I work away from my office all the time.

Sometimes it’s because of a business trip, like my recent visit to Atlanta to attend a conference. Other times I’m in Connecticut, where I spend most of my weekends. And sometimes I’m just up the road at the local Starbucks.

The point is that, especially during the summer, there’s no telling where I might be!

To make this happen easily, I depend on two computers—a desktop and a laptop—and my iPhone. And the reason it works so well is that all three of them are in sync all of the time.

This means that, when I move from device to device, I no longer have to email documents to myself. It also means that no prep time is required. Because my computers are always in sync, all of the time, I just grab my laptop and run out the door.

Right now, for example, I’m sitting outside at my daughter Emily’s softball practice. I’m using my iPhone as a “hot spot” (see Things I Can’t Live Without, below, for more on what that is) and my laptop to write this newsletter.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy for a lot of people (and I can still remember when I struggled, too).

Not too long ago, the calendar on my phone worked fine with my laptop but it didn’t sync with my desktop. Documents from Dropbox couldn’t be moved to my laptop because the hard drive was too small. If I sent an email from my phone, I had to go back to that device to get a copy because it wasn’t synced with my computers.

You get the picture. I had to be hyper-vigilant all the time, just to make sure I was tracking everything. It was exhausting.

If this still describes the way you manage your technology, here are a few simple steps you can take to make life easier:

1. Make Friends with “The Cloud.” I know many people don’t like the idea of the Cloud. They say things like, “What if Google goes down?” Seriously, if Google goes down we’re going to have much bigger things to worry about than our Word documents. So don’t fret, and use the Cloud to your benefit. It really makes life easier.

2. Get a Virtual Filling Cabinet. It can be Dropbox, Cubby, or Google Drive. Just pick one and put all your documents in it. Make sure you organize it in a way that makes sense so you’ll keep using it. By doing this you’ll be able to access your files from ANYWHERE – including your phone.

3. Sync your Applications. If you have multiple devices on which you work, make sure you have the same apps on all of them, and do this before you need them. This includes email in particular, since it’s the foundation of all of our business communication.

And by the way, there’s one more benefit to all this syncing and use of the Cloud: If one of your devices becomes unusable (lost, stolen, hit by a softball), you can just switch to another and keep on going.

Enjoy the summer sun!

One of the biggest problems my solo and small business clients face is ORGANIZATION. (I capitalize it intentionally because it is a BIG problem.)

My clients may be great at sales and marketing, and they are nearly always experts on the work itself, but when it comes to creating systems and keeping track of things, they often stumble.

But organization, particularly regarding the files on your computer, is important. Without it, you run into a number of problems, including not being able to find your work, not knowing what’s safely backed up elsewhere (and what isn’t safely backed up) and having to duplicate effort when that thing you need can’t be found.

So let’s talk about a better way. Here is my foolproof solution for keeping files organized on my computer, one that I invite you to (shhhhh) steal:

1. Get a Dropbox account. Dropbox is a free service that works by installing a “Dropbox folder” on your computer’s hard drive. This folder constantly and automatically syncs with your Dropbox account “in the cloud.” This means that every time you add a file, whether it’s a document, photo, spreadsheet, iTunes song or something else, it saves it to your account. I keep all my files inside my Dropbox folder. This way, not only is everything backed up, but I can also access files from any Internet-connected computer in the world (pretty handy for when you’re traveling). And, if you have a laptop, desktop, tablet and/or smartphone, your files are all together, all the time. (Insert satisfied sigh noise here.)
   
2. Store your files in folders. Imagine if I told you that I had a big file cabinet in my office and that whenever I need to file something I just open one of the drawers and throw it in there. Ridiculous, right?

   Well, if you’re not sorting your files into “folders” within your computer, and sorting those folders into even broader categories, you’re pretty much doing the same thing. Simply “filing” things (i.e., saving them to your hard drive) doesn’t mean you’re organized.

   So try this instead. Create folders in a logical way. In the image below you can see that I create a separate folder for each of my clients. (By the way, I number them by priority so they show up in the order I prefer, as opposed to alphabetically, which is the default.)

   

   Within each client folder, I create sub-folders (see image below) to save everything I do for that client. I have one for invoices, graphics, photos and sub-folders that are project-specific. You can do the same thing, provided you take some time to think about what makes sense for your business (Hint: It’s probably very similar to the way you organize your paper folders in the file cabinet).

   

3. Be Consistent. The key to making any system work is consistency. “Sort of” getting organized is like sort of baking a cake – it tends to require an all or nothing approach if you want reasonable results. And yes, I know it can be daunting to get started. So just start from where you are. Devise a folder system and commit to classifying all your documents (it really doesn’t take very long). Then commit to filing every new item, as you save it, in the appropriate place.

Following this simple system has saved me so much time and worry. Because my files are organized and I can easily find everything, if a client calls me looking for something (even a client with whom I haven’t worked in years) I can put my hands right on it without skipping a beat.

Little do they know that it’s all because I’ve taken the time to get organized!