Interview with Jennifer Hollander, Simply Organized, Certified Family Manager Coach and Organizing Consultant
Melinda: Tell us a little about what you do and how you became an organization/time management expert.
Jennifer: I’ve always had a passion for organization and productivity, and I always thought I’d pursue an advanced degree in organizational psychology so I could help companies be more productive. But as many of us know, life tends to lead us in other directions, and I ended up working in sales and marketing for twelve years. Over time I found myself wanting to use my organizing and networking skills in a business for myself. Once I became a stay-at-home mom, I finally decided to begin my dream of building my own business, and Simply Organized was born. Two children and four years later, hear I am.
I work mostly with busy moms and home-based business owners who want to create happy, productive, organized homes and offices. I find great satisfaction in helping others create management systems based on their priorities and needs. It is quite rewarding when the “light bulb” turns on for my clients and they are able to maintain an organized space and life simply because they are open to and ready for change!
M: Based on your experiences, could you estimate how much time people lose per week to being unorganized?
J: Well, if you spend just ten minutes a day looking for misplaced items, you’re wasting sixty hours per year. This is just a minimum—each person’s situation and habits are different so this number could easily be higher for many people.
Are you one of these people? Just think of how much more writing you could do in sixty hours per year! And if that were 100 percent productive time spent in an uncluttered space—a space that inspires your creativity—you can get a lot more done. Cluttered spaces create cluttered minds!
M: One of the biggest challenges my clients face is finding time to write materials to market their business (blogs often get abandoned and unfinished books get set aside). Do you have any time management tips that might help people make more time to write and market their business?
J: One of the first things to think about is whether you’re more analytical or visual in your day-to-day activities. Most creative types are visual, therefore they need to develop time management and organizing skills that compliment their personality, rather than try to be too rigid in their systems. Trying to force too much structure makes it more difficult to follow through with your organizing solutions. But just as being to structured can stifle creativity, so can being too unorganized.
A few Time Management Basics to implement on a regular basis could be:
Build in time buffers.
Life is predictably unpredictable, so always allot a little extra time for tasks. If you think something is going to take you thirty minutes, schedule forty. Sometimes you will need every minute you have planned for, but often you’ll arrive early or complete the project ahead of schedule and have a few minutes to do one or two quick things on your to-do list (what I call The Daily Hit List).
Set deadlines.
Deadlines are the best guarantee a job will be done. Jot down on your calendar the time or day you want to have a task completed. If need be, ask a friend or family member to hold you accountable.
Make appointments to get things done.
Don’t wait for time to free up. If you have a big project to accomplish, like writing a book, schedule work appointments with yourself in thirty-minute or one-hour blocks. Be serious about this time like you would any other appointment. Before you know it, you’ll have the project licked.
Organize your marketing efforts.
With all the different types of social network marketing available to market your books and services, it easy to lose track of what type of marketing to do and when to do it. Create a basic chart for tracking your marketing efforts monthly. Down the left side column list all the marketing tools you use for promoting your business, (i.e. web site, newsletter, Facebook, Twitter). Across the top list all the marketing events/tasks you want to promote that month, (i.e. blog, newsletter, teleseminar, ebook). Feel free to e-mail me if you would like to receive a sample form.
M: Thanks so much for sharing these tips! Where can readers find out more about what you do?
J: To learn more about my organization and administrative services you can view my website at www.jenniferhollander.com. E-mail me at Jennifer@jenniferhollander.com for a copy of Prescription for Procrastination. At my web site, you can also sign up for my Simply Tips newsletter and receive my report, “3 Keys to Managing Your Time Rather than Letting It Control You!”
Comments? Where is your clutter most limiting your productivity?
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