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*Note: Frequently I am asked about time management. I placed this chapter in the book to show that time management begins with your long term goals. From there, working backwards, your can lay out your plans and check your progress along the way. All the following suggestions will take time to incorporate into your routine, but once practiced, will be no harder than checking guages to verify where you are at any given moment. Then this chapter lists ways to get the things that take up your thinking everyday off your mind.

Chapter 8

Organizing

In this chapter, we will discuss:

* Knowing your goals.

* When to set goals.

* When to work on them.

* Writing in a journal.

* Ask and you shall receive.

* Having free time all day long.

* How to be an idea receptor.

* Priority lists of things to do.

* Total Quality Management and ISO 9001

* Having a consistent service.

* How to write a procedure.

* Keeping graphs and charts.

Being Organized

For me, being organized begins with knowing my niche, knowing

my values, knowing my short term goals, knowing my long term goals

and then following a plan.

(If you need to organize these items, I recommend my other book,
Coffee Break Wisdom, On Building A Successful Business,
www.CoffeeBreakWisdom.Com. This book is geared towards a goal of netting
six figures and up). www.CoffeeBreakWisdom.com

To be organized, I get my yearly goals written down during the last week

of December. I review those goals the last week of August. Those

are two perfect times to do this as there is a feeling of a new

beginning, because of the New Year and September, the start of a

new school year. The last weekend of the month, I review my goals

for the month and write out my goals for the coming month. Each

weekend I write out my goals for the week.

Each morning I write out my goals for the day. I constantly keep a

list of my priorities that I need to do. I write all this down so I won’t

forget. I also like to keep my mind blank, free from thinking of things

to do. I get myself into the habit of waking up by 5 AM every morning

including weekends. I wake up automatically. There is something

special about being awake before the masses. I have coffee and

write in a journal.

This journal keeps track of the issues I am dealing with at the

moment. I use it as my crying towel. If I have a problem, I can

write it down. I have moments when I’m frustrated and feel like

giving up. I get issues off my chest that I would love to tell someone

else in person, but I need someone with the skills of Christ, Buddha

and Confucius combined, to listen, let me exhaust myself and then

have wisdom, wit and ability to say just the right group of words that

would give me an “aha” type of experience. I doubt that friend is out

there.

The next best thing is talking to yourself. By writing to myself, I am

able to place most issues in perspective. As I write in my journal, I

keep a paper next to me and as things pop in my mind of what I need

to accomplish that day, I write them on that paper. Just writing them

puts all I have to do in perspective. It is usually not as much as I

imagined before I wrote everything down. Then the most important

thing is that on issues I have no answers, I have the ability to at least

come up with the right question to ask, so I can solicit answers from

others. All of this allows me to keep all issues, goals and things to do

in proper perspective. That gives me peace of mind and I’m

confident by being mentally organized.

We have all heard of ask and you shall receive. The problem is

either not asking, or asking in the wrong manner. Let’s say I have a

problem I ask, “how can I get “whatever” and who could I call that

might have an answer.” My answer may not come that moment, but

it always comes. That was an effective way to ask a question. A

non-effective way is to ask, why can’t I get “whatever?” Those

negative questions solicit answers that affirm the problem. In a sales

question, don’t ask, “Why can’t I make sales?” Ask, “What do I

need to do to bring in $10,000 of new business this month?” Who

could help give me the answer to building up my sales skills?” In

other words, whether in sales, cleaning, accounting or whatever, ask

effective questions that give you answers to achieve that which you

desire. By the end of my hour with myself writing, I have my list of

things to do today. I number them in order of their priority.

I love having a free mind all day. My mind is always getting

ideas all day long. I have to keep paper near me at all times to write

every idea down no matter how silly. This is the basis of how I

organize my day. I am following a list of what I have to get done and I

have them numbered in their order of priority. Some days, it feels like

I get nothing done, because I have so much free time. I feel like I

could do so much more. Then I look at my daily list of things to do,

and just about everything is done. If I look at my lists and something

isn’t done, I make sure I have at least made progress. Then I

address why the hold up on my goals?

I see sharp people in business that make money, but are

consumed by their responsibilities. They always seem busy, running

here or there, always behind, always getting calls on their cell phone.

They seem stressed. I have all day off and run a service business.

No one ever pages me, no customers or any people. Why? Because

everyone is happy. My staff never sees me. They are mature and do

a great job. My customers are happy. You never hear from happy

customers. I may go on one or two sales appointments during the

week. That’s all I need to grow and to maintain accounts. Accounts

can cancel even if you are a great company because of a million

reasons. Other than when I need a new janitor, I have the days off to

exercise, read, walk, or meet with people. I spend an afternoon each

week, with each of my children, one afternoon per week I go to a

movie, I walk each day with my wife going around a lake for 45

minutes. I write books each day. This is my third book in a series of

about 20 more to come. I am also an artist and I find time to paint

about four paintings a year. (I have no room left on my walls). I

meditate each day and visualize my goals as if they are already

happening. I work in my yard (close to an acre) and have flowers

everywhere. I work on my flowers every other day. The point I am

trying to make is I do all of this every day. I have so much free time. I

have organized myself to the point where I am free of mind, or rather,

my mind is free so it can be an idea receptor. I’m not special. I

developed my mind to receive ideas by being organized and asking

questions in effective ways. If you work at it, you can do anything you

want. After having your goals, your values, your plans and things to

do listed, the next step is to list your things to do in order of their

priority.

To be organized, I would place on three pieces of paper, all my

responsibilities in categories numbered #one, # two or # three. The

# one’s needed to be done today. The # two’s needed to be done in

the next couple of days. The # three’s needed to be done a week or

more.

On my list of number one duties, I list, in the order of their

importance, all I have to do. I do this as I write in my journal in the

morning. As I was writing, I was making lists. I review my # two

and # three duties. Some items become # one’s and need

immediate attention. I plan how my day will go by placing set

appointments on my today’s list and working my duties around them.

There is another area that could have you running errands all day.

That is buying cleaning supplies. In organizing your cleaning

supplies, you need to stock what you need. I keep a marked slot on

a shelf for everything. (Keep a fail safe number taped on that

marking with a number.) When I or anyone took a roll of paper towels

and my fail safe number was 10, then when the tenth was taken, a re-

order was issued. Knowing what I used, I was able to negotiate great

prices.

I also used the same supplies and kept it to a minimum of variety.

For example, I used Sanitaire commercial vacuums. I only had to

stock one type of belt. Keep it simple to be organized. This method is

also great when keeping track of the customers rest room supplies. If

they run out of toilet paper, they will blame you and hate you for that.

More about this in the chapter on “The Three Biggest Sins.”

Another way to organize is with the “Total Quality Management

System,” by E. Deming. This is the basic (the same) way to become

1S0 9001 certified. I could (and will) write a book just on this subject,

but for now, I want to touch base on it. You may want to make it your

five year goal to know this subject. This is your first lesson. This

lesson is a brief overview.

To keep it simple on how it pertains to janitorial, your goal should

be to provide a consistent service that meets and exceeds the

customer’s expectations. Should your service move off of that

expectation, you want to be the first to know, not the last. By being

the first to know, you can get it back on track. If the customer never

knew you went off track, did you go off track? If we were a football

team and I fumbled and you, my teammate recovered the fumble,

was it a fumble? Obviously, no, if you catch the error before the

customer sees it, it is not a complaint.

Another way to look at it is like when you drive a car. You have

gauges. Your gas gauge let’s you know when you are on “E” for

empty. You are the first to know. If you do not pay attention, you will

be stuck on the side of the road, out of gas. It is the same with

business. If you don’t pay attention to the customers expectations

and the quality of your service slips, you could lose the account.

Using this management system is like having a gas gauge that tells

you your service quality is getting low and it is time to fill up with super

service again.

The next question is, how do you keep your service consistent?

Besides retaining labor, the best way is to document the procedure of

every task. You may be thinking that you hate writing and how will

you ever write down in detail, how to do things. All I can say to that is

“do you want to have a free mind all day and the time to enjoy it?”

As a small company making $100,000 net, you won’t need to

write as many as you think. Start with where you have a problem.

I discovered how to write each procedure when I worked for

a boss one time that yelled at everyone for anything. To avoid being

yelled at, when I was given a task, I wrote out how to do it and gave it

to the owner to verify. He corrected it and I never got yelled at about

that task again. I did this because I hated being yelled at. I wrote one

for every task I was assigned. That is how to begin, one at a time.

Before long, you will be done.

Write a procedure where it seems you are having the most

confusion at the time. Keep it in a binder. Eventually, all of them will

be done. You do not have to write it perfectly the first time. Just write

a couple of lines, you can always add to the list as you go along.

Let’s say our task is to make coffee, (this is important to do).

Right now list the steps for making coffee.

1.)

2.)

3.)

4.)

5.)

6.)

7.)

8.)

Our example:

Step #

1.) Measure 8 cups of water and place in machine

2.) Coffee Filter

3.) 8 measured scoops (not a spoon)

4.) Turn on

5.) Pour

This is a basic list to make coffee. This is all you have to do and

place it in a binder for storage. If the coffee always tastes great no

matter who makes it, then this is an effective procedure or process.

If you get complaints that the coffee is too strong, you could go to this

process and change 8 scoops to 7 or 6. You change until you find

the right formula to have consistent coffee. If the taste varies, maybe

add a step after step 3 that says, “only buy a certain blend.” The idea

is to always make changes until everyone who makes coffee makes it

the same. Thus consistency!

Every procedure from rest room cleaning, to dusting, to

vacuuming, should be written so your staff can do the same job in the

same manner consistently. When you give a quality service that is

consistent, you will keep accounts. This is not complicated, it’s

logical. It does take an effort, but no one is upset anymore about

procedures, because everyone participates in making the procedure

perfect.

As you build your knowledge of this process, you can keep

statistics. For example, if you get complaints, keep a list. Then,

like a spread sheet, you make a list of each different complaint you

got. At the end of the month total the categories.

For example:

Missed mirror in rest room, five complaints in month.

A janitor did not show, one time.

A customer complained that something missed dusting, one time.

From that list, the first process to write (or if it is already written,

edit), is the one on how to wash a mirror because it had the most

complaints. Or perhaps the procedure on “how to clean a rest room

so not to miss a mirror.” Maybe the process to write is “how to train

someone on the process on how to clean a rest room.” The point is

that you can pinpoint the problem and correct it. Plus, you will be

working on the one that needs the most urgent attention.

Later on, after your processes are written, you can use graphs and

charts. They will let you know how you are doing in every area of

your business. You will be in step with the pulse of your organization.

More importantly, this system gets everyone involved and the

potential for profit sharing beyond just being organized, is incredible.

When you keep tracking your accounts in this manner, you will be the

first to notice problems as with the case of that gas gauge in the car.

When your indicator tells you that you need gas, you have to take

action. You still have to act. In business, if you ignore your indicator

of a customer in trouble or some other item, you will lose workers and

accounts like someone who ignores the gas gauge and runs out of

gas.

When I get ideas during the day, I write them on separate pieces

of paper. That way when I get to my home office, I place them in

hanging files pertaining to that project. When that project is being

focused on, I will have a huge number of ideas to start with.

This is my basic philosophy that I follow to organize my day.

My results have been great. If you knew the people who know me,

they would say, that I was always free, any time of the day

to meet. Most people wonder if I ever work. I don’t

blame them. I wonder if I ever work. It helps that anything I

do during the day does not seem like work because when you work

for yourself, everything you do benefits you and your family.

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