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Love It! Hate It! Organization & Martha Stewart

Love It! Hate It!

I’ve been a bad blogger this week, I’ve been working on getting the office finished up so I can finally blog about it!!! I’m almost there, woohoo!!! I’m still on the hunt for the right chairs and the right amount of chairs, who knew chairs would be so hard. The ones I love keep getting sold out before I can order them! Customer service promises me they will be back in stock this month though! Keep your fingers crossed :).

Love It!

1. Martha Stewart at Staples! So we all know Martha Stewart is the goddess of organization and now she has a line at Staples. Cue the sounds of heavenly angels!!! Oh and the colors she is using include white and teal!!! I managed to pick up some items to help organize the paperwork I do have and make things look pretty! I have pretty boxes for holding things, folders for each client, expandable file folders for receipts and cool pockets that hang on the wall for paperwork! Oh and it all matches my office!!!!

2. Workflow Board! This is going to be a busy wedding season and now is the time to get my workflow down so I can sail through with no hiccups! I sat down and wrote out all the steps in my process from booking to shipping the clients album, then I added them to my ShootQ workflow and created a Workflow Board. Big thanks to Korie Lynn for helping me with a template to use with organizing my board! Now I can see at a glance what has been done and what needs to be done. I also know who is getting an engagement session, bridal portraits or an album without digging into each contract. Have I mentioned I love being organized! Plus I love checking things off :).

3. Accounting for Photographers! In December 2010 I remember sitting down with my shoebox and entering in a years worth of business receipts into Excel and tried to make some sense of the mess. I told myself I would not wait until the end of the year to do that ever again! Not just from the amount of work but I had no idea where my business was, that is not how you run a business! I started looking at software like Quicken and even purchased it but found it too overwhelming and confusing. I kept looking and stumbled across Accounting for Photographers, I thought yes they know what photographers need to track! Their Snapshot Spreadsheet was exactly what I needed and the price was cheap compared to Quicken! I was able to customize a few things to work for my business but that was just a matter of adding in a few extra lines. When I sent my spreadsheet to my accountant for self employment taxes last year he was very impressed by it! I’ve already been able to start filling out things for 2012 so I know how my business is doing and that feels a lot better then sitting around with a shoebox at the end of the year.

Hate It!

1. Corner of Shame! So most of my office looks great but I have this one corner that has become the junk corner. It is where all my supplies are and where my camera bags get dropped at the end of the day. I’ve got storage units in the corner to organize it but it’s not quite enough. I’m still working on it though and maybe with some Pinterest inspiration I’ll have it looking as spiffy as the rest of the office!

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  • LydiaMarch 3, 2012 - 3:31 am

    I thought you looked familiar when I saw you in my friends’ pictures from WPPI and just now realized it’s because I’ve been all over your blog! Sad I didn’t get to meet you in person, maybe next time! And I’d love as tips on how to go about creating a workflow board. This has been on my to do list for awhile, and I’m a little intimidated on how to go about making it!

  • Melissa ArlenaMarch 5, 2012 - 6:17 pm

    Hi Lydia! So funny that you recognized me! We should definitely try to meet up next time. For the workflow board I brainstormed all the steps to my process from when the client signs the contract to the final delivery of their wedding products. Most of my tasks are general like send thank you card after booking and edit wedding photos. I purposely left a few blank spots on the bottom to add anything I forgot or need to add to my workflow. I used a template from a friend but you can google some great templates too. Then I contacted my local print shop and they were able to do it on a whiteboard which is awesome!!! I had a particular frame I wanted it to fit so working with the local print shop allowed me to customize it perfectly! I hoped that helps with getting your workflow board setup!!

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