Bird & Associates, International
The Entrepreneurial Journey of a Woman of FaithOrganization, My Middle Name…NOT!
OK, some people are just natural born Organizers. I’m not one of them! So today as I was trying to figure out the last time I’d contacted a particular client lead I decided that I needed to do SOMETHING, anything to get better at organizing my business STUFF.
I’m an independent agent with a company that helps people to pay off their mortgage and/or debts in as little as 1/3 to 1/2 half the time. And since I made the decision to commit to that “full-time” versus the virtual office assistant business that I’d started a year ago, my life has gotten interesting. To make life even more interesting, add the fact that I’m assisting a dozen or so other agents with their leads as well. So I have a ton of paperwork to keep track of and have handy at a moment’s notice. Yeah, uh huh! It’s all in that pile there or this one here, or maybe the one in my briefcase? Surely I’m stepping on someone’s toes other than my own…
Well, anyway, I spent most of the afternoon sorting, stuffing bright new file folders full of papers, and generally bringing some semblance of order to the mess. My briefcase is much lighter now, and so is my mental outlook. It’s amazing what de-cluttering your office can do for you. I still have a couple stacks of papers to go through, but the worst is over. And while it’s all fresh on my mind, I wanted to share a few tips to help others get started on organizing their “stuff” as well.
1. SUPPLIES: Gather all of your supplies in advance. Items you’ll need include file folders, (colored) hanging folders, labels, WhiteOut, a pen or a sharpie, and maybe a few catalog size envelopes (to neatly keep small receipts in the file folders). For those of you who aren’t hand writing the labels, you’ll need inkjet/laser label sheets and a computer program that will let you print a sheet of labels that aren’t all the same (like Word or WordPerfect).
2. THE FILE CONTAINER: It should go without saying that you’ll need something in which to place all of your soon-to-be-bulging files. But the physical layout of your office, your decor, and the type of desk you’re using, all determine what kind of container you’re going to be using. I’m using one of those old HEAVY desks from 30 years ago that has a nice big filing drawer built in on one side. That makes my files very accessible without having to get up and hunt them down. Since I’ll be getting into my files frequently, that’s a good thing.
But for those of you who file things away, never more to be seen until tax time, you may want to use a separate filing cabinet, filing crate or cube, or even one of the fancy fashion-color cloth covered “box” sets that can double as decoration. The important thing is to determine how often you’re going to access the files, so whatever filing container you chose will make the most efficient use of your time. Let’s face it, if you have to walk across the room to pull a file every time a client calls, you probably need to rethink where it’s kept.
Depending upon the amount of paperwork that you generate or are responsible for keeping, a mixture of containers and locations is usually the best plan. Something in or near your desk for Frequently Used files plus a larger cabinet or starage container in a less traveled part of your office for archive-type files. Always keep your Personal Space as uncluttered as possible, as it affects your mental attitude about being there.
3. A SYSTEM: Before you start writing out the labels for your folders determine what system you want to use for labeling. I didn’t do that before I started today, and then had to go back and re-label several file folders half-way through the process. I’ll use my own files as an example. I’m filing my own leads and completed sales, but I’m also filing information on other agents’ leads and sales that I close for them. I started out having a file folder for each lead, whether it had panned out or not. After a while I got to thinking that that wasn’t the best way for me to organize things. I switched over to having a Leads folder for each Agent, including myself, and a separate file for each completed client sale.
I also wanted a file folder for each agent on my own team, so I can help track their successes and important information. Then there are vendor files like Office Max, receipts for business functions, advertising information, etc. I have one file drawer to house all of it, so I had to decide whether to just file everything alphabetically or to have a Leads Section, a Completed Sales Section, an Agent Section, a Vendors Section, and a General Section. I opted for the latter so that I could more quickly find the files I needed. That’s where the colored hanging folders came into play. I used all one color for the Leads Files, another color for the Completed Sales, and so forth. It may not work for everyone, but it sure helped me right off the bat!
4. SORTING: Wading through mounds of paperwork that needs to be filed can be overwhelming. There is a old saying that asks: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time…” and that’s what I recommend with this as well. I started sorting my stacks into smaller stacks first, by categories. A Leads stack, Sale stack, etc. Then I knew how many folders/hanging files I’d need for each group and would know if I’d forgotten to address a particular type of paperwork. Once my stacks were broken down into smaller stacks, they were less intimidating and much more easily managed. Each stack quickly disappeared into it’s own set of file folders, which in turn were dropped into the waiting hanging files.
5. OFFICE SUPPLIES: Yes, we all have them. Extra pens, Post-It pads, rubber bands, paperclips, tape, glue, Sharpies, folders, etc. There are some great tools at the office supply stores to help keep those in order as well. The small plastic containers with drawers work very well to keep items like that neat, and they are small enough to fit on a shelf, desk, etc. Of course there are fancier organization cubes that you can buy, but they all come with fancier price tags. I like to be chea…frugal!
I know Organizing your Office “Stuff” isn’t rocket science, but surely I’m not the only one out there who has struggled with it in the past…I hope that these few simple tips will be of help to someone out there. If I get ambitious sometime in the future I’ll list my “make-it-yourself” office organizer tips for those on a shoestring budget…Let’s face it, the goal of being in business for yourself isn’t to try to spend a lot of money to make money…But the more organized you are the more productive you’ll be!
That’s all for now, be blessed!
Leadership Lessons From An Appalachian Trail Night Hike…
I did a 5-mile round-trip, night hike last night that I finished at about 1:15AM. It was from Black Horse Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Wilson Creek Shelter. You can read about it in our Bird Family Chronicles. But I wanted to put down a few things about leadership that the Holy Spirit spoke to me about during the hike.
RISK: As I said previously, there was definitely an element of risk
involved in my night hike last night. Deep leaves on the trail can hide rocks, roots, missing ground, etc. A misstep is much more likely when you can’t see the ground you’re walking on. In relation to leadership:
Leaders aren’t afraid of risk. I’ve heard it said that Faith is spelled
R-I-S-K. When a leader has Faith in what he or she is doing, he is
willing to take the risks involved to pursue whatever the task is at
hand…even if he can’t see the ground ahead of him. Each step forward may be a step of faith that the footing will remain sure and the ground will not crumble out from under him. Also, a true leader will never ask his followers to face a risk that he himself has not faced first.
TRAIL-BLAZING: As I mentioned in the BFC post, the trail was covered by heavy calf+ deep “leaf-fall” along many stretches. Now that can pose some extra risk even in the daylight, but when you add that to a night hike it can really add a sense of “excitement”. On the way to the shelter I developed a what I call the “cross-country skiing” leaf-technique. It’s a shuffling walk that helped me to be aware of the ground UNDER the leaves. (I was glad that the temperatures have been cold and there was little chance of snakes in the leaves. When the leaves get as deep as the top of your calves, there’s no telling what might be hiding in them in the woods!)
While it wasn’t obvious as I was moving forward, as I shuffled through the leaves, I was creating slight “waves” on either side of where my legs pushed through. It wasn’t until the return journey that I could see the effect of my previous trip. I had created somewhat of a “path” through the leaves. Granted, there was already a path there. But being able to see where I’d already gone, faint as it was in the dark, gave me guidance and a greater assurance as I traveled back down that same trail.
In relation to leadership, leaders do the same thing at times. They go ahead down, at times treacherous, unknown paths and blaze a trail for others. Sometimes they have to go down that path two or more times before others can safely follow it. But because the leader has gone ahead and blazed the trail, the followers can follow that same trail with greater assurance.
NEW TECHNIQUES/CHANGE: While I was walking through the deep leaves I found that my normal hiking gait/style was not appropriate. I had to come up with the shuffle style walk to assure my safety and reach my destination.
In relation to leadership, leaders have to be agents of change. They help develop new techniques of doing things, and then help with Change Management. Their ability to do that smoothly shows the type of leader he or she is. A “Manager” will try to TELL people “What” they need to change, but a true leader will educate his or her followers as to the “Why” of change and get a sense of buy-in from the followers. Once people buy-in to something, change comes about more easily.
It’s getting late and I need to get to bed…church is just a few hours away. But I hope that what I’ve shared will benefit you in some way. Grace and Peace!
Some Late Night Thoughts
Well, since I’m still here at the church burning CDs from last week’s Prayer Workshop, I figured I’d make better use of my time than to sit and watch the duplicator and printer do their thing. I wanted to share a few things on struggles as a Christian business owner.
The last several months have been very challenging ones. Last year when I started my business, things just seemed to “take off” so quickly and easily that it was easy to think it would always be that way. Well, that’s not the way things always work. I started my business about a year ago…Retired from my J-O-B at the end of December…And started to question my decision a couple months later.
I want to stop right here and make sure that I state the fact that I prayed and got a peace and confirmation from the Lord BEFORE leaving the JOB and have consistently prayed for continued guidance & wisdom concerning my business. There have been many times recently that I’ve questioned whether I had actually heard God, or if I was just trying to do my own thing…but then each time God would bring obvious confirmation through His Word and through other people as well. (Thank God that my pastor, Pastor Eddie Crabtree, always brings a word directly from God when he’s ministering. God speaks through his sermons during every service, and it’s always something that ministers to me.)
Any way…the gist of the story is that over the last few months, some of my clients have been unable to pay me. That’s really brought me on a faith journey financially. Bills that I’ve never been late on before started getting paid late (And believe me, it hurts to pay a $30 late fee on a $26 payment!). The by-product of it is that I’ve gone through a spiritual struggle that has caused me to be stronger now in my faith and walk with God than ever before. It’s easy to say I trust God as my provider when things are going well. But when the pressure is on you begin to see “what color toothpaste is in the tube”…an analogy my pastor has used many times about when things are under pressure you see what’s really inside…”for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”
As a tither and a sower I know what Malachi, etc. say about God’s provision. And I believe everything that’s in the Bible from cover to cover. Now I know that God has a tremendous call on my life in the area of business to help bring finances into the kingdom of God to help further the Gospel, help the needy, etc., and I know that the devil doesn’t want me to succeed. So the more pressure I’ve been under, the more I have held on to what God’s promised and called me to do.
Now I have to admit, I’ve pitched a few fits over the last few weeks…I’m grateful that God loves me, because I’ve fussed, cried and gotten mad (not at God, but at the devil) and reminded God of His Word NUMEROUS times. And with each major “duck-fit” that I’ve had, Heavenly Father has lovingly brought scripture to remind me of what I’m going through…or to remind me of what I need to do (pray…stand…rejoice) in the face of adversity…So that I can walk in peace in the midst of the storm.
I don’t know if all I’ve said makes sense…it’s 3:05 AM my time. I’ll post it tonight, and when I’m not tired I’ll go back and re-read it. But I want to leave you with a few scriptures:
Peace:
1. Thou wilt keep [him] in perfect peace, [whose] mind [is] stayed [on thee]: because he trusteth in thee. ~ Isaiah 26:3
2. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. ~ John 14:27
3. Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord [be] with you all. ~ 2 Thessalonians 3:16
Guidance and Direction:
4. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. ~ Proverbs 3:5-6
5. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring [it] to pass. ~ Psalms 37:5
6. Trust in the LORD, and do good; [so] shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. ~ Psalms 37:3
7. The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives. Psalms 37:23 NLT
8. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. ~ Jeremiah 1:5
Faith:
9. But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. ~ Hebrews 11:6
10. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. ~ Romans 12:3
11: And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive [them], and ye shall have [them]. ~ Mark 11:22-24
12. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. ~ Luke 6:45
God Empowers Us To Be Wealthy:
13. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for [it is] he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as [it is] this day. ~ Deuteronomy 8:18
14. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that [there shall] not [be room] enough [to receive it]. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts. ~ Malachi 3:10-12
15. And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat. ~ Joshua 24:13
Provision in Times of Economic Hardship:
16. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. ~ Psalms 37:19
17. And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:…..Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. ~ Genesis 26: 1-6, 12
18. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? ……..But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. ~ Matthew 6:25, 26, 33
And Finally, A Verse That God Reminded Me Of Tuesday On The Importance Of Not Giving Up:
After Months of “Writer’s Cramp” I’m Back!
OK, so I’ve never been really good at keeping a journal or anything like that. And blogging hasn’t been any better…except when I’m traveling. Then I enjoy getting online and sharing my adventures with those back home. Probably because my travels usually are adventures, which are so much more exciting than most of what I do at home…oh well.
So I started this blog last year when I started my business. And though I haven’t posted on it since last year, I HAVE been in business since last year. And what a year it has been! I’ve been on the ride of my life these last 12 months. Most of it’s been good. Some of it hasn’t. But I don’t regret any of it. It’s all been a big learning experience and has helped to firm up my resolve to be successful in the Market Place.
This isn’t going to be a long post tonight since I should have been in bed hours ago, but I promised myself I’d stop putting my blogging off, and just start doing it. I hope someone out there will help me to stay accountable! 
I have lots to share for those who are contemplating starting their own business. So give me a second chance…this time I won’t fall off the blogging bandwagon!
PS you can catch me on Twitter, too, by going to: http://www.twitter.com/sandibird
Pushing Against The Wall!
My Pastor (Dr. Eddie Crabtree) just wrote a post in his blog that shared the story of Chuck Yeager as he was approaching the sound barrier, just before he broke through it. This is what he shared:
“When his plane reached the wall and begin to shake’ Major Yeager punched the throttle rather than back off. When the ground crew heard the sonic boom, they thought their pilot had exploded. Actually the myth of the wall exploded, because Chuck Yeager found that on the other side of the wall was smooth air.”
Boy, does this bear witness with me! In the last few months I have been in the cockpit of my own “Bell X-1 plane”. By stepping out in faith to start my own business a couple months ago, I’ve come through some turbulent times.
Trying to find the balance between my walk with God, the need for personal time, my newly grown family (my 5th grandchild just having been born), new business owner responsibilities, my old job that I’m still working on a very light part-time basis, and ministry at the church (not to forget pursuing that ever elusive thing called SLEEP!) has placed me in a position where I’ve felt like a part of me is going to shake apart!
BUT I know that just on the other side of this transition period I’ll hit that calm airspace that Pastor Eddie has taught on quite often over the last few months.
I’ve risked quite a few things over the last couple months…I’ve stepped out into unknown territory, leaving the comfort of routine and the that which can be anticipated. I’ve had to learn new skills for my clients, all the while learning what it takes to start and run what God has shown me will be an international business!
I’m thankful for all the teaching that I’ve blessed us with in this area this year! Without it, I wouldn’t have had the courage to step out in faith and push against that “wall”! I want to encourage anyone who may be reading this.
First, you have to recognize the dream that God has placed in your heart. Second, you have to write it down and begin to “count the cost” to pursue it…Develop a game planso you can approach your business offensively, not defensively. Next, you need to recognize that entering into unknown territory has it’s own set of challenges and risks…the transition period of crossing into a fulfillment of that dream can place you in some pretty rocky airspace! Finally, like major Yaeger, you’ve got to punch the throttle forward and Go For It!!!!
I’m on “the ride of my life” right now, and I wouldn’t trade it for the status quo that I left behind. I want my life to count for something big. For the number of lives that I’ve positively impacted while I was here! Alright all of you Entrepreneur wanna-be’s! Come along and join me! Climb on in to the cockpit of your own “Bell X-1″ and get ready for the ride of your life! Let’s break through that “sound barrier” together!
