I am constantly trying new things to keep myself organized, on time, and accountable to my clients. I have found this increasingly difficult as I add clients, projects, and responsibilities. I am going to start chronicling how I manage my tasks, my clients, emails, and general to-dos in the next couple of posts.
I use a number of tools to manage myself, in this introduction I am going to go over the easiest ones to explain.
BaseCamp
I have and continue to use BaseCamp with my clients, which helps me to keep all of my client data in the same place. Also, they provide an easy place for me to communicate with my clients, and them with me. It is a great tool for project management and has saved my butt a couple times.
Google Calendar
I use Google Calendar to handle all of my scheduling. Whenever I have something time sensitive that I need to make sure to remember, I put it into Google Calendar.
They will send me a text (SMS) message and an email before the event, at whatever interval I want. Sometimes I know I will be in the clouds so I will have the reminder 30 minutes, or 15 minutes before I am due for a meeting. Other times, I know I am going to need to drive, so I will figure out my drive time plus 15-30 minutes before my meeting, that way I have enough time to get ready and drive to the meeting.
Along with these features, Google Calendar has export and import functionality that allows me to have my calendar on my IPhone, my home computer, and my work computer.
Paper Notepads
I keep lists on notepads, about everything. I will detail this more later.