Having a business calendar is just as important as having a business strategy. It keeps you on track, allows you to plan ahead, and takes stress out of the equation when it comes to remembering all the things you have to accomplish. Here are 5 simple tips for creating a business calendar.
Choose a program. Although desk calendars can be incredibly useful, electronic calendars offer so many options it’s hard to not take advantage. Some of the most popular electronic calendar programs include iCal for Apple product users, Microsoft Outlook, and Google Calendar. There are many other options out there if none of these really interest you, so research the different programs and choose the best one for your business.
Gather information about your events. Get out your business strategy and marketing plan and create a list of all of the important events you’d like to include on your calendar.
Create an organization system. Make your calendar easy to read by creating an organization system. Look at the list of events you’ve compiled and separate each event into categories, then choose a different color for each category. You can also make the calendar less cluttered by using abbreviations like MTG for meeting, PU for pickup and VAC for vacation.
Important events. Now that you’ve got your list of events compiled and your organizational system in place, you can start importing each event into your calendar.
Back up you calendar. Once you’ve created the calendar, it’s going to quickly become your side-kick. But what happens if you lose your side-kick? You’re going to be lost. Most of the electronic programs have backup systems, specifically iCal and Google Calendar because they live online. Make sure that whatever program you’re using can be backed up daily. It will save you a huge headache if your calendar is ever erased or lost.
What kind of events will you be adding to your calendar? What will you do to make your use of calendars more effective in 2014? Do you have any other advice for our readers? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Until next time,
Yours truly,
Tommy Antonopoulos, Blogger for OfficeTime
PS: Get your no-cost trial the desktop version of our Time Tracking Solution at OfficeTime.net