San
Diego Professional Organizer Image Consultant Advice
Welcome to our advice section. Every week I answer new questions submitted
by readers on Organizing, Image, Fashion and Event Planning.
You can read my "AddSPACE To Your Life!" column every week
in San Diego's “The Coast News" or read the archived columns
below.
E-mail your questions to advice@addspacetoyourlife.com
Holiday
Cards / Business Card Storage
12.02.05
Dear
Kathi,
I am beginning to plan for the holidays and already feel outnumbered
by the mountain of tasks that lie ahead in the next month. My largest
and most dreaded task every year is to mail out holiday cards. I hate
doing this and typically wait until the last possible moment. What
can I do to make this task more enjoyable?
Joy (although I don’t feel joyous today) Leucadia
Joy,
Do you keep a master list from year to year, or do you try to recreate
it every year? If you don’t already have a master list, create
one this year. Collect all of the envelopes and cards you receive
this year into one space and compile a master list from these after
the holidays subside. With your newfound list, you will have the option
to send a St. Patrick’s Day or other special occasion card.
Every year after the holidays, update your list with new addresses
and returned cards.
Consider mailing Thanksgiving cards. Thanksgiving cards are warmly
received and also give you an opportunity to send your greetings before
the holiday rush begins. Many card manufacturers now offer a mailing
service and will even address, label and mail your cards for you!
Another alternative is to create a customized holiday card on your
computer. You can include a recent family photo or write a special
greeting that can be reproduced on demand.
Have you ever yet received a holiday card online? There are many cute
holiday cards on the web that you can send via email. Check out holidaycards.com.
Many services are free and provide the opportunity to write a unique
message. At audiocard.com you can send a custom family photo and even
choose a song to go with an animated greeting. All you need to complete
this task is a running email list of your friends and family. Your
card will receive special attention and won’t be lost among
the other cards received by your friends.
Remember you are never obligated to send holiday cards. If you feel
too hectic this year, go easy on yourself and take a year off.
Dear
Kathi,
What do you recommend for organizing business cards? I have
filled up a card box and divided them by organization but am now out
of room! I like the idea of the plastic sleeve, but not sure
I want to go that route.
Debbie, Encinitas
Debbie,
Plastic sleeves are great if you use a three ring binder with pre-made
alphabetical tabs or categorical tabs that you create yourself.
With the alphabetical tabs, when you fill up a page containing a popular
letter like “s” (“s” always seems to fill
first!), you can simply add a new plastic sleeve and keep filling.
The hazard of the alphabetical plastic sleeve is that if you forget
the company name, you have to go through the entire binder.
Card boxes are good until you run out of room, at which point you
are faced with deciding whether to subdivide or begin anew.
If you do create a new box or binder, what will differentiate one
from the other and how will you remember who is where two months from
now?
The ultimate plan of attack is to maintain a contact management list
(such as using Outlook, Act or Entourage) on your computer. These
programs store all of your contact information as data so that you
have numerous options and fields to retrieve your information from.
A contact management program combined with a business card scanner
will take you light years into the future. Business card scanners
work quickly by saving your data into fields. Some even save the business
card logo and image! It takes a while to learn the technology, but
in the long term for helping your business grow, this will be one
of the smartest investments of your time.
.
Please
submit your questions to:
advice@addspacetoyourlife.com
.
San Diego Professional Organizer
Site
Map
