Organise me: 7 fun ways to get organised for 2018

Can you believe it’s already February? If you’re in planning mode for the new(ish) year, you’re not alone. Here are my fun ways for getting organised to make 2018 your best year yet:

1. Write down the crazy big goals you’d like to achieve in 2018. 
They can be business or personal. Use coloured pens and make it look fun to look at. You could draw little pictures next to them, too.

2. Buy a big desk calendar and add monthly goals that will get you closer to your big goals. Make deadlines for the big goals you identified. 
Having goals on a calendar helps make you accountable and can keep you on track. You could colour code your goals and deadlines for personal, business, skills or travel. Pick colours that make you happy to look at.

3. Sketch up how you would like your workspace to look and think about what you could add (or remove) to make it flow better and help you be more efficient. 
Whether it’s a whole room or just your desk, it is so much nicer when everything has a place and you don’t constantly feel buried under mess or can’t find anything.

4. Make a mood board or a Pinterest board for your workspace or desk and treat yourself to something that will help make it a happier place. 
This might mean adding artwork or new in-trays, or hoisting up a peg board or some shelves so you have somewhere to hang all your equipment and can leave your desk top free.

5. Read a book on a topic that interests you. 
This might not seem like an organisational tool, but it might just uncover another goal for the year, or help you learn something that relates to one of your goals. If your goal is to hike in South America, then a book on how to prepare for hiking in those climates could be perfect!

6. Get outdoors and have some fun. 
What does this have to do with getting organised? It helps you to relax and have time to think about what you do and don’t want for the year ahead. It’s hard to get organised and be excited when you’re feeling frazzled, so allow yourself some downtime before you jump deeper into the new year.

7. If you’re feeling particularly crafty, make a vision board with images that represent your goals for 2018 and put it up somewhere to remind you what you’re working toward. 
Grab some cardboard and some old magazines and have fun organising and gluing your vision for the year.

The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to work out what we’d like our future to look like and to take baby steps that will set us on the right path. Some goals will be longer term, but it can be fun to think of the things we can start now to get us there.

Have a wonderful 2018!

This post was originally written by Dannielle Cresp in 2014. 

Photo by Kaboompics.com

How to Improve Your Blog to Grow Your Creative Business

By Dannielle Cresp

Blogging is great for business. We all know it. But when it’s not the number one thing on your to-do list, it can slip from a “must do” to a “should do”. When a month or two passes without any new content going up, we know it looks bad, but the longer it’s left the more difficult it feels to get back to it.

I’ve been blogging weekly for almost a year now without missing a single post. So today I want to share with you my tips for improving your blog to help your creative business grow, without adding too much more to your plate.

• Have an editorial calendar and dedicate at least half a day a month to it. Decide what days of the week you’ll be posting over the coming month. I recommend less rather than more if your blog isn’t your main business. It’s better to be consistent once or twice a week than 5 days one week and nothing for the rest of the month. Use that half day to plan what you will write (even if it’s just vague topics for now) and the dates you will publish the posts.

• Dedicate time write posts in batches. Set aside half a day to a day to write as many posts as you can. Take the photos you need to accompany what you've written, and then schedule them according to your editorial calendar. It might seem silly to not work on your main business for a whole day or so, but blogging is an important part of marketing!

• Make your images easily pinable to Pinterest. Only use great quality images and add your post title to the image you’re going to use (like the example above). Also consider adding a 'pin it' button over your images. This makes your content easier to share amongst Pinterest users, and will help drive traffic back to your site. It's also a great way to bookmark and categorise your own blog posts for easy reference.

• Have an e-Newsletter Sign Up on your blog sidebar and encourage readers to sign up (e.g. by offering them exclusive offers or something extra if they do).

• Keep your colours and fonts consistent. Your blog is an intrinsic part of your brand, and consistency will ensure people will get to know you and your work by sight.

• Only write as much as you need to. Blog posts needn't be long, especially if your creative business has lots of visual appeal. Write only what you need to and share some great images that will help you get your point across. There is no ideal blog post length. For many of you, images will be a way to share some behind the scenes work and you’ll only a short ammount of text to give those images some context.

• Have some fun with it. It might seem odd that you would have fun with the marketing side of your business, but if you let your personality shine through a bit people can see there’s a person behind the brand and feel like they’re supporting someone rather than something. Even if you’re a team, it can be a great way to give some insight into who the customer (or client) might be hiring or purchasing from.

Blogging can be great for your business and it doesn't have to take up a big part of your daily business routine. Find a rhythm that works for you and and it will be much easier to stick to and to enjoy.

Dannielle is a blogger, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of 90s teen movies and can often be found hanging out on Pinterest. She is on a mission to help people bring happiness (and fun) back into their homes with a dash of organisation and a sprinkle of their own awesome style over at her blog Style for a Happy Home.

Image from © Lime Lane Photography with text overlay

5 Tips for Keeping a Positive Mindset When Things Aren’t Going to Plan

Sometimes we have periods where our businesses are going great-guns. It's hard work but things are moving quickly and in a forward direction. Nothing but awesome - it's a great place to be. But there are also times where we might start to wonder why things aren’t going to plan, and why it feels more like we’re treading water (even if it looks awesome from the outside looking in).

Here are some tips to work with that.

• Take a break and get away from work. This could be an hour or two in a coffee shop or a weekend away, or even a weekend where you just do anything but work. Clear your head and give it a chance to see the forest for the trees. It can feel counter productive to step away when tasks are piling up and you feel like you should be doing more to fix the situation, but you have to take care of you to take care of your creative business.

• Confide in someone you trust. Even if they can’t give advice, they can help share that load weighing on your mind. They might have some creative solutions, or they might just be someone who’s got your back. We all need them, in good times, but especially when times feel bad. Having someone to remind you of something funny always helps.

• Come up with a plan. Yes, things aren’t feeling great, but now’s your opportunity to turn the situation around. Identify the things that aren’t working and write them each on their own pieces of paper. Turn your favourite music on, dance, and start to think about how you can use those things (focusing on one at a time) as jumping-off points for something much better. Sometimes it’s in the most frustrating problems that we find the best solutions.

• Dream big and then dream small. Things aren’t going to plan? You realised that this just isn’t working as it is? Now is a great time to start thinking about what does work for you. Ask yourself: What’s the 'big picture?' Got it? Now dream small and turn it into actionable goals. Remember that nothing is a straight sprint to “Hell yeah!”, it’s more like an obstacle course.

• Do something that fills you with energy. When things aren’t going well, it can feel like there’s no time to do the kind of work that fills you with energy and makes you feel great. Try to find 15 minutes to an hour a day to do the task that reminds you what that great feeling feels like. Even if you have to ride the less than great times out, this will give you something to hold onto during those times when you need it most.

All of these things have helped me when things in my creative business haven’t been going as planned. When I came out the other side, I had all these things in my armoury, plus the knowledge that the tough times don’t last forever. Even if things are going great right now, it can be good to make a mental plan of who to reach out too and what it is that always fills you with energy. Here’s to more good times than bad!

Dannielle is a blogger, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of 90s teen movies and can often be found hanging out on Pinterest. She is on a mission to help people bring happiness (and fun) back into their homes with a dash of organisation and a sprinkle of their own awesome style over at her blog Style for a Happy Home.

5 Tips for a More Productive Day

By Dannielle Cresp

Productivity and creativity aren’t always the best of friends. Sometimes you’re really feeling it and want to do all the things and other times it can feel a bit like you’re wading knee-deep through mud. Here are some of my favourite ways to push through and make a really productive day.

• Start with Two To-Do Lists. First write down all the things you need to get done, not just today, but all of them. Doesn’t matter about order or priority for the mean time, just get them all down on paper. Once they’re all there, take a highlighter and highlight all the ones you want or need to get done today. Put them on your second to-do list and put that first big one out of sight.
• Get your working environment ready. It might seem like procrastinating but think about what you need for the tasks on your to-do list and get them out so they are within reach before you start. Nothing makes it harder to stay productive than searching for something you need desperately mid-task. Also get a bottle of water so you’re keeping hydrated whilst working.
• Decide the order of your to-do list and eat the frog first! When deciding the order of tasks, do the hardest thing, or the one you don’t feel like doing the most, first. Then do something that’s quick and/or something you enjoy. Once that thing you didn’t want to do is out of the way you’ll feel lighter and more able to get on with everything else.
• Batch your tasks so you can stay in the right mindset. Need to write a series of blog posts? Do a few together whilst you’re focussed on writing. Need to organise your social media for the week? Schedule your posts and social media updates in one hit - guarateed to make you feel super on top of it all.
• Take proper scheduled breaks. It might seem counter-productive to be taking a break when trying to be productive but it’s amazing what 20 minutes of fresh air and slowing down will do for you during your efficiency and creativity. If you try to run at full speed all day, everyday, you will get tired and worn out and your productivity will suffer. Taking a break allows your body and your brain to reset and even in a world of deadlines, we all need that!

Just a little bit of planning at the beginning of the day can really help make it a more productive - and ultimately more creative -one. Giving yourself the permission not to do everything on your big to-do list and just taking it one day at a time can really make a big difference. Tackling each day like this really helps you to prioritise what the important things are to you and your creative business, which is the cherry on top!

Dannielle is a blogger, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of 90s teen movies and can often be found hanging out on Pinterest. She is on a mission to help people bring happiness (and fun) back into their homes with a dash of organisation and a sprinkle of their own awesome style over at her blog Style for a Happy Home.

Image from © Lime Lane Photography with text overlay

How to Take a Break from Social Media (Without Your Business Suffering!)

Do you ever feel stressed about taking a break from your social media and losing all your traction with your followers/clients/customers? It can be hard to switch it off, especially when it’s such a great marketing and customer service tool for your creative business. But every once in a while you will need to step away.

Here are some great ways to do it without losing your following:

• Let your readers/clients/customers know before you go, and if possible, how long you’ll be away. Keeping them in the loop is better than just disappearing without a word.
• Ask them to sign up for your blog’s RSS feed and schedule content for the time you are away. Consider organising guest posts where it’s appropriate or re-publish a series of your most read posts.
• Have someone take over your social media accounts for that time. If you’re taking significant time off, like maternity leave, and have a business that mostly works without you there (passive income or a shop with ready made goods), consider taking someone on for that time to post to your social media accounts and pack orders.
• Use a service like Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule your Twitter posts in advance, so you don’t lose your reach. Facebook has recently improved their scheduling service too. Let your readers know that you're doing this and that you might not be there to answer questions a couple of times before you take the break.
• Decide if Instagram will be included in your social media break - it might seem weird to take a break but still use one social network, but if you’re taking a holiday to a great destination, you can keep your followers in the loop with a holiday happy-snap here and there.
• If you’re still working but taking a 'digital sabbatical', let your clients know that you’ll still be available by email or your regular channels. But if you’re closing up shop as well as taking a social media break, consider preparing some great “we’re back” social media content that's ready to go when you are back and working again.

Taking a break from social media, or even from your business, doesn’t have to mean that you’ll be back at the beginning once you log back in. Most people understand that everyone needs a break to recharge their batteries. Having a clear strategy for your social media while you're away - frequency, content - can help you truly relax while you're on that break.

Dannielle is a blogger, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of 90s teen movies and can often be found hanging out on Pinterest. She is on a mission to help people bring happiness (and fun) back into their homes with a dash of organisation and a sprinkle of their own awesome style over at her blog Style for a Happy Home.

Image from © Lime Lane Photography

Organise Me: 7 Fun Ways to Get Organised for 2014

Can you believe that this year is nearly over? Where did it go?! It might still feel like you’re rushing towards the finishing line for 2013, but I wanted to give you some ideas on ways that you can start 2014 off with a bang!

Here are my fun ways for getting organised to make 2014 your best year yet:

• Write down the crazy big goals you’d like to achieve in the next year. They can be business or personal. Use coloured pens and make it look fun to look at. You could draw little pictures next to them too.

• Buy a big desk calendar and add some monthly goals to it that will get you closer to your big goals. Make deadlines for the big goals you identified. Having goals on a calendar helps to make you accountable and can keep you on track. You could colour code your goals and deadlines for personal, business, skills or travel. Pick the colours that make you happy to look at.

• Sketch up how you would like your workspace to look and think about what you could add (or remove) to make it flow better and help you be more efficient. Whether it's a whole room or just your desk, it is so much nicer to work with when everything has a place and you don’t constantly feel buried under mess or can’t find anything.

• Make a mood board or a Pinterest board for your workspace or desk and treat yourself to something that will help make it a happier place to be. It might adding artwork, or some new in-trays, or hoisting up a peg board or some shelves so you have somewhere to hang all your equipment leaving your desk top free.

• Read a book on a topic you’re interested in. It might not seem like an organisational tool, but it might just uncover another goal for the year, or help you learn something that relates to one of your goals. If your goal is to hike in South America, then a book on how to prepare for hiking in those climates could be perfect!

• Get outdoors and have some fun. What does this have to do with getting organised? It helps you to relax and have time to think about what you do and don’t want for the year ahead. It’s hard to get organised and be excited when you’re feeling frazzled, so allow yourself some downtime before you jump on in to the next year.

• If you’re feeling particularly crafty, you can make a vision board with images that represent your goals for 2014 and put it up somewhere to remind you what you’re working towards. Grab some cardboard and some old magazines and have fun organising and gluing your vision for 2014.

The beginning of a new year (and the end of a busy one) is the perfect time to work out what we’d like our future to look like and make some baby steps that will set us on the path towards it. Some goals will be longer term, but it can be fun to think of the things we can start now to get us there.

Have a wonderful and safe Christmas and New Year!

Dannielle is a blogger, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of ’90s teen movies and can often be found on Twitter. In 2013, Dannielle packed up her life in Melbourne into one suitcase and moved to Canada to make her crazy dream of a more adventurous life happen. But she quickly found the inspiration she was searching for was in Melbourne and has returned home. She’s started a new project on creating a happy (organised) home which you can see here.

Organise Me: 5 Tips for Avoiding Burn Out in the Lead Up to the Silly Season

It still might feel like there’s plenty of time before Christmas and the deadlines - both self-imposed and actual! - that come with the end of the year are upon us. But it never hurts to have a game plan going in to this crazy time, to avoid burn out and end 2013 on a high note.

Here are my tips for avoiding burn out:

• Get a to-do list note pad and a printed calendar Take 10 minutes to write down all the things you know you have to get ready before the end of the year, both for home and work. Mark them in different colours if you like, and then schedule them into your calendar. Put a reminder in your phone if it helps. It may seem overwhelming now, but better the devil you know.

• Schedule some down time As things get busier the time for fun seems to disappear. So block out time in your calendar to go do something fun that’s just for you. After a long winter it's the perfect time to get out in the sunshine and it does wonders for your health.

• Keep hydrated and well fed Try to eat properly and make sure to drink water as the weather heats up - nothing is more exhausting than feeling dehydrated in a meeting you should be paying attention to.
• Be willing to say no Around this time of year, requests may come in thick and fast for little things that aren’t really what you should be focusing on. Be ready to say no to those that aren’t the right fit, or see if you can reschedule for the new year. It won’t always work, but being ready to offer an alternative to ‘right now’ can be really helpful.
• Be kind to yourself Don’t forget to take care of you. Buy presents online if you can't fathom the crowds (even if you want to support local and handmade this year, there are many online stores that will deliver to your home or workplace!). And keep in mind that couch time is an essential part of recharging and not just wasted time.

Remembering that last step is definitely key for me. Hopefully these tips will help you to not feel so stressed as the busy season approaches and lets us all avoid that burn out that comes when we feel overwhelmed. May the warmer weather bring some time to get out and enjoy it.

Dannielle is a blogger, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of ’90s teen movies and can often be found on Twitter. In 2013, Dannielle packed up her life in Melbourne into one suitcase and moved to Canada to make her crazy dream of a more adventurous life happen. But she quickly found the inspiration she was searching for was in Melbourne and has returned home. She’s recently started a new project on creating a happy (organised) home which you can see here.