Starting a business? Here’s advice from 17hats members.

You have inspiration. You have motivation. But to start a business, you need organization.

If you’ve made the mental commitment to start a business, you may be experiencing a lot of emotions at once. Pride. Excitement. Maybe a little uncertainty – even fear.

It can be overwhelming. You may be frozen in place. There’s so much to tackle, what should I do first? Create a website? Order business cards?

Here’s the answer: Get organized.

The first order of business.

Nothing can take the place of getting organized early on. It’s vital that you create a strong foundation, whether your new business is a side hustle or if you’re all in with a full-time gig.

At 17hats, we’ve helped thousands of solopreneurs launch their new businesses. So we know from experience to say:

Step … away … from … the … spiral … notebook.

Or the sticky notes. Or whatever messy, paper-based stand-in you’re using to get by instead of getting organized.

Failing to get organized – the right way – will only invite mistakes and doom your endeavor to chaos before you know it.

17hats is here to help.

Organization is at the heart of our integrated business platform. It’s one of the ways that 17hats makes business easier.

Consider our Contacts feature, just as one example. When you create a contact in 17hats, you’re creating the digital equivalent of a hanging file folder. Now you have one place, at your fingertips, where you can access:

• Client info, including their address
• Project details
• Payment information
• Phone logs
• Emails
• Contracts

Time for a client’s next payment? An invoice reminder already went out for you. Want to write a personal thank you note at the end of a project? (Always a good idea.) The client’s mailing address is there, waiting for you.

And contacts don’t have to be restricted to clients. For instance, if you’re a wedding planner, you might keep tabs on good florists. (Trust us, brides will ask you for a referral.) Make wedding venues into contacts, too. You’ll want to be on a first-name basis with the wedding coordinators there, so you can be their recommendation when asked for a planner !

Own your business. Don’t let it own you.

Rest assured, Contacts is just one of many 17hats features that will keep you organized. And once you’re organized, you can move on to creating systems – ways of automating recurring, time-sponging tasks.

That way, you can run your business without running yourself ragged.

It all starts with one simple step: Are you ready to get organized today?