Today, we continue our guest post series with circus ring mistress herself, JP Jones. She continues with her solid strategies of managing the circus, also known as your business, with a focus today on your email inbox. If you missed Part one, be sure to read it before continuing with Part Two. Thanks JP!
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Hopefully you caught last week’s post, The Entrepreneur, The Juggler & The Circus Clown (Part 1), if you didn’t take a moment to get caught up before finishing this post!
As we mentioned last week, being an entrepreneur can easily be confused with working in a circus. If as a child you ever threatened to “run off and join the circus” you have hope of becoming one of our most influential entrepreneurs today!
Entrepreneurs are often known for their juggling abilities and last week we explored some tips for project management. This week, we’re going to get a little more specific in terms of managing emails.
2. Flying High on the Trapeze: Control the Email Crisis
Email management is perhaps one of the biggest concerns for many entrepreneurs. In a time were technology rules society, email frequency and bulk has continued to increase at a rapid pace.
I compare email control with the trapeze for a number of reasons, but perhaps the strongest comparison is the dizzying affect it can have on those watching. If you’ve ever sat and watched talented trapeze artists swinging back and forth, back and forth, up and down, up and down, pretty soon, you will find yourself light-headed. The same is true with your inbox.
As email flies in and out, in and out, in and out, it’s important to channel the flow of information efficiently—before it knocks you off-balance!
Lookout.
If you are concerned about missing ‘important’ emails, or if your industry requires that you are notified of immediate changes or possible time sensitive issues, alleviate the stress of constantly checking your email by utilizing an instant notification service. Many email clients can be configured to alert you to new mail automatically and most, will also show you a brief overview of the message.
This notification allows you to continue working and only stop to answer a significant or time sensitive message. And it completely eliminates the need for constantly taking time out to check your email. While there are many email clients and computer platforms out there, my personal favorite is Notify (http://vibealicious.com/apps/notify/ ).
Label.
As important as determining priority is to your project management system, assigning a priority status to your incoming email is equally important. Many entrepreneurs will receive several hundred emails a day. Creating a strong labeling system for organizing and storing those emails is vital to task completion.
When an email comes into any of my inboxes I immediately assign it a label. For myself, most emails are project related, so I determine the priority of the project and assign labels of “high, medium, low” based on the urgency of the request. When a task is completed or an email has been answered, I will update that label to “resolved”.
Each entrepreneur should create his or her own email management system, but having a method in place for your email flow is vital in successfully managing your inbox!
Watch for next week’s post where we will continue our circus training with our next dilemma and solution— Work the Crowd: Face Time—or Phone Time?
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JP Jones wears many hats. Among them are graphic designing, web designing, social media marketing, teaching, book publishing, blogging and writing. The author of “Market Yourself: A Beginner’s Guide to Social Media”, JP is the owner of Paige1Media & Paige1Publishing, a graphic design firm and publishing company that work with domestic and international clients on projects ranging from basic logo development to magazine and book design.
Her firms are contracted in joint venture with Collipsis Web Solutions, LLC. which handles Web Design and Development for clients around the world. Jones has also served as an adjunct instructor and guest lecturer for universities and conferences. Jones has had the honor of winning over 100 awards for her design and promotions work over the years. In 2010 she was named one of the Top 101 Female Bloggers to Watch for 2010 by Women’s Entertainment Magazine.
Jones has been designing professionally for over 9 years and immerses herself in the current trends and technologies emerging in the industry. Staying on top of technology is her job. Teaching it to others is her passion.
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