President's message for March 2010--Time to Organize!

MARCH PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE FROM UPFA

TAKE A LOOK AT THE SCHEDULE

By: Tracy Barlow, AIFD, UPFA President

The Window Box

1066 E. Gentile Street

Layton, UT 84041

801.546.3549

Thewindowbox.com

thewindowboxstaff@yahoo.com

I hope that Valentine’s was a successful and profitable holiday for you. With 2010 in full swing I am hearing more shops saying that it is looking like an encouraging year ahead. As many of us approached this year’s Valentine’s with a great deal of thought and planning to help secure a strong bottom line. I think it’s important to maintain that same focus for the rest of the year. This same kind of focus can apply to the day to day operations. We all have too much to do and it seems like there is never enough time in the day to get it all done. Just as you approach holiday ordering and operations with a plan and much thought, do that on a smaller scale for your day to day work. There have been 4 steps that have been helpful to me staying organized and productive.

Plan your day the night before. Start by listing the things that you didn’t get done that day. Then list out the other tasks that you need to accomplish the next day. Don’t worry about putting them in any kind of order or priority at this time. Your goal for doing this is to get a list of the important things you need to get done. I recommend this planning session should only last from 10-20 minutes. Remember to “write your plan and work your plan”.

Now, Prioritize your list. Depending on your role in the shop, priorities vary. I still do a lot of the designs for my shop and manage some of the business aspects. So my first priority is the sales of flowers, second the production of flowers. So the first part of my day is spent at the design table or meeting with new clients. It is best to do the hard things first. If you continue to avoid them they will mount up and eventually you’ll end up with a full day of all the things you don’t want to do. Come to work early; you never hear that successful shops start work at the crack of noon. Tell your staff when you are available and when you are working your plan. Take time to instruct your staff what they can be doing while you are occupied. This will allow you accomplish the tasks that will keep your shop profitable and efficient.

Group similar activities together. When you do this it’s much easier to multi-task. It’s helpful for me to make the office off limits to myself during the morning and accomplish the design requirements of the day. Being in the workroom I can see more of the needs there and can organize staff to be efficient for when I am out. My time in the office, like everyone’s, is for my correspondence, then tasks that relate to the finances of the business. After I know what my money situation is, it makes it simple to work on flower orders and other tasks pertaining to the distribution of those funds.

Delegate, delegate, delegate. Don’t do the tasks in your shop that your capable staff is trained to do. Regardless of how hard you try, you can’t do everything. If you teach your staff how things are to be done, let them do it and then evaluate with them. You can delegate with confidence, and you’ll see your lists getting done more and more efficiently.