can’t waste time doing something of little importance when you have a deadline. The first thing you need to do with any project is to decide which tasks are most important. Think about which ones are time-sensitive and which are requisites to doing other things. If you can’t do one task until you’ve completed another, it’s obvious which one you need to do first.
Create a Task List and Calendar
When you’re prioritizing your things to do, you can create a list and start to organize everything. You could take the “to-do list” approach. Or you could put together a calendar, or combine the two. You can find some excellent productivity tools online. They can help both you and your employees. For example, if you use Trello, you can create lists of tasks at different stages. Each item that needs doing can be assigned to a different person. They can move them between columns, depending on the stage they’re at. Put your essential deadlines, meetings, and other events on a calendar with reminders. If you use an app, you can have it with you at all times.
Manage All Jobs from One Place
Don’t have each job in separate folders and spread out over different systems. Keep everything in one place with service management software. It allows you to get organized without too much hassle. Using one of these systems, you can give someone a quote, invoice them, store their customer details, and more. Everything is much easier when you can manage it from one central system. You can access essential information whenever and wherever you need it.
Know Your Limits
One of the most important things you can learn when you run a small business is when to say no. When you first start out, it’s tempting to say yes to everything that comes your way. Once you’re gaining a reputation, you can be more selective. Don’t take on too much work because you don’t want to turn anything down. Be realistic about how much you can do yourself and what you can ask other people to do too. Learn to delegate certain tasks to your employees. You could even hire a freelance virtual assistant.
Getting organized is essential if you want to manage several projects at once. Put your system in place so you can handle more than one client at a time.