How do YOU stay organized?
"I live by my white boards—specifically, three oversized ones I keep in my office, listing my weekly and daily to dos. My team and I stay connected via Google Calendars, and we track our time using Freshbooks. Weekly staff meetings fine-tune our focus, and our respective weekly task sheets are all shared through Dropbox."
- Meghan Ely, OFD Consulting, Richmond, Va.
“The best way to stay organized is to answer all communications to prospective clients, clients, and suppliers/vendors on the same day! Even by answering: ‘I do not have the answer, but tomorrow I will get back to you with an answer.’”
- Barbara Diez, MBC™, Barbara Diez Events, Buenos Aires, Argentina
“My way of keeping organized and on-point is to take copious notes—some relevant and some that may become relevant as we create design boards. These provide the backdrop for me to keep on-point for my clients.”
- Janice Board, Spectacular Soirees Wedding & Event Planning, Terre Haute, Ind.
“I live by organizing my office with colors! From file folders, to Outlook category colors, to Post-Its—each event is a specific color. Weddings are blue, social events are purple, corporate is green, holiday parties are red. The different colors help me keep track of random notes from conversations with other departments or phone calls with clients. Plus, having a colorful office makes work so much more fun!”
- Victoria Noe, CWP, Warwick Denver Hotel, Denver, Colo.
“One thing I find very helpful is to categorize my client emails in Outlook by creating a folder for each. Then, I have their emails all in one place so I don’t have to print them all. Saves paper, saves time, and saves clutter.”
- Ginia Lucas, MWV™, Y-Knot Party & Rentals, Mesa, Ariz.
“With three business partners, we couldn't survive without Google Calendar to keep us on track. We also utilize event management software that allows us to instantly know what is happening with each event. This is a huge help since we individually take the lead on events to make it easy for the client to communicate with a single person; yet we still work as a team to execute each event.”
- Jenny Garringer, MBA, PBC™, CSS, Pink With Envy Event Planning Services, Beavercreek, Ohio
“I put everything in my calendar, reminder notes, or an email back to myself…When I stay organized on as many details as possible, it helps me throughout my day, keeps my networking and relationships strong, and gets me closer to that next booking.”
- Brian Perryfield, Perryfield Films, Chino Hills, Calif.
“Every new client who contacts Paper Potpourri is given a client number. I started numbering at 100 about 25 years ago and have found this to be the most successful and relaxing way of keeping track of clients. The number assigned goes on everything: file folder, invoice, order, database, etc. When a client returns for other products, they keep the same number, which is retrieved from my database where I keep all past information.”
- Elaine A. Barker, PWV™, Paper Potpourri, Haverhill, Mass.
“Legal-sized envelopes hold all the information collected from my bride and groom, detailing their wedding day. As I need to review the details, their envelope is pulled from the file. The outside notes the location and time of their wedding along with items I need to bring to ensure their day reflects their personalities.”
- Lisa Kenward, PBC™, Lisa Kenward Events, Hilton Head Island, S.C.
“Clients get their own folders, which are colored-coordinated based on the color theme of the celebration and then separated in the month folder in which it is taking place. So it is readily available and easily identifiable within the folder, it's then separated per vendor category with contracts and all handwritten notes pertaining to that particular vendor.”
- Cindy Morley, ABC™, Eventful Moments, LLC, Palm City, Fla.
“I split my time as follows: mornings, one hour to review and answer emails; perform administrative duties such as accounting, statements; at mid-day, I review instant messages and reply to all at once; afternoons are for appointments…Before I call it a day, I reply to instant messages and review email, answering only those considered a matter of life and death. I don't answer any messages after 6 p.m.”
-Jaymar Pinzón, Gran Evento, Miami, Fla.
“I stay organized with a program called IQTell. I use the online version as well as the app. It is a virtual workspace that allows me to keep up with my prospects, current projects, next steps, actions, emails, phone calls, and any errands I may need to run for my family as well. I love having everything in one place. It keeps me from dropping the ball, which could easily happen with my schedule.”
- LaDonna Bethea, The Desktop Diva Stationery, Holly Springs, N.C.
“Being a Master Bridal Consultant™, I pride myself on the timelines, I prepare for each wedding. This timeline averages six to eight pages and encompasses specific details that were covered throughout the planning. The ‘Wedding Items’ list can consist of three pages of documented articles the bride wants included on her wedding day.”
- Annamarie Wintercorn, MBC™, Elegant Weddings & Events, Stuart, Fla.
"Clients, [whether] wedding or event planning, have their own binder in which I keep all of our meeting notes, contracts and correspondences. The tabs are color-coded based on the planning subject so that I can find what I need quickly. Plus, I can grab the binder and go when we have meetings on location."
- Desireé Moore Dent, Dejanae Events, Chicago
“I started migrating all of my information/documents to Google about a year ago, allowing me to have access to everything anywhere at anytime. I have also started using Evernote, and I'm trying to keep things like new ideas, images of things I want to refer back to, etc.”
- Toni DeLisi, MBC™, Memorable Events, Ramsey, N.J.
