The key to all successful endeavors is, of course, organization. Whether you have your own business, are involved in affiliate programs, publish your own ezine, etc., if you're not organized you are fighting an uphill, and ultimately unwinnable, battle.

BUT, WHERE TO BEGIN?

I'd like to take a moment or two to explain Inbox Organization. I'm going to reference Outlook Express - but any inbox will do.

My online business is ezine advertising. I handle all incoming orders by hand, and prefer it that way. If my inbox isn't organized, I'm in a world of hurt! I've got to be able to fill current orders, keep track of back orders, and even dig deep several weeks or months if the need arises.

My method? Folders! Don't groan *smile!* No one said this was going to be rocket science. But, without those folders, you've got yourself a royal mess.

Your folders would, of course, be labelled appropriately for the business(es) you are tracking online. In my case, I have Incoming and Processed Orders with subfolders for each month. Within those subfolders are folders for the ads themselves and any correspondence. Incoming invoices are filed by TYPE (Clickbank or PayPal) and also by MONTH. I provide numerous services - two types of ezine advertising, two types of solo advertising, banner ads, meta services (luckily this is a redirect), guaranteed hits, and other specials as they come and go. Also, the publisher benefits at My Wizard Ads include swaps and announcements, to name just a few. Without an organized inbox, my business would fold in two seconds!

BUT IT DOESN'T STOP THERE

I also make good use of the incoming mail SORT feature built into Outlook Express. Under TOOLS, MAIL MESSAGES, MAIL I've created over 100 different PRESORTED messages for myself. As mail comes in, it's not all in one lump in the inbox requiring me to hand sort - I let Outlook Express do 99.9% of the work for me. You can sort using a myriad of options. Play around with it and cut YOUR workload by 90%!

JUST DON'T FORGET

Now, I must admit I need to take this one step further. I rely way, way too heavily on Outlook Express and my computer in general. Though tedious, it is imperative that you also copy and paste into a BACKUP folder on your hard drive, following this up with the necessary floppy disk backups periodically. Printing things out is also a good idea. Paper isn't extinct yet people, save trees, but be smart - don't lose important business information due to lack of printing.

It truly does not matter WHAT your business is... if you can't locate the information quickly and efficiently you are wasting valuable time that could be spent promoting, networking, and making money!

Get Organized! It is a primary KEY to your success :)