See this stack of papers, magazines, folders, binders, and such???
Everything in this pile is a 'to do!'
Well, this is my paperwork. And before you say, ‘magazines? that’s your paperwork?’ yes, it is. First of all, all bloggers have to do paperwork. Now, let me rephrase that…all professional bloggers, that do it as a job, have to do paperwork. Much better. There are many bloggers that blog just to share thoughts and such, like a journal. Did you know, there’s MORE blogs out there that are ‘private,’ than there are ‘public?’ The private blogs are people’s journals, blogs that they share with family members across the globe, where they each post on so that the families who are apart can stay up with what’s going on, see photos, and such, and they each have a password to get into it. Then, there are ‘tester’ blogs, where designers, marketers, and such, have as ‘private’ so that they can go in and tinker around, try this code or that, create, and such. And then there are professional blogs. That’s what Thrifty and Frugal by Debbie, and millions of others, fall under.
What kind of paperwork? all kinds of paperwork.
First and foremost: taxes. Ugh, yes, the bane to everyone’s existence. We have to keep paperwork to justify our earnings, gifts, and expenditures. This can be a very daunting task for larger blogs, but still necessary. We keep receipts from conventions and seminars, down to our postage that we use for anything to do with the blog, as well as, Paypal fees that we end up having to pay when someone doesn’t know how to ‘code’ their Paypal payment right. And we never forget our mileage log. I only started keeping a mileage log this year, as I really didn’t realize how necessary it is. What we keep in our mileage logs are things that we do just for our blogs…trips to the office supply store (even if you end up picking up kitchen trash bags while you’re there, if there’s something on that receipt that’s for your blog, you can write it down), post office, conventions, seminars, conferences, meetings, social media events where you’re representing yourself as your blog/owner/content manager, anything that has to do with our blogs, we record. Believe me, it helps during tax season the following year, no matter how big or small your blog is. And if you’re a professional blogger, and you’re not claiming your blog on your taxes, you need to. Even if you don’t make much, or anything, claim your blog on your taxes…it can end up being considered a ‘loss,’ which gives you a bit of a tax break. And if you’re earning more than the set amount, then you MUST FILE TAXES ON THOSE EARNINGS. If you have any questions, call the IRS 1-800 number and ask, they’re actually very helpful (you don’t have to give your information, just a basic name, and ask your questions).
Research. That’s what a few of those magazines in my stack are. A lot of us find things in magazines that inspire us to create a post. There may be a deal we find that we want to share, a new store/shop/product we want to look into or share, things like that. Or like I do with Thrifty Thursdays Style on a Dime, fashion trends. This first requires me to find something in a fashion mag that I like. I can’t write or be enthusiastic about a post on a fashion trend that I don’t personally like…and it’s my blog, so you just have to deal and read about MY fashion sense, lol. Slips of paper, pages from magazines, books, whatever we find that we want to remember to blog about, possibly research more about, that inspires us, some ideas written down, whatever, can be found in a bloggers ‘pile.’ Now, most of my ideas and mag pagers are actually in a different location, in another binder folder, but occasionally, when I’m strapped for time, or know I want to do it within a few days, then I’ll put it in the pile, because I know that I go through that pile, from top to bottom, daily. I may not do everything in that pile, but by golly, I know exactly what’s IN the pile, and what needs to be done.
Paperwork from companies. When we work with brands, PRs, and other companies, we sometimes have contracts, deadlines that are put into writing, advertisements and info sheets, press releases, and such. Most of the time, these come via email, and we can save a tree. Sometimes, even if they come via email, we need to print them out for various reasons, but mainly for taxes. Some things are just easier to have a hard copy of. Anything that has to do with a review, gets put with a form that I’ve created, attached, and placed in a binder folder in the appropriate spot. This helps me keep track of things yearly, so I can go back a few years and look at that paperwork if needed. Some bloggers keep a detailed record online, this is fine too. Personally, I’ve not found that to be as motivating for me or ‘reminding,’ so I have the form I’ve worked up to do that for me and keep me on track.
Our agenda, planner, or calender. That’s what’s on top. I could not run this blog (or my life) without that daily planner. I write everything in it. When I go to an appt that I know I’ll end up having to make another of, I take it with me so I know my available dates. I can’t keep separate planners, one for blog, one for life, because they bleed into one other. For example: if we’re set to go to a movie premiere, that’s technically a blog item for the planner, but yet, it’s still time out of our lives that we need to remember so that we don’t schedule anything else during that time/date…see what I mean? if you have 2 of them, ugh, WHY have 2 when 1 will do the trick. And mine MUST have large boxes on it…I usually have more than one, or 9 things going on any particular day, a rare day I’ll have blank, and again, that’s rare, so I have to have large spaces to write it, even then, the notes sections at the beginning and end of that month usually are filled with overflow stuff. I LIVE by that planner! DON’T..TOUCH..MY..PLANNER!! lol
I think that some bloggers are more organized, some less. Organization of your chaos to the extent that makes you comfortable is the key. Like I said before, I know what’s in that pile. I guess you can say, that’s my ‘in box,’ because everything in that pile is a ‘to do.’ (a big ‘to do’ pile, eh? that’s how big it is every day). Some bloggers have virtual assistants (VA’s). Me? well, me and my lil blog aren’t in need of that at the moment, PLUS, I have to have my finger on everything I do, and having someone else go through my emails and decide what’s worth my attention and what’s not, wouldn’t make me feel very comfortable, or productive even. I want responses to be MY words and style of writing, not someone else’s.
So, my question…what helps YOU stay more organized with YOUR ‘pile?’ What other paperwork do you, as a blogger, keep, do, use, etc.? We’d love to know!
May 16th, 2012 by Debbie | No Comments »
