How I Stay Organized as Digital Planner and Product Designer!
Being an entrepreneur, a designer, AND a mom, sometimes it feels like I'm wearing all the hats. There is a lot to keep track of and most days it’s all too easy to forget the little details and lose sight of my goals.
Over the years, I have honed in on an organization system that not only keeps me on track, but helps me plan ahead! As entrepreneurs we need to be able to plan out at least 6 months ahead, how else will we achieve our dreams?
Below is a look into my personal system and some tips and tricks I have learned along the way:
Develop a quarter plan!
I would not be able to run my business without having my quarters planned out. Being a digital product based business, I need to know when I am going to launch products, courses and digital planners so I can give myself enough time to create.
However, the same could be said for service based businesses too. Planning out your goals for the year quarterly is a great way to get set up for success. Maybe you want to launch an online course, or offer a new service, this will help you map that out!
Here’s an example of what I plan out:
Launch dates
Design dates
Promotions
Contents creations
Batching days
Batching days have become so important in how I run my business. It’s my favorite way to create content and stay up to date with my workload. If you don’t know what batching days are, they are days in which you have cleared your calendar to focus on one thing, for example: social media posts, blog posts, a creative project, email writing, etc.
I like to take one day a week to use as a batching day. I typically will batch out content for the whole month, which is a huge relief on my day to day tasks because I know that at the end of the day my content is scheduled out and ready to go!
Back to quarterly planning, I have found that quarterly planning allows me to move more confidently throughout my business. Giving me a mindset of being prepared rather than reactive because I can visualize the bigger picture.
Batching method has also helped with:
Feeling less overwhelmed - no rush job!
Helps Maintain business goals.
Helps review what work to do more of.
Helps establish accountability.
Helps maintain sustainable growth in business.
Time blocking
I have fallen in LOVE with time blocking my calendar. Over the last few years I have created a time blocking method that truly keeps me on track throughout my day.
Time blocking, if you are unaware, is scheduling out your day into time blocks in your calendar. This allows you to visually see your day and how long you have delegated to certain tasks. I love to color code my daily tasks into categories.
For example, each of these categories would be a different color to use in time blocking method:
Creative time / tasks
Business planning
Meetings
Catching up on emails
Whitespace
Personal time (lunch, workout, breaks, etc.)
Kids (If you have more than one, give them each their own color!)
Pets
This will keep you organized and on track throughout the day. No more going on your phone to check an email and end up scrolling for 30 minutes, you have a time limit to stick to! You can even turn on your reminders so that your calendar lets you know when it's time for the next task.
Now a look into the tools that I use for my digital product business:
I think it is super important to find the tools that are right for you in your business. What is listed below is right for me and my team however these might not be what works for you!
Don’t be afraid to test out a couple systems - you never know if your perfect organization or project management tool is right around the corner.
Sunsama | For daily tasks
Sunsama helps you integrate multiple apps in one place. Have you ever wished that you could work from one program to manage your client work, projects, to do list, and keep track of meetings in one platform without launching 20 programs! That’s Sunsama.
I use Sunsama for:
Tracking my daily tasks in checklist format and subtasks format.
My appointments from Google calendar and Zoom will automatically appear in Sunsama.
Add repeated tasks and reminders.
ClickUp | For team + client management
My new obsession to track all my projects, clients work, and notes. You can embed all your spreadsheets, Airtable bases, Doc, and forms.
I love using ClickUp app for:
Create and share a content calendar with my team.
Tasks management with my team.
Client workflow and project timeline.
Outline my courses and bigger detailed projects.
Airtable | For organization
My lifesaver. I organize everything in Airtable: digital planners, all my digital products, collections, testimonials, social media, launch plans, finances, family, travels, collect forms, and everything.
I love Airtable so much that I actually created a course to teach other entrepreneurs how to Scale with Airtable!
This course is designed for fellow digital product sellers and digital planner sellers to organize their business, files, and create a system that will help them scale.
Kartra | For marketing
Kartra is an all-in-one marketing systems that you could use to manage all of your online business in one place.
I use Kartra for:
Host my large digital products.
Host my courses.
Sell my courses.
Create sales and marketing funnels for my business
Generate and track leads.
Email marketing.
And of course, I mean this could go without saying, but my digital planner.
I sometimes have a hard time choosing my planners from my collection because I love them all but I could not live without my digital planner!
I remember back in the early days when I had my paper planner and then separately my paper notebook / journal. Without fail, whenever I needed them they were missing or forgotten at home.
Never again will I live in that frustration! I love keeping organized digitally and knowing that everything is just a finger tap away and properly hyperlinked. Plus, they are just so much prettier!
Final thoughts.
No matter what stage you are at in your business, it is vital to have a strong organization system. Staying organized is the key to success, I have said that for years and will always stand by it.
I encourage you to look into the tools above if you are unfamiliar with them and see if they are a good fit, as well as try to quarterly plan and time block! You will feel so put together and confident in where your business is headed.
