BMP163 Mridu Parikh ~ How to Organize Your Business to Streamline Distractions

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About Mridu Parikh

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What You’ll Learn

• Mridu’s top tips on how to organize your business and streamline distractions
• A simple tip that will help you to organize and structure your business day
• How to keep your desk organized for optimum efficiency and minimal distraction
• One simple way to reduce stress when it comes to business communication
• Easy actions you can take today to minimize distractions in your business

Inspiring Women

• Marie Forleo 
• Vasavi Kumar 
• The people of NAPO 

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Transcript

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163 How to Organize Your Business to Streamline Distractions

HW:     Hello, and welcome to the Business Mindset Podcast episode 163. This is your host Holly Worton and I am here with today’s special guest, Mridu Parikh. Mridu is a pro at aligning business goals with structure to simply get more done in less time without the stress. A national speaker and productivity and organisational consultant she helps clarify priorities and make the best use of your time with powerful yet simple tools. Welcome!

MP:     Thanks so much Holly, I am so excited to be here!

HW:     I am excited to have you! I love organisation stuff, and I super excited to talk about this [laughing] so, welcome. So Mridu why don’t you tell us a little bit about your background and your business journey and how you got to where you are today, because you have got a great story about how you got involved in this whole organisation stuff.

MP:      Yeah, well, actually, I am one of those people who was born a little bit I’d say organised, I have that trait, that gene; I have these two ridiculously over-the-top organised parent. So, when I was growing up, it kind of set the foundation for myself and my brother, although, of course I had no idea at that time, you know, I was just growing up in our household, and I had no idea how that would sort of pave the way for my future. However, I would say, even though I was relatively organised and things ran smoothly, I did meet a big hick-up or challenge in my life and that was when I met my husband, my boyfriend at that time; we met married, and got pregnant within eight months.

HW:     That’s crazy! [laughing] That is so, such major lifestyle changes in such a short period of time…

MP:      It was crazy! So, we moved in together, before I had even wrote my wedding thank-you cards we were having baby showers. We were in a small apartment in New York, I switched jobs, and then we had a massive big move; I had lived in New York my entire life, we moved from New York to Nashville. No friends. No family. And I was pregnant again. It was ridiculous. So, we moved again, I was working a 12-hour corporate job, I had my little son, I was pregnant. And so, during that time is when my life just felt completely chaotic. Like, I went from my little organisation, my piles, knowing where everything was, to complete and utter chaos. And the series of life events just rocked my world and, luckily however at that time, I was able to take a step back from working. I left my corporate job and it was the first time that it felt like I was able to breathe, and that was when my husband and I we just took a step back and I was like “whoa I have to take control” because this is crazy. And that’s really when, I made this decision; “I have got to get myself back in order, I have got to be a better role model. This is the type of mum I want to be, a better wife, a better daughter, you know”; I knew I wanted to get back to work, but I felt like I had to get all this stuff in place.

So, as I started studying and organising and reading books and blogs, and training, and seeing my life transform, it actually, sort of, paved the way for my business. And, after a while, after seeing my life completely change from chaos to simplicity, and productivity, and organisation, I jumped into that career as professional organiser. I jumped into that career as professional organiser. And I loved it, I worked from home for many years, I was very successful; and then moved my local business to online training and coaching, to a teaching organisation all around the world with workshops. And now, I have extended my services, after building my own business for so many years and seeing all these processes and structure I had to put into my business, now I have expanded my services to other entrepreneurs; and to small businesses, to help them managing their time; reaching their goals; staying on track; aligning and having clarity on how to get through their day and build their business.

HW:     Mm I love that. So, when people start to work with you, do you find that they are really disorganised? Or they are kind of organised, but could use, you know, could stand to take it up another level?

MP:     So, typically, the ‘ov’ word, I don’t know if I have ever had a conversation where a client doesn’t use the word “overwhelmed”. [HW: laughing] Overwhelmed is the word! So, it may not necessarily feel like totally unorganised, but it is a very stressful feeling, you know? You know like you have a million different things you should be doing, you could be doing, you are wearing all the hats in your business, you are, you start with these dreams of following your passion and creating work-life balance and making good money, but then you start your business and you are struggling with getting systems in place; training employees; marketing yourself; all the while building a business and satisfying your customers. You know, you have this ever-growing to-do list and that is usually what keeps people just really paralysed in some ways or just very overwhelmed.

HW:     Yeah, I know exactly what’s that like; that can be really, really, challenging. So, do you feel like a lot of people who come to you have an idea of what it is like to get organised, do they not do it, because they don’t know what to do, or are they just so overwhelmed, they can’t even see…?

MP:     I think often we see the end-point, right? We are like: I know I need to feel this way, I know I need to have some type of process, or some type of structure; or like, this just can’t be that hard. Usually, I tell people that if you feel that there is an easier way, chances are you are right. There is an easier way, but it is just navigating that; finding the simpler path. And then because you are doing so many things as a small business owner, that becomes so overwhelming, so how do you set aside the time to create systems, or put that structure in place, or get that training, or whatever it may be. I think that is really where we get bogged down and confused and overwhelmed.

HW:     Yeah, that completely makes sense. So, let’s talk a little bit about workplace organisation. So, how can entrepreneurs streamline and eliminate distractions in their business? What kinds of things are out there that maybe we don’t even see as distractions, but might be keeping us from being more organised?

MP:     So, one of the biggest areas of organisation in your business, is really organising your time or structuring your time; you know, really managing your time well, is going to guide you on everything that comes into your business, all the decisions your make, what to say yes to, what to say no to, how to delegate, I mean, it is sort of the foundation, I believe, of everything. As you know time is our most valuable asset in our business; there is never enough time to get it all done. So, if you can, that’s where I really, just start with my clients: “let’s get clarity on what you want to do with your business, what’s the direction. And then let’s figure out how to manage your time, avoid those distractions that are pulling you away from your goals, and focus on the right things.” The right things are going to have an impact on growing your business, helping make a business to the world, and helping you make money. Some of those things, there are always distractions, right? There are always things in our time that we feel like we should be doing everything, or it is so easy with social media to get pulled away, or, with is it? the latest shiny syndrome, like, the new product, periscope, or this and that, so it is really like: “let’s just stop, take a minute, take a step back, and clarify what is your goal, what are the one or two ways or initiatives we are going to get there for right now”. It doesn’t mean that you won’t get to everything else, but let’s just focus on a couple of things right now, make those work, feel good about them, master them, do them well and then move onto one or two other goals. And that is really I think the key of getting things done, feeling accomplished and moving your business forward.

HW:     Interesting, so how do you help people kind of figure out what the priorities are and how do they need to structure the time that they have available to them?

MP:     So, it is funny, I would say usually people when you take a minute, or, a few minutes to really be introspective about your business, most people really do know what their top priority is, or are, the priorities are, but they are not necessarily getting to those. For example, you might know that marketing is my number one priority, or sales is my number one priority right now, because without that constant flow of clients coming in, or making those sales, it it just not going to move my business forward. What typically happens, is that we get caught up in all the other minutiae and details over the course of the day, like the emails, and the interruptions, and the social media and working on our websites, and everything else, right? So, what I help with managing their day is: “is let’s figure out what that top priority is, chances are you really know it, and if not we will work on it and we will pull it out, and then block out that first part of your day, like make it gold, for working on that thing, that task, that project, that goal”. So, it I could just simply be one hour, so every single day on my calendar, I am going to block off 9am to 10am, to reach out to other blogs, or to cold call for clients, or whatever it may be, whatever let’s say that marketing priority may be. That way, when I get caught up in everything else that comes in, and hits my way during the day, I will always feel accomplished. At the end of the day, I know I have moved my business forward, so starting with that is critical. So, I like to say, you are earning your salary by noon, you know, if you are working on that thing every morning, the compounding effect is so great and you are always making money in that way, you know you are always moving your business forward, but when we don’t block out that time, that’s when we get caught up in all that other stuff.

HW:     That is such a good point to block out the time in your schedule, because I find that when I have little projects, or even big projects to get done, I have got to block the time out in my calendar to make sure that no one else books in during that time, so I have a big chunk of time to get my stuff done. And that applies as well to little stuff you do every day to grow your business, so, I think that is such a great idea.

MP:     Holly, I think that is so great that you do that, because I think that a lot of times what we end up doing is putting a due date or putting when a deliverable is due, or when a blog needs to go out, we put that on a calendar, but what typically people aren’t putting on their calendar is the time to work on all that stuff. Just like you said, and that is usually what is throwing them off course, and stressing them out and overwhelming them, because that time to do the work hasn’t been blocked out.

HW:     Exactly, and you are going to get stuck doing it after hours, or on the weekend, if you don’t make time to do it during your normal work day.

MP:     Absolutely.

HW:     Mm I love that. So, what other tips do you have for entrepreneurs to organise and streamline distractions? There are SO many distractions out there.

MP:     Well, one is, there is physical distraction, visible distraction, like things on your desk or in your office, so really streamlining what is coming in the way of you staying focussed. I know focus is SO hard for all of us, right, not only are we wearing so many hats, but there are so many things and alerts, and papers and all that stuff always thrown in our way. So really is your physical workspace, let’s say if you have a desk, I suggest, I really recommend, eliminating everything else off your desk when you are working on a specific task or project. So, don’t get caught up, if you are listening to this, don’t get caught up in buying fancy containers and labels, and making it all perfect, and using these procrastination methods to get there. Just pick it up and put it on the floor next to you, honestly, like I just feel like don’t…just have that stuff away from you, because what it does is mentally, visually and emotionally distracts you. You know, I can’t tell you how many offices I go to, where people don’t have elbow room! You know there is not elbow room, there is not room on their desk, they see another piece of paper, they see some stickies you’re your mind just starts wandering and you sort of have that self-proclaimed ADD all the time. So, really just get those physical distractions off. Also, you know, I still think that although we have such a digital world, we tend to keep a lot of papers. Lots of papers! And 80% of the papers that we save are never looked at again.

HW:     Yes, I totally agree!

MP:     Be diligent with that. Are there, do you really truly need what you have? You know, chances are 80% of what you are keeping, one, a lot of it you literally will never go back to, and even of the stuff that you are keeping, there is access online, right? There are digital instructions or manuals or classes or trainings, or many other ways to retrieve that information, and there are so many great apps that you can just put on your phone to scan stuff in. I mean there is no need for the big scanners anymore, for the handouts, I have an app on my phone I take a picture of a paper and then it is an Evernote app, and it goes into my Evernote. And so, the paper is gone, the distraction is gone, and it is filed away. So, you know, there are just more efficient ways to get that paper away, but still feel very much under control of what you are saving.

HW:     That is such a good tip and I know I am by no means paperless, but I’ve done I think a fantastic job of reducing paper. Every time it kind of tends to accumulate, I will go through it every couple of months, and clear stuff away, get rid of it, recycle it, whatever. But yeah, I cannot stand having papers on my desk. [Laughing].

MP:     I am the same way; it is such a cleansing feeling, and for anyone who has done this, whether it has been your desk, or your closet, or your car or your purse, you know how liberating that feels, right? Just like that small change, how much freedom it gives you, how much mental anxiety is just released immediately. So, it is a wonderful exercise and I love that you say that you do it routinely, you know, just to kind of keep that as a maintenance practice will just help you just have that freedom all the time.

HW:     Yeah, and also being conscious of when we print things, obviously for the environment because that it is very important, but also for the issue of clutter. So, every time I print something you know I think about “do I really need to print this?” “can I keep it digital?” “Do I need it?” “How do I need it?” “How am I going to work with this information?” And I really don’t print things very often.

MP:     I agree. We have an association, the National Association of Professional Organisers here, and for some of our agendas and things, we email them out, we say print them if you want to bring it, or just bring your laptop and look at it there. You know, so it’s the same thing, it is like, do I really want to be printing this? Do I have to make 20 copies? Can people just look at it on their phones, or you know, with their laptops, you know, there are just other ways, so.

HW:     So what other kinds of things do you recommend that entrepreneurs declutter from their office? What other kinds of stuff can we get rid of to reduce those distractions?

MP:     Well, I just think that there is a simpler way of actually keeping things that you need by you, so this isn’t so much, I guess it is an elimination technique but also so, I call this “the arms reach test”. So, everything that you need should be within your arms reach. So, you know those desks like typical more corporate offices that are an L shape?

HW:     Yeah

MP:     So, that is kind of the best way to organise your desk, so if you are at home and you don’t have that type of desk, you can just put a filing cabinet to make your L right. So, to your left or the right you have a small little filing cabinet and on that you might be able to put your printer and in that filing cabinet should store or house any type of files that you need daily, or maybe even weekly. And anything else that you don’t need access to all the time, don’t even put it there, it’s again it is just distracting you, it is just going to cause clutter. There are papers that we need to save for a longer period of time, put them somewhere else, go put them in the closet, in a long-term filing cabinet somewhere else, so that you are really are, your space is just for what you need all the time, so right in front of you you have a laptop, on your left or right you have your files, maybe a printer and you know, that’s it. Like it shouldn’t be tons of stuff everywhere, but at the same time because it is all at arms-reach you will do the things you need to do at that time. You will be more likely to file that paper when you need to, you will be more likely to, you know, just put the things away when you have that space organised right within your arms reach. It is so funny just how much we will procrastinate just because we have to get up off of our seat, and go walk to another room, or walk three feet away, you know, we will just typically sit, and so, because you know you are really into your work, and you are focussed, and, so, just the more you can create that workflow in your space so things are just fluid, they are very fluid and within your arms reach, it is really going to help you be productive and focussed as well.

HW:     That is a great tip. I have a filing cabinet just to the left of my desk, and that’s where I keep all my client notes and it has got like three drawers in it for office supplies that I use, I have got the files. All I have to do is just reach my arm over there to get the stuff out, I actually just touched it as I said that, [laughing]. But it is so easy, it is all right there.

MP:     Yeah you are a pro at that you are doing it exactly right though, but then again it is focussing on “what do I really need?” So, in terms of eliminating, there is probably a lot of other stuff you will see and think “I don’t really need that all the time, this can go somewhere else.”

HW:     Yeah. I am looking at a ton of stuff on my desk that I could move somewhere else, actually. I’m like kind of organised, but also could make some adjustments, so yeah, I think that is a great, great, tip. I am looking at stuff now that I can definitely move, I have got one of those desks that has kind of a wall to the back of it, it is a corner desk. So, it has got kind of shelves going up which of course means that you can put stuff on the shelves, or not. But I have got definitely more stuff here on this desk, than I need, so yeah, fantastic tip. So, what other kinds of things can entrepreneurs do to stay organised and eliminate those distractions? I know we have also talked about digital things. So how can you keep your computer files organised and free of distractions?

MP:     Well, there are actually some apps that you can… I know for many people social media is a big issue, kind of the Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn and often we are using them for our business, so we have them up on our laptop on a tab. So there are apps (and I promise that I will get those to you for your show notes) that you can block the social media, or you can put different parameters on it, so, for instance, you can say “I only want to access to my social media for up to one hour a day” so really it won’t let you get in there longer than that, which really helps you, you know, put a parameter on it, not get lost in there, and might help you budget your time: “ok, I am only going to go in for 15 minutes in the morning; 15 minutes in the afternoon; 15 minutes in the evening”, or something like that. There are other ones that are similar and have different types of parameters, maybe it is just, it will only let you bring it up at certain times and you can put those and schedule those times and it allows you to have access. So, I think that idea of being able to put that away, until you know you have earned it almost, is a really great way to help us stay focussed. But on the same note as the tabs being up, close all your other tabs just shut them down, while you are working on a specific task or project. I don’t know about you, but I have very little willpower, so if I am doing some work, if I am working on a client project, or a product, or whatever I am doing and I am thinking, I am just thinking and my eyes are wondering and I see my Facebook tab up, or I see my email tab up, I just go click on it, because I just have a moment of, you know, looking around thinking, so that becomes another distraction. So, you just turn that off.

HW:     That is such a fantastic tip. I get so overwhelmed if I have too many tabs open on my browser, I have to just have what I am working on, and then close all the other ones. And, if I have got a couple of things open, that I am researching and I might need them for later, I like copy and paste the URLs into an email and I boomerang the email to come back to me later, because I can’t handle having too many tabs open. [Laughing].

MP:     That is great; that’s exactly the same stuff that I do. Yeah.

HW:     And when I am working on like writing a book for example, I close the email tab on my browser, I do not even let it sit there, I just close it, because I cannot get distracted on that, because I am working on a specific project, so, if I have got something specific that I am working on, email just goes away.

MP:     Yes, and I think that another thing that is really great is setting expectations for other people, either if you have a small team working with you, or for your clients, about when you are going to get back to them during the day. So, what I mean by that is, if you are going to block out your morning, as we talked about earlier “I am going to block out one or two hours every morning to work on that priority, that’s going to move my business forward”, well, you can actually set, you know, your email responder to say something like “hi, I check my emails between 12 and 5” or after 12 o’clock every day, or after 11am; I will get back to you as soon as I can before the end of the day”. Or, similarly, on your voicemail: “I check my voicemails at noon, you will always hear back from me at 5pm”. You know, there are ways to just set those expectations and have better communication, and that is really helpful because I think there is always that fear of, “someone’s going to email me, someone’s going to call me, and I can’t get back to them right away, they are going to think that I am not giving them my attention”. But, when you have set that expectation, it is very different, it takes away all that stress off of you, and for the client, for the customer and for the team member, it is like “oh, ok, I understand, she is going to get back to me in another hour or two”. It is really, again, a very simple technique, just like shutting off those tabs, but it helps you stay focussed and takes that anxiety off of you.

HW:     Yes, and it stops you being a slave to your emails, which in my first business I was. And I made a conscious decision not to be like that in this business, so, yeah. It helped me really put boundaries on my emails and how often I check them, and how I respond to them, but I think it is fantastic to let people know what your kind of schedule is for working in your auto-responder, that’s great. So, Mridu can you tell us a little bit about how other women entrepreneurs can work with you? What are the different options?

MP:     Absolutely, if you have an area in your business that leaves you feeling overwhelmed, right? You feel out of control, it feels either inefficient, or disorganised, that’s what I can help with. So, I help with being more productive, managing your priorities, taking control of those ever-growing to-do lists, putting processes in place, aligning your work-day to your goals, and getting structure into your teams, your marketing initiatives. So, if things aren’t just flowing well, or aren’t fluid, you can work with me for a “rent my brain” session. And what that is a two-hour session where we will pinpoint a problem, we will brainstorm and we will come up with a solution. So, we will strategise it, but we will also actually do the work on the call as well.

HW:     Oh wow, that’s great.

MP:     So, for example, I just started working with a consultant for a skin care company and because she is wearing a 100 hats, she has a hard time with client follow-up. She is feeling very overwhelmed, her emails are always piling up, and so we outlined a strategy, but then we actually made it happen. Like, we downloaded a software they recommended, we outlined the steps of, you know, what would that process look like, we created the process, we created the checklist, we detailed a template for her to follow-up with everyone. We captured the client information on a spreadsheet, and got everything on her calendar. So, we actually, you know, it is a high-level strategy but it also, it is really important to me, to feel that people are walking away with actually something to show, you know, with a plan. You know, I just work with so many coaches that sometimes I feel like we have all these ideas, and we brainstorm, but then, I get really excited and I get off and then I am a little bit paralysed again, because there is so much to do. So, I really try to do it in a way that we come up with ideas, let’s brainstorm it, and then let’s start making some of this happen and start creating this workflow, or structure, or process, or whatever it may be.

HW:     That’s so fantastic, because that way they can’t even get tripped up on “oh, she told me to do this, but it is not working, or I don’t know how”, you get it done during the call.

MP:     Yeah, yeah, so that’s one of my favourite ways to work with clients. I also always offer a free consultation, just to make sure we are a good fit before committing to the rent my brain session.

HW:     Great, and you have a couple of downloadable free offerings, as well on your website, don’t you?

MP:     I do, I have one for your audience at http://lifeisorganized.com/holly and it is the 21 powerful productivity hacks for your business, so I would love if you know, if your audience, if that’s something that sounds they could use then come on over to that link.

HW:     Great; definitely sounds interesting, I am going to check it out as well. I love being organised and I get so stressed out by disorganisation, so clutter, stuff that’s out of place, it really, I can tell that it really affects me, so, looking forward to downloading that, and getting some more tips. So, Mridu, do you have any women business mentors, or are there any women entrepreneurs who inspire you or perhaps other organisational women?

MP:     Yeah, I am sure this has been mentioned many times, but, the way I even got into feeling confident with growing my business and coaching consulting was Marie Forleo, who I know is an icon but she really, I just love her style, and her sincerity, and just her ability to be herself and be multi-passionate. And then my business coach, is Vasavi Kumar, [HW: oh yeah] who I can’t say enough about, who I absolutely love, and a lot of actually, and the style I was talking about was a lot of what I do with her so, again, I think she has just helped me with that. Having had many coaches over time, she is someone who has really brought that idea to light for me; of actually doing the work with your client. And then, of course, I have to shout out to my fellow sisters and colleagues at NAPO which is a National Association of Professional Organisers, so not particularly one person, but just all the amazing entrepreneurial women that I have met through there, and the collaboration we have with that group and the productivity experts and just the love and support for one another. So, it is a great place to find out more information you know if you are ever interested in organising.

HW:     Ooh I love that. Ok, so, Mridu, where can people find you online?

MP:     So, my website is, http://lifeisorganized.com/pro (p r o) and I am really active on Facebook: lifeisorganized.

HW:     Excellent, great, so we will take a look for you online and connect. So, thank you so much for joining us today, you have fantastic tips on reducing distractions, I love that. So, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us.

MP:     Thank you so much for having me, this was awesome.

HW:     Great, and thank you for listening and remember to visit https://www.hollyworton.com/163/ for the show notes on this episode. Thank you.