Staying organized is a really important part of being a successful VA. Working with more than one person usually means a lot of communication using things like email.
I have always had fairly organized email where my clients are concerned – two folders per client – one active and one completed. The active folder items get filed to completed as they get done, and the completed folder items get purged at the end of 60 days. It’s a good system and it helps me keep my inbox and my task lists organized.
But the other emails that come into my inbox are the ones that I recently realized were creating a problem for me.
I have a ‘Read Later’ folder, and I have other folders that also get messages automatically sorted to them as they arrive in my inbox.
Last week, as I was deleting tons of email (as I do every month), I clearly saw my problem. Having these messages automatically dropped into these specific folders meant that I never really looked at them unless I went specifically to that folder – and sometimes I would actually miss things that I would have liked to see in a more timely manner.
I deleted so much email last week that was unread (I am on a lot of newsletter lists and forums), and that bothered me. If these lists were so important for me to have subscribed to them, why wasn’t I taking the time to read what people were sending out?
So I purged a few (but not many!) and then I deleted my email ‘rules’ that automatically sorted these emails into the hidden folders.
Now everything except my client emails comes directly to my inbox – and I like it! I get to look at things as soon as they come in and then I can choose to read them later, or read them and delete them. It’s a funny feeling because I have automatically sorted things for so long (truly, I had almost 100 message rules!) and now to change my system seems a bit foreign, but I really feel like I am more organized even though I am looking at more email on a daily basis.
This is part of stepping back and looking at your systems to see if they are working for you. I have used the same email system for many years – but when I finally stepped back to look at it, I realized that there could be a better way.
I wonder what else I can do differently … that might really be better!? Think about what you can step back to look at in your business. Is there anything that you might be able to change, that will make things run more smoothly for you, or make better use of your time?
For me, I am spending only a few extra minutes a day managing my email, but what I am definitely doing is taking advantage of the information that I have expressed interest in … reading the things that bring me new ideas and insights for my own business. It’s a simple step but it has already made me feel like I am valuing my communication more. I highly recommend it!
I’d love to hear your comments on this article!