2013 was a great year here at Innovatively Organized and to celebrate we are sharing our ‘best of 2013′ blogs. From useful downloadable checklists to step-by-step processes for increasing productivity, here are our top blogs from the past year:

1. Must Haves On-the-Go: Mobile Professionals Checklist- In February, we shared our Mobile Professionals Checklist to all our readers so that they could be more productive no matter where they work.

2. How to Efficiently Delegate to Your Assistant- Whether you need help from your assistant or a coworker, this article will help you delegate efficiently so you can save yourself time.

3. Essential Productivity Apps Checklist to Keep You Efficient- As a celebration of Small Business Week in June, we compiled a list of our top productivity apps that we recommend to our clients and shared them in this article.

4. 7 Ways Our Team Has Efficient Meetings- We described our step-by-step process of how we at Innovatively Organized hold efficient and productive meetings.

5. 5 Common Bottlenecks in Your Office- Whether it’s the chatty coworker in the cubicle next to you or duplicate documents that make finding the most recent version a headache, most offices deal with numerous productivity killers on a daily basis (sometimes unknowingly). This article helps bring awareness to some of those common bottlenecks.

6. App Recommendation: EchoSign- When a client signs a contract with you, the process of faxing or scanning documents is tedious and makes the negotiation process longer and more stressful for everyone involved. Fortunately, EchoSign allows users to send, sign, track, manage and access documents digitally. Read why we love EchoSign with this post.

7. Staying Productive When Your Self-Employed- When you are your own boss or work from home, there isn’t always someone pressuring you to complete that tedious report and while this can be refreshing for some people, it can also lead to procrastination or added stress because you are fully responsible for your own work load. In this article we provided a few tips we have come up with to help you stay motivated and productive when you’re self-employed.

8. Decide & Delegate During the Holidays- As more and more people in the office start disappearing during the holiday season, it can be stressful for those still left working. We provided a list of questions to go over with your team or coworkers so that everything is handled accordingly.

As a Productivity Consultant with Innovatively Organized, I am constantly on-the-go. Each week I meet with my clients at their various locations throughout the greater Seattle area, which is one of the aspects I enjoy about my job – the variety. However, as a mobile professional I’ve come up with ‘my way’ to be productive on-the-go. I may work from my home office one day, then be on the road and in between appointments the next.  A typical day in my life usually involves…..

Mobile Devices

I often find myself switching between my devices depending on my location and what I need to do. I have a 15” laptop, which is great to work on from the office or when I’m sitting in a coffee shop, but there are times when I’m preparing for an appointment and I’m in my car, so I call in the iPad (see screenshot at left)! I can review client session notes on Dropbox, update documents with Docs To Go, or read and respond to emails (I use a Bluetooth keyboard when I am sending longer emails; for me it’s much quicker than typing on the iPad itself.) My Android phone completes the productivity trifecta. In addition to being able to read and reply to emails from my Droid, I often touch base with the Innovatively Organized team between appointments to check in or debrief about a project. We set up a conference call and get a lot accomplished from the road!

Microsoft Exchange Server

Our company email is on a Microsoft Exchange Server, which allows me to read my email on my phone, iPad, laptop, or via the web and keep it synced. I never have to worry about emails incorrectly showing up as read or unread (and therefore I avoid the time wasted trying to figure out if I’ve read or responded to a message). I’m also confident that when I move an email to a folder, it syncs across devices. Knowing my email is synced no matter where I view it from makes my work life MUCH easier!

Traffic App

I use my WSDOT Traffic App a lot since I travel to meet with clients all around the city.  It saves me a lot of valuable time and helps me avoid traffic by finding alternate routes when needed. There are similar apps available in other cities. If you’re on the road a lot, it’s worth finding a good traffic app. Your time is valuable – if you can find a way to save it, you should!

Want to learn more about Jackie Chapman? Read her bio here or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Are you still scrambling to find a gift for your office manager or executive assistant on Administrative Professionals Day? Every April the International Association of Administrative Professionals, devotes a week to honoring the people who help you schedule meetings, plan office parties, and keep everything in order. Perhaps they even let you raid their secret candy stash to satisfy your sweet tooth?

Deciding on a gift can be tough, so we’ve compiled a list of five ideas to help you express your gratitude (and hopefully save your administrative professional time in their day).

1. Personalized Leather Circa Folio

This is an excellent option for an administrative professional that enjoys keeping track of to-do lists on paper. The Circa notebook system is completely customizable and you can rearrange pages quickly and easily. For a more personalized gift, you can add the recipient’s full name or initials to the leather cover. Learn more about the Circa Folio here.

2. New Desk Accessories

When you spend a lot of time at your desk, it’s nice to give your accessories a facelift every once in a while. Put together a gift basket of stylish and functional gift accessories for your administrative professional. You may want to include a desk caddy, letter trays, sticky note holders, or cord management supplies. One of our favorite sites for desk accessories is See Jane Work.

3. Tote Bag (with good pockets)

Many administrative professionals appreciate the value of organization and their laptop bag is no exception. There are lots of bags to choose from, but try to find one that has functional pockets. FranklinPlanner carries a number of good options that help you stay organized while maintaining a certain amount of style.

4. Ergonomic Desk Chair

You know that feeling when you’ve been sitting down too long and your desk chair isn’t exactly helping the situation? Administrative professionals are often sitting for lengthy periods of times, so why not relieve them with an ergonomic desk chair? Our friends at Turnstone have a great option called the cobi Select. Now the only question is how you’re going to wrap such a large gift?

5. Gift Certificate to Swap Roles for the Day

If you’re looking for a more creative gift idea, look no further than this gift certificate you can download! When you give this certificate to your administrative professional, you’re agreeing to be their assistant for a day. The simple fact that you’re willing to see what their job entails says a lot about how much you appreciate their help.

In honor of Administrative Professionals Week, stay tuned for another blog post about tips for delegating between you and your administrative professional.

We are thrilled with JoAnn’s recently organized office space.  What began as an overwhelmed, cluttered, and inefficient room is now a functional and organized office.  JoAnn is finally able to work productively in her space, which maintains its organizational system with little effort required.

Our Sponsors

With the close of our second Messiest Desk Contest, we would like to thank everyone that made it possible.  A huge thank you to all of our wonderful sponsors:

• Turnstone
• Smead
• Leo Santiago Photography
• Getting Organized Magazine
• Scan-Doc
• GeekPeek.tv

The Messy Desk Transformation

Thank you as well to everyone that submitted a nomination and voted in January!  In case you missed our journey organizing JoAnn’s space, here was our process and big reveal:

• Picking Containers that Work for Your Space
• Scanning Physical Binders into Electronic Files
• Creating a File System that is Easy to Use and Maintain
• The Big Reveal!

Photo courtesy of Leo Santiago Photography

The Messiest Desk Contest transformation is complete!

It all started with JoAnn’s messy desk. As a busy professional juggling multiple projects, her office had become more of a storage unit than a functional workspace. In fact, she often attempted to use her guest bed as a desk because she couldn’t see the top of her desk. She needed a Productivity Intervention!

For several weeks, our team worked with JoAnn to transform her office into a productive space where she can now efficiently manage the inflow of paperwork and projects that come her way.

View the after photos here.

One of the final big tasks in organizing JoAnn’s messy desk was creating a functional filing system. JoAnn was not a huge fan of filing, especially financial documents. Over time, this created a backlog of documents that needed to be filed. This resulted in stacks of papers in drawers (or the floor) without any file folders to organize or contain her documents.

We helped JoAnn sort and purge the paper we found in her office, using some of our favorite Smead products to help us along the way. For her financial documents, we created a system that rotates every other year, so she won’t have to keep creating new labels and files each year. The way that this system rotates, it ensures that JoAnn knows exactly when it is time to archive financial documents.

We installed the filing systems and taught JoAnn how to use and maintain them. JoAnn is excited about her new filing system. She explained, “I was thrilled that after the first day, I could see my desk! It’s great that I can now walk in and be in my space. I don’t have to worry about finding space; it’s a sense of calm that it is so organized and I can instantly get to work.”

We chose to use Smead Viewables products for JoAnn’s filing system because:

• The software makes it simple to format and print labels
• The 3-dimensional tabs make it easy to see the categories you create
• The software allows you to color-code labels

Other Smead products that we used in JoAnn’s office:

• Viewables Color Labeling System
• TUFF Hanging Folder with Easy Slide Tab
• SuperTab Oversized Tab File Folders

Stay up-to-date with our blog for our big reveal of JoAnn’s completed new office transformation! You may not even recognize her new office!

Photo courtesy of Leo V. Santiago.

Special thanks to Smead for their filing system products.

The next step in transforming JoAnn’s overcrowded space into a functional office was scanning.  JoAnn has been saving paper copies of her past work, as well as other reference materials, in large binders in her office.  They were taking up valuable space and creating clutter, so we suggested that she scan the documents she no longer needed physical copies of.

While JoAnn had considered this option before, she never followed through because the task of scanning that many documents is fairly time consuming and overwhelming.  Thankfully, we were able to partner with Scan-Doc to help us tackle the project.  Scan-Doc was able to convert five entire bankers boxes worth of JoAnn’s binders into electronic files stored safely on a flash drive and organized into convenient sub folders.

Many of JoAnn’s reference materials are now paperless, stored in electronic files to save space.  She told us the scanning “was one of the most exciting parts of this whole experience.  I was over the moon to receive five bankers boxes worth of scanning; it cleared out so much space and now that they’re electronic, I can use them so much more efficiently.”  JoAnn can now reference what she needs from the comforts of her computer, rather than sifting through piles of paper.

Continue following our blog for the final steps we took in JoAnn’s office transformation, as well as the big reveal of her new functional office!

Photo courtesy of Leo V. Santiago.

Special thanks to Scan-Doc for their scanning services.

In January, we announced the winner of our second Messiest Desk Contest and the big reveal is right around the corner!  JoAnn is an educator with an overcrowded office and extremely busy schedule. She expressed her desire for a functional office that would allow her to be more productive in her roles and responsibilities. In order to make her office more functional, one of the items we needed to address was storage.

We began working with JoAnn in February to assess her space, identify her challenges and goals, learn how she would prefer to work in her space, and take steps towards creating an efficient office.  With her office currently being utilized more for storage, she had been using her guest bed as a makeshift desk!

JoAnn’s office was cluttered with piles of papers, boxes of books, and a wide variety of office supplies.  She needed a storage system that gave everything a proper “home” within her office.  We started by sorting and purging JoAnn’s paper and office supplies, then designated where everything should be stored based on how often JoAnn needed access to them.  She already had some great containers that we were able to reuse, but there were some items that needed better storage solutions. We turned to Turnstone and found products with the perfect mix of functionality and aesthetics that fit her needs and space.

Often times, people choose containers before they start their organizing project.  Instead, begin by sorting and purging.  Then take into account what is actually left and measure the areas where your containers will live to ensure you are maximizing your available space.

Based on the needs of JoAnn’s space and supplies, we installed the following products from Turnstone into her new office:

• For storing her office supplies: Bankers Boxes
• For her in and out boxes: SOTO Letter Boxes
• For storing desk supplies: SOTO Pile Boxes
• For storing her active projects: SOTO File Boxes

Be sure to follow our blog for the next steps we took in JoAnn’s office transformation, as well as the final reveal of her new functional office!

Photo courtesy of Leo V. Santiago.

Special thanks to Turnstone for contributing modern storage bins.

Don’t worry…we didn’t forget about the Messiest Desk Contest! Our team has been working hard sorting through piles of paper, sticky notes, books, office supplies and did we mention sticky notes?

The big reveal is coming soon, but we wanted to give you a sneak peek of what we found in JoAnn’s office. The infographic below shows how many bankers boxes worth of “stuff” (we try to avoid that word) we filled. Stay tuned as we continue to update the infographic and reveal the after photos.

*To enlarge the graphic, right click on the image and select “Open Image in New Tab.” Then you can zoom in and out according to your preferences.

We searched high and low to find the messiest desk in Seattle, and boy did we find it!  We recently met with JoAnn, a busy professional and winner of the Messiest Desk Contest, to kick-off her office overhaul.

Last week, Innovatively Organized team members Jackie Chapman & Elizabeth Kent, got to see the space for themselves and congratulate JoAnn on her big win! As they straddled boxes and tip toed around piles of paper to assess the desk, they realized they are in for a fun challenge.

In talking to JoAnn about what she wants to use the room for we learned that, as a busy professional with multiple jobs, her goal is to have a functional office. Currently, she finds herself turning her guest bed into a makeshift desk because there isn’t a clear space in her office!

Next steps: We are working on a space plan and starting to sort through all of the papers, boxes, and files in her office. We’re very excited, so stay tuned for more updates!

Photo courtesy of Leo V. Santiago.