One of my favorite programs I use to stay organized is Trello! Trello is a free task manager that is user-friendly, has a clean and simple layout, and is great at keeping you organized. As a marketing agency owner, I have to juggle multiple clients with multiple projects all at once. And unless you are organized, this can fail easily! It can be so easy to forget due dates, or details of a task unless you have a system in place.
I’m going to start this with a quick fact: I am a paper person. Every client has a folder, and every client folder has a print out of their contract, branding guidelines, and notes. So the idea of trusting an online system to organize me can be very stressful. I just think so much better, and clearer when I take notes!
But what happens when you start losing notes? Or a breeze comes by and your papers are all on the floor (yes, this is a weekly occurrence in my office!) Or when your cat decides to sit on them, and then you have to try and take him off of them. My cat weighs a lot, and this can be an issue.
Well paper-people-loving people, I have a solution: Trello! Trello is an online task manager that is simple, but full of options. Trello is made up of four main components: Boards, Lists, Cards, and Checklists.
Boards:
Boards are the dashboard where you can manage a project. For me, I have a board for each client. But you could have a board for each wedding, each project, etc.
Lists:
These are how you organize your ideas into categories. Each of my boards have four lists: This Week, This Month, Down The Road, and Completed. This way I can see what is due this week, what is due this month, and what are ideas we will implement down the road. Once an item is completed, I move it over to the Completed card. I personally like to keep my completed tasks, so I can look back if there are questions, but you can also archive it.
Cards:
These contain details and tasks for each project. You can have a description, comments, attach files, assign other members to it, create checklists, and add a due date.
I love checklists, so mine always have a checklist and a due date. This way I never forget a step! And a cool feature? If you often have the same checklist (ex. Blog procedures) you can easily duplicate checklists over and over again.
How to be a notetaker, and still use Trello
Are you still thinking “I need to take notes all day!” Well, I feel you. Which is why I continue to take notes on paper, but make sure to put it all in Trello at the end of the day.
My current workflow is this:
- I take notes throughout the day on a large notepad.
- At the end of the day, I enter the notes into Trello to keep track of what I worked on, and what still needs to be done. I also take this time to cross items off of my checklist, and see what needs to be re-prioritized.
- When I get an email from a client that has multiple ideas in one, I add them to Trello one-by-one. This way, we can look back later and go over the topics, and don’t forget the great ideas.
I created some demo Trello boards, so you can see some easy ways to organize!
Monthly Blog Schedule:
Wedding Photographers:
Personal To Do’s:
