Mastering Your Email and Inbox
As a small business owner you're probably doing a ton of things yourself in your business - some you need to do but some also that maybe you shouldn't be doing, right? In talking with hundreds of entrepreneurs every month I find that the majority of them (you/us) struggle with our email inboxes...they're overflowing right?
You're either:
1. Overwhelmed with email and your inbox
2. Feeling like you're tied to it or it follows you around (on your smart phone)
3. Confused on how to organize it better - the flow, the emails you need, the spam, etc.
4. Ignoring it all together
5. Wondering how you can ever take a vacation (or a couple days off) and NOT check in
6. Or you've got it down and thoroughly organized like a well-oiled machine
Well, if you're NOT in the situation of the very last point then you may be interested to know a few things you can do to better manage your emails and inbox. After all, you're wasting hours a month deleting and sorting through emails you don't even need to show up in the first place.
The following are 4 tips I suggest to better manage your emails:
1.Sort and organize your emails - Use the rules option in your mailbox feature to send specific emails into their own folders in your inbox to start.
o I send all the emails from my team (various VAs) to one folder so I can hammer out responses all at one time every hour or couple hours or so as it fits my time schedule.
o I send all my email newsletters (the ones I do want to keep) to a newsletter folder in my inbox to read when I have time. Guess what? Rarely do I ever have time nor do I miss them!
o I send all emails from particular people like my own coach, my mastermind or other group I may be a part of to their own respective folders to keep them organized and my main inbox less cluttered.
2. Unsubscribe from everything you really don't need - Ask yourself, do you need it?
o Like the Staples and Office Depot emails I was getting....I know when I need office supplies where I'm going to go to buy them, I don't need reminders of where to go and I certainly don't need to be tempted with special sales to buy stuff when I don't need anything.
o Like the email newsletters you get that scream sales at you or that don't have relevant content anymore for you; if you don't want the person to know you're unsubscribing them have them automatically sent to your trash folder.
3. Create template emails - For emails or information you send regularly, keep a folder handy with the most recent emails in it for easy reference and copying to save time on future responses.
o I receive applications for complimentary strategy sessions with me from people every week and I send pretty much the same thing to each person to schedule their session, all I have to do is copy an old email, enter in updated dates/times available and press send.
o I also send out
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