Organizing Your Business, Part I

Although I appreciate spontaneity and freedom in certain parts of my life, I'm in constant super-organized type-A, perfectionista mode when it comes to business and academics. Here are a few FREE apps that keep my life sane.

1) Evernote
I discovered this amazing program after my high school English teacher wouldn't stop raving about it. And now I know why! It's so handy for organizing all of your different departments of your business. I use it for everything in my life - prepping for physics tests, organizing fellowship applications, boring grownup stuff like keeping receipts, and especially for running a business. I write all of my blog posts in Evernote, and organize notebooks by departments like collaborations, shipping, and press.

2) Google Calender
If you're not using this, you have to sign up instantly. Not only does this include a Tasks lists for reminders and unscheduled activities, the most exciting part is that it comes with colors! Below is a partial snapshot of what one of my busiest weeks look like. Don't just vaguely label each event "Study" or "Write." Be determined and focused, not pseudo-motivated! As you can see, for some activities, I am very thorough.

Describing Activities on Google Calendar

Do: "Write Organization blog post (include Google Cal/Evernote), email Bead Amigas for potential collab, edit photos from Pasadena photoshoot (change color balance)"
Don't: "Write some blog posts, edit photos, email people"
Do: "Read Ch. 25: Metallic Conduction, annotate lectures w/Morse Code method, draw visual map for Ch. 25 , review questions for office hours @ RH 524"
Don't: "Read and study Physics, go to office hours"

You get the idea. The difference is huge. Vagueness makes procrastination easier since you don't have a clear idea of what you want. By planning out exactly what I need to do for each time slot, I get right to work without procrastinating since I know I have to finish this in order to stay on schedule.

If you do mess up, don't fret. You're only human! Give yourself more time than you think you need to manage your business. This allows you to shift things around and make up for what you didn't do the next day.

Thanks to the inimitable Cal Newport for introducing these scheduling tips. 

I've modified them into a style that works for me and it's amazing what a good schedule can do for business matters and academics, especially. 

Dividing Up Tasks (Peacefully) in a Business

When we first started the boutique, we had a bit of trouble with dividing up tasks among the founders. We tried assigning a specific department that caters to each person's specialty, but that didn't really work out since it was a too insular way of approaching work. We've now grown into a more free-reign and open style of dividing up tasks in the boutique.

A few tips to think about when you're deciding what each founder should do.

1) Identify your co-founder's specialties and interests and lead her to them.
Even if she's insanely skilled at web development, maybe she hates coding. Be sure that your co-founder loves what she's doing and there will be less problems and disagreements.

2) Co-founders, speak up, cooperate, and be honest.
A former co-founder of the boutique (we used to be a team of 3) is very reserved and isn't always the first to voice her opinions. I wasn't really sure if managing email campaigns was right for her since she didn't open up. I found out too late when she would procrastinate the campaigns and hurt the boutique. Co-founders and employees, you would be giving each other a hard time if you didn't speak up!

3) Dabble!
Variety is the spice of life, eh? Keep things fun by having your co-founders experiment with a bit of everything. After all, an entrepreneur is self-sustainable, right? Don't be afraid to try new things. Besides my history with designing Xanga (ancient, I know) layouts, I knew diddlysquat about coding for an actual website. With some practice and some advice from our graphic designer, I now feel familiar enough with HTML to update the site without pestering our graphic designer.

Though we prefer to outsource photographers and models, I have the available camera (albeit primitive) and Jenny has the genetic chops to model. We make do with what we have and always focus on quality. 

Good luck and keep the peace!

Finding Time

This is going to be a bit more of a casual Business Babbles post. When Jenny and I interview for magazines, a question that almost always comes up is, "With school and extracurriculars, how do you guys ever find time to manage a business?"

Being a high school student is tough. In addition to many APs, Jenny is in so many time-consuming activities that it still amazes me how she always makes time for us. As for me, college is no break either. You choose what's important to you in college, and I choose academics; I study up to 70 hours a week, which leaves me with no time for sleep or extracurriculars except for Antoinette's Boutique and a special few activities.

Tips on finding time to manage your business as a student. 

1) Think ahead. 
Before you even launch your business, are you a slacker or a procrastinator? Probably not if you're ambitious enough to think about starting a business! But before you even start, make sure you have the motivation and discipline to keep a business running. I always say this, and I'll say it again here: starting a business is EASY and exciting; the hard part is keeping your business afloat.

2) Plan and organize!
Those close to me know that I meticulously plan my schedule. One of my friends even called me a robot (haha). I plan when I eat, shower, study, and relax. I leave gaps between things to do so I can work at my own pace; I even plan when to procrastinate so I can get the laziness out of my system. It does sound a little robotic, doesn't it? But this has worked tremendously well for me in college. It's all about time management. Be sure you do what you need to get where you want to go. Trust me, it's all worth it.

3) Use your breaks wisely.
This kind of goes with the previous tip. Know where your business wants to go. How many collections and how often are you going to stock your inventory? Jenny and I plan our business around our academic schedules, using our breaks to get a bunch of stuff done so that less work is required when school starts again. We have a list of endless ideas and for our handmade jewelry, we often make the pieces ahead and spend the rest of the time planning our PR and marketing strategy for the year.

Good luck!

Color Outside the Lines

Outsourcing Help: 4 Websites to Bookmark

There are so many hats you have to wear while running a business that it's okay if you can't do everything! Here is a list of quick, cheap, and easy ways to outsource help and find freelancers.

1) Fiverr - An awesome website where you can ask people to do almost anything for just $5! A good but not always satisfying source for graphic design, website consulting, and programming jobs.

2) Elance - This site is a goldmine of resources! At one point in developing our website, we ran into some problems on setting up the e-commerce portion of our site, and we were so close to hiring a programmer on Elance. Ultimately, we found a solution to our problem without Elance. But they have such a wide variety of choices and price ranges, and you do have to consider some risks; you are giving them your password and trusting them with your website.

3) oDesk - One of my favorite freelance sites is oDesk, which is very similar to Elance. This site is particularly useful for web development and a friend's brother uses it often for bugs and quick fixes. Depending on the category, their services are a bit pricer than Fiverr and Elance; to find out which is right for you, it really depends on the type of job and your budget.

Resort to Fiverr and Elance for small to moderate and cheap jobs. Look to oDesk for larger, longer-term tasks. 

4) Model Mayhem - Here you'll find an endless community of makeup artists, stylists, photographers and models. Some are just starting out and are willing to shoot or model for little to no compensation. This is absolutely perfect for small startups!

I hope you found these sites helpful and since your startup may be on a tight budget, always Google your problems and shop around as the first resort. Don't let financial issues keep you from achieving quality work. It might take a little bit more time and effort, but you'll save money and gain a much larger learning experience.