Creating a calendar on laptop

A well-organized calendar is a must-have for solopreneurs. Calendars keep you organized, on time, and moving when life and business get busy. However, the last thing you want to be doing is constantly reorganizing, rearranging, and redoing your calendars. It’s frustrating and just a waste of your valuable time. While your calendar is such a vital part of your small business, it needs to simply work for you, not against you.  

Here at 17hats, we recommend separating out your one massive calendar into a few smaller ones. Why, you may ask? Because having small calendars that group events by type will allow you to manage your time better, and it will eliminate the confusion of one big mess of a calendar. 

Inside 17hats you can import your Google Calendar or create 17hats Calendars. Either way, you can add the added touch of color coding to both – I highly recommend it. 

Five Calendar Recommendations to Manage Your Business Better.

  1. Booked Calendar – This calendar is for all your booked client’s project dates, phone calls, meetings, and other events. By having all your booked clients on one calendar, you will easily be able to see exactly when and where you need to be.

    If you are a Google Calendar fan, I recommend making this calendar in Google first and then importing it into 17hats. If, not a Google user, create it in 17hats.
  2. Lead Calendar – Like your booked calendar, this calendar will hold all your lead events such as phone calls and consultations. I personally like to have this calendar color-coded as red. 

    If you use Online Scheduling or Lead Capture Forms, you can automatically place lead projects on the lead calendar through those settings. 

  3. To-Do Calendar – This is your go-to calendar for all your to-dos. I would suggest even having this calendar as your default calendar for quickly adding to-dos in your Project and To-Do Management area of 17hats.

    If you use Workflows (if you don’t, you should because they are the secret sauce of 17hats), I recommend this calendar be your calendar of choice when creating your Workflow. 

    Having to-dos on a separate calendar will help calendar efficiency when cross-checking calendars in 17hats Online Scheduling. So by setting it up now, you are setting yourself up for success later.

  4. Life Calendar – Simply put, this holds your life events. Doctors appointments, family events, date nights … basically all the things you do outside of your business.

    By keeping your life events inside 17hats you will ensure you don’t double book or even overbook yourself. And again, when using 17hats Online Scheduling, you will be able to cross-check the calendar to ensure clients do not book over your life events.

  5. To Be Confirmed Calendar – Do you use 17hats Online Scheduling? If so, this calendar might be for you. If you want to use the to-be confirm feature, it is nice to have those events waiting to be on their own calendar. Then you can easily see and make decisions.

While these 5 are my favorite, a few others to consider would be a Marketing Calendar, Follow Up Calendar, Networking Calendar, and Maintenance Calendar. Therefore, you can manage your marketing prep and coffee dates, and not forget your monthly bookkeeping and overall cleanup. 

Advanced Calendar Tip Using 17hats Workflows

One of my favorite 17hats time-saving features is the Workflow action item that automatically changes your calendar for you. Let’s talk this through. 

A lead comes in from a Lead Capture Form and is automatically put on your Lead Calendar. You send the lead an invoice, and as soon as the lead pays the invoice (or signs a contract, or completes a quote), the project is moved over to your booked calendar.

By having this advanced automation, your calendars will stay up-to-date for you, ensuring you never miss a beat. 

Here’s an example of having a 17hats Workflow automatically update your calendar.

You will notice in the Workflow settings below, that the lead is sent the quote, once the quote is completed there is a to-do step to counter-sign the contract, and then 17hats automatically updates Tags and changes the calendar. It’s that easy!

Not a Google Calendar User? 

No worries, you can share your 17hats Calendar with other providers such as Apple Calendars. Just navigate to your calendar, select the calendar you wish to share, and click “Share Calendar Link”. Then add that link as a “New Calendar Subscription” in your calendar platform. 

An organized calendar is a foundational step of your solopreneur business and maintaining its efficiency is crucial for your success. By implementing the recommended calendars – Booked, Lead, To-Do, Life, and To Be Confirmed – will bring order to your schedule, ensuring you stay on top of your business and personal commitments without the chaos of a cluttered calendar.

And, you will be able to utilize other 17hats features like Online Scheduling and Workflows more efficiently.

A well-organized calendar isn’t just a tool; it’s your ally in your business journey. Invest the time now to set up your calendars strategically, and you’ll reap the benefits of a smoother, more efficient business journey. 

Cheers to staying organized and making the most out of every moment in your solopreneur adventure!

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Are you a small business owner looking for a better way to manage your business? 17hats is the #1 choice of solopreneurs for organization and automation to save time and sanity. Try 17hats for 7 days free.

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