Hot Spots And Office Work

Successful home business owners have incredible motivation, work ethic, and ingenuity. They have found a way to seemingly have it all, namely to make a living and spend time with their family at the same time. They understand the need to listen and learn from wise businessmen, to glean what they can, and most importantly, to be disciplined enough to stay organized. The last thing a customer wants to hear is, "we lost your invoice." When was the last time Sears called you to apologize because they could not find your bill and needed to know how much you charged for that new washer and dryer in your entryway? It doesn't happen in the corporate world, and it shouldn't happen in the home business world. And yet the Bain of home business lies in poor organization skills. The single item lying between a successful home business owner and a failure of a home business owner lies in the office organization. So how does a business owner overcome the mess? What does he do?

Two kinds of people exist in this world: those naturally inclined towards organization and those that just couldn't care less about formal organization. Psychologists use informal terms for these people: neat knicks; messies; slobs; OCDs. Regardless of the label, those who have found a way to keep their office clean and organized coincidentally have found a way to succeed with their home business. Those who lean towards the messy side of life need to follow only a few simple maintenance rules once they organize their office.

First and foremost, the messies need to keep clutter out of the office. They need to be vigilant, and attack clutter once it tries to creep in. Messies who succeed at this will find themselves able to identify clutter the second it steps into the office. They notice specific spots that clutter gravitates to. We call these hot spots. If a person can identify a hot spot, then he knows exactly where to look for clutter and exactly what to clean off.

Second, the messies must find a system of organization that works for them. Filing cabinets make the most sense, but shelves are an excellent tool. If a messy can see the floor, he has made major headway. However, the messy should not just move clutter from the floor to shelf. In the moving process, he should arrange the clutter into a logical order so that nearly anyone could find what he needs in that office.

Finally, the messy needs to understand that combating clutter will be a life-long process for him. Alcoholics forever struggle with the desire to take a drink. Smokers who stopped lighting up decades ago still feel the urge to light a cancer-stick on occasion. The smell of nicotine invigorates them, and once again they realize that they cannot go back because if they do, they will never return to their healthy world again. The same exists with the messies. It's their inclination to be messy, to let the hot spots go, and thus they must discipline themselves daily to combat clutter in the home office.

If any place in the home needs to be clutter free, it's the home office. The scariest thing that a home business owner will read is notice that the IRS will be conducting an audit. The messy might even go into a comatose state. However, if the messy has learned to organize his office and keep track of his documents, he should be fine. Not even an IRS audit will derail his success.