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#WeeklyReminder: Organization: 05.28.28

6/1/2018

5 Comments

 
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I can not stress this enough! Being organized is so important in life but even more so in entrepreneurship. When you’re just starting to build your business, it’s essential that you organize your time, all of the relevant information that you’ll be gathering, your contacts, legal requirements, etc. 

Everyone has their own method- the key is to pick one and create your ultimate system. Being organized from the beginning will save you so much stress and headache in the long run. 

If you’ve already started your business and do not have an organizing system set up: DO IT NOW! 

If you have a business, what’s one organizing tip that you’d give someone? For those of you who aren’t great at organizing, what’s your biggest struggle?
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Accountability & Productivity

6/1/2018

3 Comments

 
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“I didn’t get it done today. I’ll do it next week”. “I’ll work harder”. “Things will be different”.
I’m sure we’ve all made statements like this to ourselves at one time or another. While a lack of time and having too much to do does play a role in not completing tasks, the bulk of the problems comes from our lack of accountability. We struggle to complete things and vow to do better next time but then next time comes and at first, you’re doing well but a week or so later, you start to revert back to old ways and the cycle repeats itself.

Fortunately though, this does not have to be the case. Learning steps to improve your self-accountability and enacting them is crucial to fixing this ‘problem’.

If you’ve read the “About Me” section of this site as well as my previous blog post, , then you’ll know that I’m heavily involved in various projects and activities. All of my work along with the responsibilities in my personal life makes it extremely important for me to be accountable. I need to know that I am using my time effectively and that I am being productive.

So, what are some steps to help you become more productive:

  1. Write things down. Whether you’re like me and prefer former planners or someone who likes a simple to-do list, writing things down allows you to have a physical notice.
  2. Set goals. Set simple, realistic goals that you want to meet and lay out the things you need to do to accomplish these goals
  3. Create a schedule. I’m all about scheduling. Whether you do it on a weekly, monthly or permanent basis, create a schedule that has set times for each area of your life.
  4. Work in a neat environment. Having clutter and mess in your working space makes it a lot easier for you to get distracted and lose focus.
  5. Don’t Multitask. I’m one of those people who always felt the need to be doing like 3+ things at a time. I thought this made me more productive but really, it leads to time wasting. If you spend 30 minutes working on ONE thing, you’ll get a whole lot more accomplished than if you spent one hour working on three things.
  6. DO NOT DISTURB. If you have an iPhone, this is a “must-use” function. It essentially stops you from receiving any notifications while it’s activated. It’s so easy to get distracted when your phone is going off every five minutes. I use this function almost daily. You can set it so that your “Favorite” contacts will bypass the function.
Being productive means that I am effectively using my time and that I am more likely to be accountable. Here’s a list of ways to hold yourself accountable:

  1. Same with #1 above-Write things down. When you’re able to see exactly what you need to do, you’re forced to face and address whether or not you’ve done the task.
  2. Rewards. Everyone loves rewards. After you’ve written your goals and/or tasks, set rewards for yourself. For instance, I had a lot of trouble waking up early in the mornings but I recognize how important doing so is in being productive. So I set up a reward for myself. If I woke up and was ready for the day(by 5AM) for a month, I would treat myself to a new luxury handbag. Set whatever reward you think will motivate you. It can be as small as an ice cream at the local dessert bar or as lavish as a vacation to somewhere exciting. The key is for the reward to be something that you actually want and something that is attainable.
  3. Accountability partner. This is something that I’ve recently started doing and it’s been so helpful. Find someone who’s also in a similar situation, share your goals with them and have check-in sessions. Pick someone who understands what you’re going through but isn’t too personally invested in you. For me, having a fellow entrepreneur as my accountability partner has been very beneficial. We share what we’re working on with each other, offer advice and frequently inquire about the status of whatever the other’s working on. This is one of the reasons why I started the Striving Flawlessly Facebook Group. I hope that other entrepreneurs can use it as a place to find their accountability partner.  ​
 Do you struggle with productivity and being accountable?  How are you actively striving to improve this?
3 Comments

How I Manage My Busy Life

6/1/2018

4 Comments

 
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Every business owner has a lot of priorities to juggle and managing how to balance all of these priorities is definitely an art form. On top of all of my business and professional endeavors, I still have my #1 job of being a wife and mother.

With all of these roles comes a lot of various responisibilies. I’m known for saying “ I thrive on being busy” and it’s true. I enjoy having a lot going on. On an average day, I’ll have over 20-30 things to do consisting of  multiple video meetings scheduled, articles to edit, numerous emails to respond to from SFM manufacturers, SFC Guest Contributors and other contacts, finances to balance and more. Of course, this is only the beginning. I also have an avidly mobile 13 month old who must be fed and played with throughout the day, and lastly, prepping and cooking our family meals.

You’re probably wondering, “how does she ensure that she takes care of all of her responsibilities?” Well the key to ensuring that all my responsibilities are done is scheduling. I have a daily schedule that I essentially live by. In my schedule, I allot times for each area in my life. For instance, 9-10am is when I respond to messages, 12-12:30pm is when I work on dinner prep, 1-2pm is when I “learn”(sometimes it’s business related and other times its Islam related). Overall, every second of my day is generally booked from 6:30AM-5:30PM. After 5:30pm, I am usually still working but with less structure.
So, how do I make sure I get everything done with my insane schedule?  A planner! I am really into organization(a necessity when you’re working for yourself) and a planner, to-do lists and other task management tools are a favorite of mine.

When I was still in school, I utilized the New York Public Library planner. I was a big fan of the layout. For the last three years though, I’ve been using Plum Paper planners and they are AMAZING! I absolutely love that I can customize the planner to what suits my needs best.

For this year, I ordered a planner as well as a notebook. My planner is where I note all of my day-to-day and monthly outlook events as well as my To-Do list. For the notebook, I wanted to have something aside from my planner where I could take notes and jot down ideas but also have all of the essential things I need to run my business(es). In my notebook, I added the Blog, Sales, Social Media and To-Do List sections. Each of these sections are filled with all of the various common things that one would need for that area. For instance, the “Blog” section has an area to list your goals for the the month, your post ideas, track your expenses/income, giveaways and more. The “Social Media” section starts off with an area to create and develop your entire social media plan and goals for the year and then 12 pages for monthly audits.

Having my planner and notebook with all these sections allows me to keep everything organized without needing a bunch of different tools.

Despite the workload and constantly being busy, being a business owner is fun. I enjoy the work that I do. I love getting messages from customers letting me know how much they loved their scarf or abaya. I enjoy editing articles for SFC and assisting GLT with building the online community.

Overall, being a Boss Muslimah definitely has its challenges but with structure, great organizational skills and a nice planner, things can run smoothly.

​
How do you stay organized? Are you #TeamPlanner or #TeamMentalReminders? ​
4 Comments

    About me

    Hi!
    I am Aminat O. OdunEwu-Seese. The owner and founder of Striving Flawlessly. I was born in Lagos, Nigeria but grew up in Chicago, IL, USA. I am a multi-passionate business owner with a focus on developing myself, growing my businesses, having a fulfilled career and helping others do the same. ​

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