Some days being a business owner can totally test my sanity. You know, the days when the same client calls eight times because he can’t find something, or contractors are pushing deadlines way too close. It’s on these days that sanity saving shortcuts are a necessity. (Read more)

1. sut t oncreat ivest udios.com http://suttoncreativestudios.com/sanity-saving-shortcuts/
Kimberly Sutton May 22, 2014
Sanity Saving Shortcuts
Some days being a business owner can totally test my sanity. You know, the days when the same client calls
eight times because he can’t f ind something, or contractors are pushing deadlines way too close. It’s on these
days that sanity saving shortcuts are a necessity.
You may think that shortcuts are cheating or the wrong way to do things – I disagree, depending on the
situation. For example, the f ollowing are BAD ways to use shortcuts:
Turning up the heat: If you enjoy cooking or baking you know that turning
up the temperature to cook something f aster doesn’t always produce
edible results. I’ve burnt more than a couple servings of scrambled eggs by
using a higher temperature in order to get breakf ast on the table f aster.
Cliff Notes: Another example of a non-optimal shortcut is Clif f Notes. I
tried Clif f Notes in place of reading the assigned book exactly ONCE in
high school. That one time had disastrous results when it came time f or the
end-of -book test because I had missed out on all the nuances of the
novel.
Small business owners need sanity saving shortcuts to make their business run smoother. Here are examples
of GOOD shortcuts:
Standard Contract/Proposal: I have standard contract and proposal documents set up and ready to go.
When I’m invited to submit a proposal f or a project I copy and paste my standard text, and then spend only
minimal time customizing the text f or the specif ic project.
The same goes f or my client and contractor agreements. When I’m hired as a consultant or hire a contractor, I
need only edit a minimum number of details bef ore the agreement is ready to go!
Project Management Programs: Whether you or your clients are set up
on Basecamp, TeamworkPM or Podio, project management programs
make it possible to keep all project related tasks in one place.
Sutton Creative Studios uses Podio to manage both our internal and
external work. For our internal, or “Team Awesome” work, we broke down
our workspace into individual projects. The projects each have their own
task lists, calendars and project boards, and are accessible by invited team
members. No matter what project a task is assigned to, however, I can
always ref er to my master To-Do list to see what tasks I have coming due.
An especially great f eature of Podio is that you can link a project or
workspace or specif ic Google docs, which ensures any team member will be
working with the most updated version of a f ile.
Google Docs: As just mentioned, Google Docs are a source f or a f ew more sanity saving shortcuts. We use
Google spreadsheets to track our social media, I use it to track my time spent on projects (in conjunction with
Freshbooks) and we also use Google Docs to keep all our latest intake f orms in one place.

2. Freshbooks: Freshbooks is a great accounting/bookkeeping sof tware that we actually switched over to f rom
Quickbooks. Each of our clients has been set up in the system, and our whole team uses it to track time spent
on a project. In addition, we are able to send invoices to our clients, track business expenses, and track the
amount of time our contractors are spending on projects.
Are you looking f or sanity saving shortcuts f or your business? Sutton Creative Studios’ Virtual Assistance
team is always happy to help our clients establish more ef f icient ways of running their business. Contact us
today to discuss your business’ needs!
*****
Kim Sutton is a f ounding partner of Sutton Creative Studios, an agency specializing
in social media management, graphic design and virtual assistance. She is a
graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she earned her
Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Architecture. In her f ree-time, Kim cherishes the time
she gets to spend with her husband, Dave (her business partner), and three children.
She also enjoys reading, knitting and writing. You are invited to f ollow Sutton
Creative Studios by f ollowing our blog, subscribing to our newsletter, or
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