Nikki Parkinson started her fashion and style blog, Styling You back in 2008 when blogging and websites had just kicked off in Australia. Since then Styling You has grown into a thriving business, with Nikki even taking the mantle of 2015 Queensland micro business of the year.
A seriously good Instagrammer, (@stylingyou has 54.7k followers ) Nikki shares tidbits of her day-to-day life and business – with regular mentions of her efficient soloist organisation strategies; from preparing her week’s worth of outfits on a Sunday night, to regular ‘planning and goal setting’ days.
“I have way too many methods and because there’s always a potential new way to be organised, I still haven’t found the sweet spot between one way to do it. I swing between new ways and old school methods,” Nikki told me.
Keen to understand exactly how her system works, I asked Nikki to share some of her organisational soloist secrets.
I’m a late bloomer in the exercise department but most mornings I’ll be going for a run, or doing an HIT or Pilates class between 5-5:45am. Then I’m home again and getting my youngest off to school. During that time I’ve also been checking on social media, and if I have a blog post for that day, checking that it’s gone live. After school drop off, I’m usually at home and at my desk around 8:30am, with a coffee.
I have a small team of contractors working for me so I use Asana to communicate and assign task. It’s the core of team communication and I can also assign myself projects. This is very handy. I can sync Asana to my iCal which I use all the time on my phone. And this comes everywhere with me, which means I don’t have to carry a diary and a big bag around with me. Although I do have to remind people that I’m not checking social media but simply updating my calendar!
I bought a ‘month to view’ wall calendar from Typo and that allows me to look at a glance to see what’s going on. And because I ‘m a very visual person this helps me a lot. It also allows me to see my time and think, “Oh yes, you really shouldn’t tackle any more work right now!.” .
In addition I use a weekly planner, that’s more like a to-do list. Jasmine Dowling created the these, they’re called the Essential Notepad and it allows you to tear-off lists as you go – and that’s where I write my daily list.
I’ve also got a 12 month wall calendar to put in the ‘big’ things like holidays and sponsorship peak periods.
It would have to be the Asana and iCal integration because it allows me to communicate with contractors and because anyone can log on and see where things are at, you don’t have to repeat communication which is a great time saver.
I encourage everyone who follows me on Instagram to do this and have launched a new online program that teaches you how. Even if you do work for yourself. Planning your outfits really frames the week and can help boost your confidence. It gives you a wardrobe for the working week that is comfortable and takes all that decision making out of the rest of the week, so it saves you time.
And the more you do it, it allows you to get a back catalogue of work outfits. One trick I use is to take a selfie of yourself, you don’t have to share it on social media, you can just keep it in your phone. And that means every time you’re stuck you can look back and see what worked for you.
Big picture stuff for me is monthly and yearly goals. I have been reading Blissed by Marnie McDermott and it covers all aspects of your life, not just work. I have been working through it and it’s very good. It does take a lot of self-reflection and effort and I can see the value in doing that.
Even if you’re not a natural planner, it helps you break things down things into management chunks. My accountant does a 90 day plan with me. She’s a legend.
If you don’t have a business advisor like me, find a mentor or someone in a similar industry to you and at your growth level who you can sit down with every quarter and have accountability meetings.
Wise advice indeed! Thanks for sharing 🙂
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