I have 2 kids that are home sick today, so I have to make this a quick one.

I just wanted to share with you a new resource I found yesterday. I’ve been searching long and hard, high and low for a shopping cart solution that works with PayPal and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg… and I think I found it!!

Introducing my newest find, E-junkie (still testing the system, using the free trial)! Here’s their pitch:

E-junkie provides shopping cart and buy now buttons to let you sell downloads and tangible goods on your website, eBay, MySpace, Google Base, CraigsList and other websites using PayPal, Google Checkout, Authorize.Net, TrialPay, 2CheckOut and ClickBank.

For merchants selling downloads, we automate and secure the digital delivery of files and codes. If you are selling tangible goods, we automate the shipping calculation and inventory management. Our shopping cart has a built in sales tax, VAT, packaging and shipping cost calculator.

You can sell ebooks, sell mp3 tracks and albums, sell software, icons, fonts, artwork, phone cards, event tickets, cds, posters, books, t-shirts and almost everything else you want to sell.

E-junkie has no transaction limit, no bandwidth limit, no setup fee and no transaction fee.

It’s super affordable — pricing is per month and not a per transaction, which I LOVE. The tiered pricing structure is no nonsense — if you’re selling up to 10 items it’s $5 a month, up to 20 items for $10, etc.

I’m not technical and under 24 hours I’ve listed 3 items. A few people are testing the process for me to make sure I got it all right.

What’s missing? Hmmm, well, I’ve only been using it for a day, but here’s my 2-part wish list:

1. I wish there was a testing feature (where I can go through the process and see exactly what my clients see).
2. I wish it was a little more intuitive (read: idiot-proof it for people like me), like when adding a new product, the optional settings are not clearly explained. For example, you can choose what Thank You message clients receive after their purchase — either the generic message or you can customize your own. But nowhere could I find WHAT the generic message looks like. I would love to know what it says first, THEN decide if I want to create my own.

These are just 2 small things and I’m sure as I get more comfortable using it, I’ll be adding items more quickly.

This is all part and parcel of my continuing efforts to automate my business — and a HUGE part of my Office Organization Venture: Step 2 – Contact Management. I’m really pleased with how things are working out (even though I’m still only on Step 2). I guess staying up until 2am setting up systems is finally paying off.

Who out there is using E-jukie? How is it working for you? As I continue using it, I’ll give you a more detailed review.

If you’d like to give it a try, hop on over and take advantage of their no-strings-attached 7-day trial (I should SO go back to doing sales…. NOT!).

Sounds like my daughter just woke up, so I’m over and out.

As you know, I’m working through Step 2 of my Office Organization Venture — Contact Management (following Tracey Lawton‘s The Complete Office Organization System).

If I’ve been a little quiet lately, it’s because I’m working long and hard hours on this one. This second step may prove to be the most time-consuming of all four, seeing as I’m practically starting from scratch (other than Outlook and iContact for my newsletter, I’ve never taken the time and effort to put in place a reliable, automatic and regular contact management system — now I know why!).

I spent all of last and some of this week just setting up an automated Complimentary Coaching Session scheduling procedure. Here’s how the process is broken down (completed actions steps are crossed out):

1. A potential client who checks out my web site and is interested in experiencing my no-nonsense coaching style signs up for a Complimentary Coaching Session by filling out a form.
   Action: Create sign up form in iContact.
   Action: Create Complimentary Coaching Session web page.
2. The person soon receives a “Welcome to Complimentary Coaching Session” email with scheduling instructions. They must click the link in that message to access my online scheduling program. Once there, they select an available date and time slot for our call.
   Action: Create appointment type, schedule time slots, Thank You message, and reminders in Web-appointments.com.
3. After filling out and submitting the scheduling form, the program displays (and sends an email with) a Thank You message confirming our scheduled time, calling instructions and a link to a short Pre-Session Questionnaire.
   Action: Create Pre-Session Questionnaire in iContact.
4. After answering and submitting the short Pre-Session Questionnaire — that’s it. At the scheduled time, we each dial in to my teleconference bridge line and I do the rest manually (send a thank you email with link to recording of call).
   Action: Create and set up follow-up auto responder messages in iContact.
   Action: Make Complimentary Coaching Session web page live on my site and let the calls begin!!

Isn’t that a lot of work? Not only that, each step requires testing to ensure a smooth transition to the next.

Why am I adding so many steps to this particular process? It’s simply my way of filtering serious potential clients from the not-so-serious (those just looking for a freebie coaching session). Entrepreneurs who are serious about achieving their goals, want an accountability partner and are ready to go places they haven’t before will take the time to go through each step.

What’s next in Contact Management? I’m not sure it’s ever done, especially as I make more products available to you.

With the impending arrival of baby #3 this July, I’m motivated and determined to automate as many processes as possible. That means clearly outlining a marketing funnel and setting up more auto responders.

If only there was a way to automate the article-writing process for my monthly newsletter… then (most of) my woes would be a thing of the past!

How have you automated your business? What tools have been a Godsend? What would you do differently? What systems are you working on?

Being that I no longer had a desk to work on, with my entire business spread across the office floor, my husband and I decided to put the organization project in overdrive this weekend. We sent the kids to our parents and got crackin’.

Friday night we came up with a floor plan and took measurements. After dropping off the kids, we went to Reno Depot to choose our materials and returned to empty the entire room. Saturday, we woke up early, returned to Reno Depot to purchase our materials and started working. Sunday, we hammered the last nail and shopped around for the finishing touches.

This is how my work area now looks:

A few elements that made this such a successful transition were:

• Two 2-drawer filing cabinets, holding up the entire work area. Just about everything now fits in those 2 cabinets and there’s no loss of space by having an actual desk.
• Two long bookshelves (which were leftovers from the piece we cut for my desk). The first shelf holds all my business-related books. I placed sentimental items on the top shelf, without taking up precious work space.
• Office organizer (black cube to the right) allowing me to go vertical. It holds essential supplies and “loose ends,” plus it’s big and sturdy enough for my printer.
• My closet (you don’t see it here), where I was able to store my fireproof filing cabinet (for our personal files), place larger supplies (printing paper, empty binders, blank notepads, etc), and tidy away boxes with “stuff” that I need to keep, but don’t access regularly.

The other side of the room now has enough place for a crib. We were even able to install an activity center for the kids (another leftover from the original cut):

We’re bringing in the crib in a few weeks.

Monday was my brainstorming session with Tracey Lawton, were she helped me come up with a simple, workable filing system that I will put in place during the first week of April.

Yesterday and today were spent on organizing my PC and Outlook files.

This is how my hard drive is now organized:

And this is what Outlook looks like (See? Nothing in my Inbox!):

While my paper filing system is not physically done (I’ve schedule 3 half days to tackle that), I’m ready to go on to Step 2 – Contact Management.

Stay tuned as I take on this step, and get closer to being an ultra-productive and ultra-organized entrepreneur!

I’ve implemented many suggestions you’ve sent me thus far. Please keep those comments coming, because I am putting them to use!

On top of being more productive, the reason why I need to better organize my office is because I’ll be sharing office space with baby #3.

Last week I posted items on Craigslist (items sold are crossed off):

• Large U-Shape Office Desk, $150
• HP Officejet 7140xi All-in-One, $100 or best offer
• APC Back-UPS Pro 450, free

Wednesday, a man called about my desk. A few hours later, three men showed up at my door, one of them handed me $150, disassembled the desk and left with it. It all happened so fast.

Bitter-sweet. Now, my office is pretty naked.

Of course, everything that was in my desk is now strewn across the floor in piles. That’s why I much prefer this shot (no flash):

The open space has helped my husband and I come up with a layout that’s compact, functional and inexpensive, albeit not as attractive as the former setup.

Thanks to Gail Kay’s advice (see her comment) to go vertical. That’s exactly what I’ll do to create additional shelf space, without using extra room.

The filing cabinets were delivered this morning.

We’re “building” my “desk” this weekend — did I say we’re going minimalistic? You’ll see what I mean.

Monday is my brainstorming session with Tracey Lawton, the inspiration and genius behind this whole Office Organization Venture.

What’s left? Get rid of more stuff, like books, boxes, my husband’s desk and PC. Take everything off the walls. Clear closet space for office supplies. Find a solution to partition office/baby area. And… who knows what else.

Once my office is set up, we’ll bring in the baby stuff — a crib and wardrobe.

So even if it doesn’t look like it now, things are coming together nicely (and happening fast). 2008 is turning out to be an awesome year. I know it’ll continue, even after baby #3 joins us. I can just feel it.

How’s 2008 turning out for you and your business? Are you on track with goals you’ve set for the year? Have you taken on a large project? How do you keep yourself from getting stuck or distracted?

I setup my new Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus 750 GB External Hard Drive and couldn’t be happier. I can now remove the (usually ignored) recurring DVD file backup task reminder in MS Outlook.

OK, so it’s not so much about actual office organization (it isn’t my stack of 7 DVD’s causing clutter in my office), but it’s more about mental organization, a freeing of brain space. I don’t have to think about backing up my files each week (or beat myself up for not doing it), because it now gets done automatically each night.

And even though I’m not tech savvy (I usually screw these kinds of things up), I was able to install and set everything up within a few minutes.

One item scratched off my Office Organization Venture: Stage 1 action list, 13 to go before March 15th!

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Today’s installment of The Savvy Snippet is a little later than usual. That’s because I just got back from spending a long weekend in the Catskills of New York visiting my sister and her family.

On Sunday, hubby and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary and we were treated to a weekend at Bob and Barb’s gorgeous Waterfall Rental guest house.

Today’s quote was specially selected in line with my Office Organization Venture:

Plan your work, work your plan. Lack of system produces that “I’m swamped” feeling. — Norman Vincent Peale

After trying to wing it on my own without lasting results, I’m finally using a system to get my office organized. I’m workin’ the plan, things are moving ahead and I’m finally not feeling so “swamped!”

Time to be honest with you. I’m being totally open here, which is really embarrassing… But enough is enough already. Despite repeated attempts, I just haven’t got a handle on the whole “office organization” thing on my own.

Here’s what my office looks like today:

Part of the problem is I’m running out of space (don’t ask me where we’re gonna fit a 3rd kid in this apartment!). The other part of the problem is I don’t have a system in place.

Just in time, my friend and colleague Tracey Lawton, has come to the rescue with her newest product release The Complete Office Organization System. As soon as the announcement reached my inbox, I raced to get my copy.

So here I’ve been, this past week, going through Tracey’s 5 step office organization system, and I’m already stuck — at step 1! I thought I’d take a lesson from my blog buddy, Chris, and create a little accountability for myself, right here on The Savvy Entrepreneur.

Step 1 is all about creating a filing management system. This introduces my first challenge — my 2-drawer filing cabinet and small filing drawer in my desk are packed solid; I can’t fit one more sheet of paper. So before I can even start thinking about putting the system in place, I need to prepare (my motto: “Planning to plan!”).

The second challenge is the fact that I must downsize my office to make room for baby #3. That means smaller desk, less stuff and much less storage. Making organizing my office an even more important task.

In order to complete Step 1, here’s what I need to do, with target completion dates):

1. Paper-based filing system: (Complete)
   • Purchase a 4-drawer filing cabinet. I ended up buying two 2-drawer cabinets.
   • Brainstorm paper filing system: main categories and sub categories.
   • Purchase colored file folders (one color for each Main Category).
   • Purchase a labeler. Dymo LetraTag.
   • Schedule an entire a day to tackle, sort and file. Scheduled for week of April 7th.
     
2. PC-based filing system: (Complete)
   • Brainstorm PC filing system: main folders and sub folders.
   • Create above folders on D: drive.
   • Move folders/files.
3. Organize Outlook: (Complete)
   • Aim for less than 20 Inbox messages (read or unread).
   • Brainstorm Outlook filing system.
   • Create folders and rules in Outlook.
   • Move folders/messages.
4. Backup system: (Complete)
   • Set up on site backup system (Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus 750 GB External Hard Drive).
   • Subscribe to online backup service and set up remote backup (MozyHome‘s online backup service)

WHEW! I have a lot of work ahead of me! And it sounds expensive (time to sell lots of Out of the Box Self-Coaching Workbooks). Remote backup will be put on the back burner if, by March 15th, I can’t afford it. I’ll strike out each item as it gets done, so you can check up on my progress. I’ll be posting pictures to keep me honest as well (no cleanup before the pictures, I promise).

If you, too, struggle with office organization, why don’t you take charge and join me?

For those of you who have mastered office organization, what tips, shortcuts and resources do you use to make your office organization work consistently?

In taking today’s snapshot, I caught my hubby, Fred, at my desk playing with his new toy, the Sansa e280 MP3 player (a sweet little device).

As you can see, today my office is the least organized it has been all week, with my ‘stuff’ strewn a little all over the place. I gave myself permission to slack off a little — after all, it IS Friday.

More on permissions in a future post.

I’m glad today is the last day of my Office Organization Venture. By not achieving the desired outcome (an organized office), I feel like I wasted your time. Know that I don’t take your continued support for granted. Next time I’ll take up a more reasonable challenge!!

********************

UPDATE: October 20th
We went shopping today, and you’ll never guess what Fred bought me??? That’s right a Sansa e280 MP3 player!!! I guess it pays to drop subtle hints!

I can finally listen to my 100+ audio interviews and programs while taking the kids for a walk and doing household chores! Talk about multi-tasking!!

Thanks, honey. <**hugs**>

It wasn’t easy keeping my end of the bargain today.

All in all, I’m quite proud that I have at least been keeping my office neat-looking and my ‘stuff’ is not all over the place. But it’s still not organized.

Tomorrow marks the last day of this self-imposed challenge, and I’ll be glad when it’s over… I didn’t accomplish what I thought I would during this week. But I continue posting my daily pictures — it’s been a great learning experience, I am a person of my word, and… now you know what my office looks like!

This is gonna be a quick post. Here’s today’s picture of my office. The bad news is, I’m not making as much progress as I would like. The good news is it’s not getting any worse.

With everything going on this week, I have yet to read Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.

I guess it wasn’t reasonable to undertake such a project during a week filled with meetings, conference calls, trainings and presentations.

The positive in all this (and it mostly is positive), is by daily posting my progress keeps me accountable, honest and mindful. The point is, I’m doing something (small) each day to keep my office in order.

Continually working on yourself is a trait which separates successful people from the unsuccessful, which is reassuring to all of us. Is it not?