1. Set goals. You don’t necessarily need to create a 10 page business plan with financial projections and detailed market research for your birth business. It does help, however, to create goals spanning out 6-12 months, and maybe as far out as 3-5 years. What is the ideal number of clients you will have each month? How much money do you want to be making in a year? And what steps do you need to take to get there?
2. Identify the important roles you play in real life. For example, I am a childbirth educator, birth doula, a business coach, a mother, a wife, and the shuttle bus driver for my kids between home and school and all their activities. Within each role, I have a number of responsibilities and need to make time for them all.
3. Create a schedule and start with the “big rocks” first. Stephen Covey, author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” has written and presented a demonstration he has big container with pebbles in it. He has an audience member try to put in several large rocks, and it’s impossible to fit them all in. He has another container of the same size with big rocks in it. When the audience member pours in the pebbles, they easily fill in all the cracks and all the rocks and pebbles fit. This is a metaphor for scheduling the “big rocks” first, or the activities that mean the most to you for the roles in your life. The rest of your responsibilities can then be fit in the spaces of your schedule.
4. Schedule in regular time for personal renewal. Self-care is critical for maintaining energy and emotional and physical health. Be sure to schedule time for yoga, lunch with a friend, or those music or art lessons you’ve been wanting to take on a regular basis. Define what your self-care “big rocks” are going to be so you can be sure to nurture yourself and the important relationships in your life. You will find that the time you invest in your self-care will give you huge returns in your energy level and business and household productivity.
5. Create structures in your life to support your family and your business. A structure is a system or routine that you follow to ensure certain areas in your life run more smoothly. This will help you to sustain your energy and create more time for the things you enjoy. An example is a structure for getting your house clean. Will you do it? Will your kids help? Will you hire a housekeeper? Another structure would be for your business and how you track your paperwork.  Will you keep paperwork in a binder or manila folder? What information will you include for each client, and where will it be stored? Will you print out several sets of paperwork at one time or on a per client basis? Yet another structure can be created so you can find care for the kids when you get called to a birth. Is there a list of people to call? Do you have backs packed and meals made while you’re at a birth? What does each child need if going to a friend or relative’s home?

The initial time investment that it takes to do these tasks may seem large, but by creating supportive structures, understanding your roles and responsibilities, scheduling time for self renewal, organizing your responsibilities by priority, and identifying goals to move towards, you will find that you are more focused and productive when you work, and your time outside of work is more rewarding and less stressful.

I’d love to hear how these tips help you in your life. As always, feel free to add a comment or send me a note!

These posts may also inspire you:

1. Where Do You Fall Short and What To Do About It
2. Incorporating the Big Rocks Into Your Life
3. Time Management Strategies for Work-Life Balance, Part I

Image by EvelynGiggles via Flickr

If you love your birth work, chances are you’ve got of books. Lots of them. And what about organizing handouts for clients? Then there are the nifty tools we take to births. Here are a few tips to keep it all straight.

Books

How do you keep all your books straight? Since I’ve got many interests, I’ve got tons of books in lots of categories. In my office, I have a cabinet behind my desk. In this cabinet my books are separated by category on each shelf, and it’s where I keep books that I reference often. Most of my lending library books are in that cabinet. I also keep my dvds that I lend out in this cabinet.

For books that I don’t use as often, like my business reference books, breastfeeding reference books and parenting books, I keep them on shelves above a credenza that are across from my desk. They are also separated by category.

For books, cds and dvds, I put address labels on them so clients know they’re mine. This has worked well.

Handouts

I’ve used three methods of organizing handouts, so perhaps one of these will work for you.

1. Have electronic copies for everything and print them out as needed. Make sure to organize your files on your computer for easy retrieval. Previously, I shared some tips to organize your computer files. I typically print out a few handouts for clients prior to each prenatal or postpartum visit. I don’t necessarily give the same handouts to every client, and sometimes I discover or write ones I like better, so I prefer to print them as needed rather than keep a bunch on hand that have already been printed.
2. Print out several copies of handouts and store them in a hanging file in my file cabinet for quick access. The only handouts I usually print and store are my Phone Consultation Forms and Previous Birth Experience Forms. This way when potential clients call me I can grab one to fill out while I’m talking to them.
3. Create a binder with useful information about pregnancy, labor and birth, and postpartum care to lend to clients. When I first became a doula, I printed out new handouts for each client that had information I wanted them to read. Then I realized that these would likely be thrown out once they had the baby. I read about other doulas who create binders with all kinds of handouts in it at Alldoulas.com. There are some great threads in the forum about what people do to create their binders. I use 3-inch binders, sheet protectors so the handouts don’t tear while in the binders, and these specific subject dividers. The reason I like these dividers is because they stick out past the sheet protectors. They also have pocket folders which clients use to store other loose handouts that I give them. I like to use binders that let you insert a title page in front, like these. Because these supplies can be a bit costly, I recommend shopping around online for these supplies, or looking for a store near you that sells used office supplies. Create 2 or 3 binders with identical handouts, and you can lend them to your clients while working with them, then collect them at your postpartum visit. My clients have appreciated the variety of information I’ve included, and I sometimes replace or add new information. It’s worked great, is a time saver once it’s done, and it ultimately saves paper and copy costs or printer toner!

Birth Tools

I’ve found the best way to store my birth tools is to keep them in my birth bag, which is a small rolling suitcase. I have a birth ball cover for my birth ball, similar to this one. This makes it so easy to carry my ball, which is usually lent out to my doula client. She just brings it to the hospital with her, and I take it home after the birth. I actually store my birth ball separately between births in a plastic shoebox. After I wash and deflate the ball, I store it along with my double action ball pump and clean ball cover.

How do you organize your tools of the trade? Share your secrets in the comments.

These posts may also inspire you:

1. Setting Up Your Home Office
2. Resource – Handouts from Elizabeth Pantley
3. How to Organize Birth Doula Client Files

For the first five years, my doula business finances were a mess! I was getting plenty of births, but I had no idea if I was making a profit, how much, and when it came to the end of the year, figuring out my expenses for tax time was just awful!

And then I stumbled on a product that has solved all most of my accounting problems. It’s called the “File-it!” calendar, and I’ve used it for the last five years with great success.

This calendar hangs on the wall – essential to not getting buried in mounds of stuff on my desk – and I use it to record the places I go and the mileage. I do NOT use it for appointments I’ve not attended yet, or for non-business related stuff. I just record trips after the fact.

Each month of the year is printed on a file folder sized pocket. I put all the receipts for business related expenses in this pocket. When I deposit a check from a client, I write the client’s name on the bank receipt and it goes in the calendar, too. If a non-business related receipt ends up in there, no big deal. Again, it’s on the wall, so I never have to go looking for the place where the receipts go.

At the end of each month, I tear off the file folder pocket for that month. I go through my purse looking for more receipts. (Bonus! Purse gets cleaned out once a month, too!) I enter all the miles, deposits and receipts on the computer. After I’ve entered in the miles, I figured out the dollar deduction for those miles (using the current IRS formula –for 2010 it is 50 cents per mile for business trips) and reimburse myself for those, too. I personally use an Excel spreadsheet with different tabs for income, expenses and miles driven, but you could easily use Quickbooks, MS Money, or another program for this.

And to motivate myself to actually DO this every month, all monies I get for my doula work go into a separate bank account for my business. At the end of the month, I write myself two checks: One reimbursing myself for expenses paid, and one paying myself any profit I can withdraw at that point. Can’t get the money into the non-business account without doing the accounting!

When I am done, the file folder pocket goes into a drawer in my desk. At the end of the year, I bind a year’s worth together with a rubber band and move it to a filing cabinet for more long-term storage. This has been amazingly helpful for me. Just having it on the wall as opposed to in a drawer or shoebox makes it always easily accessible. I’m not promising myself to write everything down as it happens – because I know myself and I won’t do that! Forcing myself to balance the accounts once a month helps me to keep my finger on how well my business is doing financially and how much money I have to spend on things like conferences, books, etc. And I spend a lot less time trying to figure out what the receipts mean, as I can more easily remember a transaction from February 12 on March 1 than at tax time the next year!

I don’t have any connection at all to this calendar company, but I have found this calendar to be so helpful to me in keeping a simple, doable accounting process for my business. Now that I know better how much I make and where the money is going, I am better able to find ways to do things I love, like attending big conferences every year, while still making a profit.

I hope this tip is helpful to Inspired Birth Pro’s readers!

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Andrea Lythgoe is a DONA-certified doula, hospital-based Lamaze childbirth educator, and instructor at the Midwives College of Utah. She is the author of the website UnderstandingResearch.com where she aims to help those just beginning to read research to understand the language of research. When not doing birth work, she enjoys learning photography and watching her three daughters perform in plays.

These posts may also inspire you:

1. Use Online Map Software to Help Track Mileage
2. Getting Your Books Straight
3. Business Expenses and Taxable Deductions

Image by EvelynGiggles via Flickr

In my house, paper breeds. Despite the attempts I’ve made to recycle, throw out, file and pile, paper still grows. Although I haven’t perfected the system, here are 10 tips that can help you take control of the paper in your life:

1. Put an end to junk mail – If you have lots of junk mail, consider signing up for services with the Direct Marketing Association or 41pounds.org and they will help decrease the volume of junk mail you receive.
2. Sort through your mail as soon as you bring it home. Set up a mail checking station and keep a letter opener and recycle bin handy. Open and check your mail. Dump anything that is going to recycling right away. If you pay your bills online or have an automatic bill payment set up, recycle the envelopes for those bills. When you’re done going through the mail put all the bills to be paid in a “Bills To Pay” file. For items related to business, put them in a “Business Mail” file to take care of when during your working hours. For the rest, either take action on the rest of the mail, or create a basket or bin to take action later. You may want to schedule a regular time to handle this mail.
3. Revamp your filing system. Create a simple filing system for yourself, and only keep items that are necessary. Develop a system to box up papers at the end of each year or after you’ve filed your taxes, so they don’t overrun your office.
4. For magazines, if you must save an article, store them in a 3-ring binder in individual page protectors. Label the binders by topic or use large binders with subject dividers. Alternatively, you can also scan the articles so you’ll have an electronic copy. Recycle the magazines!
5. For children’s art projects, it’s so hard to choose what to keep and what to throw away. A friend of mine takes pictures of her kids with their creations to preserve the memories of the treasures. After a period of time, the projects and pictures are discarded. For pictures you could scan them.
6. If you use your printer a lot, consider having a tray where you can save one sided copies that aren’t used. They make great note paper, drawing paper for the kids, or you can use the blank side through the printer again.
7. Spend a few minutes every day going through new paperwork. Handle a piece of paper as few times as possible. As much as possible, do what needs to be done with it, then file or recycle it. If you can’t work on something right now, write down what needs to be done on a post-it note and put it on that sheet to remind you immediately what needs to be done. Keep a file on or near your desk for these items that must be taken care of. If there’s a deadline for it, be sure to add a reminder to your calendar.
8. For invitations and notes about events that go on a calendar, I add it to my outlook right away and recycle or file the paper. If it’s an invitation, I tack it to a bulletin board so I can grab it on the way to the event.
9. Go paperless as much as possible. With the internet at our fingertips, it’s so easy to set up automatic bill pay and have our bank and credit card statements sent to us via email. If you use a program such as Quicken or Quickbooks to manage your accounts for home or business, you’ll find that you’ll save time by downloading transactions and automatic online reconciliation of your accounts.
10. For anything that is tax deductible, create a file to manage all of those transactions. Anytime you receive a receipt for a charitable deduction or other deductible transactions, you can easily keep these papers in a file that will be ready for you to go through at tax time.

For more help with getting organized, Julie Morgenstern has a book called “Organizing from the Inside Out”. Another great online resource for organizing in bite-sized chunks is Flylady. She has a website and a Yahoo Group that sends you reminders to help you in “baby steps” to get control of your clutter, paper or otherwise!

Please share your organizational tips with us!

These posts may also inspire you:

1. Getting Your Books Straight
2. 5 Tips for Getting on Top of Your Email
3. Obstetrics Illustrated, 6th edition, by Kevin Hanretty – available free as PDF

Where In Your Home Will Your Office Be?

Do you have a room you can call your home office? A closet? A desk in your bedroom? Or the kitchen table? It doesn’t really matter where you work, but your efficiency will be at its best if you have a designated place work, set up your office equipment, and store your books, office supplies, files and birth supplies.

What You Need For Your Home Office

To run your business you it helps to have the following elements:

• Desk or table where your computer and papers you need can be spread out
• Good task light if overhead lighting isn’t good enough
• Comfortable chair to sit in. An office chair on wheels is great to have.
• Computer and printer, and a place for the printer and all necessary computer peripherals to be stored
• Telephone with answering machine or voicemail service
• Container to store files. A file cabinet is ideal, but there are many attractive portable file boxes you can purchase as well.
• Bookshelf to store birth books, 3-ring binders, magazines and videos. An option is to attach shelves to the wall above your work space or in another section of the room.
• Desk drawers or organizers to hold office supplies
• Closet or storage solution for your birth supplies
• Bulletin board if you like to display certain papers or lists
• Wall organizers, in/out boxes, or some way to store papers that need attention
• Trash can

If you need some pieces of furniture, first see if you can re-purpose something in your house that is not currently being used. If you do need to buy some furniture, before you buy new, see if you can get some pieces used. Sources can be friends and family, garage sales, thrift stores, used office furniture stores and Craigslist.

When looking at office furniture, make sure each piece works for you by ensuring it:

• fits in the space you have for it
• is comfortable and fits your body well
• has the minimum bells and whistles necessary to be functional for you. Do you access certain files often? Make sure your desk has at least one drawer for hanging files. Love your office supplies? Be sure the desk has another drawer to store supplies you use often such as a stapler, paper clips, pens, white-out and post-it notes. If your desk will be in a room you share with your family, can the desk be closed up when your work day is done?
• is attractive to you. You’ll want to feel good where you work, right?

It doesn’t make sense to buy something because it’s cheap if it doesn’t fit your needs, so please take your time in buying furniture for your home office. It might make sense to spend some time thinking about how you work best, what you reach for often, and what drives you crazy about your current workspace so you can change it.

When buying small office organization supplies, stores like Target, IKEA, TJ Maxx, and Marshalls, have inexpensive but pretty options. For standard office supplies like printer toner, paper, envelopes and various types of file folders, see if you have a used office supply store near you. Otherwise, look for the cheapest prices online. Many office supply stores have online coupons and free shipping with a minimum purchase available. eBay is another great source for office supplies, especially printer toner and higher priced supplies.

Setting Up Your Home Office

Once you have all the furniture and supplies you need for your home office, how will you arrange everything?

1. Imagine your desk and chair as the focal point in the room.
2. Think about how you work during the course of the day. What items do you access the most? Files? Certain books? Do you grab stuff off the printer often? What about paperclips and post-it notes?
3. Arrange the furniture around you based on how you will work best. Is the printer near enough so you can reach over and grab a printed sheet off it? Are your most current files in your desk drawer, or is the file cabinet/box in arms reach? Is your shelf close enough so you can grab that book you need?
4. If the space you’re using for your office is shared with another room, can everything be put away when you’re done working? Could a bookshelf be used to separate your workspace and the family space? Do you need a screen of some kind to separate the areas.
5. Make sure you have enough space around your desk to move around.
6. If you have young children, is your office setup ideal? Can your kids work around you easily? Perhaps set up their own little table and chair and they can play “office” with you.
7. Add some finishing touches to make your office feel good. In mine, I have a bubbling fountain, a beautiful watercolor print of a mother kissing her baby, and some beautiful plaques with inspirational sayings. Surround yourself with beauty where you work, and you’ll feel great.

As you become more at home in your office space, you’ll naturally develop a certain flow and will make adjustments as necessary.

If you really love your office setup, please share what has worked for you. Please also let us know if there are any nifty organizational products out there that have helped you become organized.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at handling paper. Have a great Monday!

These posts may also inspire you:

1. 5 Steps For Filing Business Paperwork
2. Books, Handouts and Birth Tools
3. 10 Tips for Taming That Paper

• A filing cabinet that holds hanging file folders. You could also use one of many types of plastic filing boxes, or even a simple, inexpensive cardboard filing box.
• Letter size hanging folders with plastic tabs. For files that will have lots of paperwork, get some “pack-bottom” or expanding folders that can hold a stack of 2-3″ of paper.
• Letter size manila folders (I like different colored folders)
• Handheld label maker or file folder labels that can be run through a printer
• Plastic business card binder pages that can be inserted into a 3-ring binder
• A variety of 3-ring binders (optional)

1. Create labels for the hanging files with these suggested categories (feel free to adapt to work for you and create more categories):

• Business Documents
• Current Year Taxes
• Checking Account
• Credit Card
• Advertising
• Rent
• Business Contacts (you could also use a 3-ring binder instead of the hanging folder)

2. For each hanging folder, make labels with your label maker or on file folder labels for the manilla folders. Using the above examples, you can create the following labels for subcategories:

• Business Documents – DBA or Business License, Sales Taxes, Federal EIN
• Current Year Taxes – Receipts, Mileage Records, Charitable Donations
• Checking Account – Statements, Cancelled Checks, Misc. Paperwork (for initial paperwork when account was opened, letters received from bank, etc.)
• Credit Card – Statements, Misc. Paperwork (for initial paperwork when account was opened, letters received from bank/credit card company, etc.)
• Advertising – A folder for each company you’re advertising with
• Rent – PO Box, Class Space (contracts and info for meeting space rentals), Office (if you rent an office, keep your contracts/paperwork here)
• Business Contacts – Colleagues, Referral Network

3. File the hanging folders alphabetically or in groups that make sense. One way to organize hanging folders is by color. Buy a few different colors of folders. Use one color for anything having to do with money – checking and credit cards, tax paperwork, etc. Use another color for folders having to do with Advertising and Marketing.

4. The manila folders are placed into the hanging files. If you can’t think of subcategories for a main category, make a manila folder label that has the same name as the main category. This way, if you need to work with the paperwork in a certain category, you remove the manila folder only. When you’re done working with the manila folder, you can easily file it back into the cabinet or box in its hanging folder.

5. If you end up creating a lot of folders, it might help you to have a master file folder list, where you would list all the categories and subcategories you have in your file cabinet or box. This can be especially helpful for those types of paperwork that you rarely refer to. The next time you have to file something, you can refer to your list and see if there’s already a category for it, so you don’t make multiple files for the same types of paperwork. Tape this list to your box or cabinet.

I use hanging files for most of the paperwork in my office (that isn’t in piles on my desk!). I’ll store stationery, blank labels, blank 3-ring binder tabs and similar supplies this way. I also store my certification paperwork by organization in hanging folders. Store CEU certificates or paperwork to turn in for certification or re-certification.

For business cards I collect, I store them in the plastic card holders and file them in my Business Contacts file. You could also store those in a 3-ring binder.

I hope this will help you set up your business files. In a future post I’ll share how I file my client paperwork. As always, share your thoughts and comments with me and the Inspired Birth Pro community so we can help one another.

These posts may also inspire you:

1. How to Organize Birth Doula Client Files
2. 5 Steps To Organizing Your Computer Files For Business
3. Setting Up Your Home Office