Strategic Business Tips from Kim Beasley

Posts Tagged ‘calendar’

I’m excited to talk about business processes because I have over 15 years of experience as a technical project manager while working in Corporate America. The importance of having business processes in place is vital because they help create an organized environment. Having an organized environment can help you be more successful.

So what can be considered a business process? Good Question! According to Wikipedia.org, a business process is “a collection of interrelated tasks, which accomplish a particular goal”. In other words, it’s when you pre-determine which tasks work well together to create a seamless way to achieve what you want to do in your business.

In my business, I have many business processes in place that help me to create a seamless environment. During my business makeover, I have been able to refine my processes and become more efficient. Below is an example of a refined business process.

• Old way (calendar): receive appointment request, then open calendar & review to see open slots, determine where the appointment could be placed then notify the appointee about the time and date
• New way (calendar): receive appointment request, forward to my Business Coordinator, who schedules on my Google calendar (which automatically updates my Outlook calendar) & notifies appointee about upcoming appointment
• Advantage: by allowing my Business Coordinator to manage my calendar it frees me from worrying about how to arrange things and also it allows me to dedicate more time to my clients

By me implementing this simple business process improvement, it put time back onto my calendar that I could invest in other areas of my business. One practice that is also good for business owners is to set aside time occasionally to review your processes to see if they can be improved.

Do you have business processes that you need to refine? Have you recently refined your business processes and have a success story? Please feel free to share.

Have you found that you are forgetting appointments or important events because you forgot it was on your schedule? Maybe you have been so busy that you don’t even have a calendar schedule. Then I want to encourage you to break the bad habit of having a calendar schedule out of control and take charge of your schedule.

When I have allowed my calendar schedule to be out of control, I have noticed that it affected my ability to run my business effectively. Missed appointment or networking events can make or break your business. So I decided a long time ago that when I make an appointment that I would immediately add it to my calendar.

To help me stay organized and on top of my calendar, I setup a system that has been very effective for me. This system works to keep me informed about my upcoming events and appointment. Even if you don’t use the system that I do, I strongly suggest that you setup a calendar system that works for you. Here’s what I have put in place:

• I add the appointment to my Google Calendar (which allows me to invite others to join me for the appointment if I need to). I make sure to add three reminders (SMS-text to phone, Email & pop-up) at different time intervals. I really don’t want to forget.
• Since I have Google sync installed, it automatically updates my Outlook calendar (this is a two-way process in case I add an appointment to Outlook first).
• Finally, my Outlook calendar updates my cell phone calendar when I connect my cell phone to my computer to recharge it. Or you can have Google Calendar sync up with your cell phone calendar automatically.

With this system, I only have to add the appointment in one place it gets updated through out all of my calendars. This may seem a lot for some but because I am so busy, I have to make sure that I’m covered regardless if I at my computer or not.

What system do you have in place for managing your calendar? Please share your calendar managing experience. If you need more details on using Google Calendar Sync, click here.