Office Manager Tips

Working in offices over the years, I have developed strategies, analogies, and general tips that have recently been formulated in a series of tweets which will be explored through this blog series.

Here are some quick links to the blog posts:

Office Manager Tip: Office Work is to Housework as …

Office Manager Tip: I approach my office work with the same strategy as cleaning the house.

Office Manager Tip: Process Your Laundry, I mean Invoices

Office Manager Tip: Processing A/P invoices is like laundry: a constant flow, if not attended to piles up and gets you in trouble.

Office Manager Tip: Who Am I Again?

Office Manager: A/P, collections, receptionist, janitor, webmaster, marketing, filing clerk, copy machine coordinator, writer, H/R.

Office Manager Tip: The Dishes are Piling Up

Office Manager Tip: Filing is like doing the dishes; do it in regular loads, or run out of countertop space.

Office Manager Tip: Keep Everyone’s Hands Full

Office Manager Tip: Always prioritize your work in such a way that you keep others’ hands full.

Office Manager Tip: Fabulous

Office Manager Tip: When answering “How are you?” say “Fabulous!” You can’t say it without smiling, thus raising the pitch of your voice.

Office Manager Tip: Leave With a Clean Desk

Office Manager Tip: Just as I clean the kitchen and load the dishwasher before bed, my office is neat and orderly at 5:00pm.

Office Manager Tip:  Where’s My Gold Star?

Office work is remarkably similar to housework in its necessity and praiseworthiness. No nobel peace prize for unloading the dishwasher.

Office Manager Tip:  The Inside Counts

Office Manager Tip: Just like you stick a fork in a cake to see if it’s done, review scanned documents for legibility before sending.

Space Invaders:  An Office Manager Tip Post

The Hard Return and Tab exist for a reason. Don’t use the spacebar to format documents.

Multi-Tasking or Multi-Time  Wasting:  An Office Manager Tip

Office Manager Tip: Multi-tasking is a necessity but the efficiency of it is an urban legend.

Organized for the Holidays – North Pole Style: An Office Manager Tip

Office Manager Tip: Santa has elves; you do not. Plan ahead to make the most of your time during “the Season.”

The Office Ninja’s Sword: Proofreading

Yes, proofreading is important even for office ninjas like me. Case in point, in my rush to email an announcement, I neglected to properly proofread the text.

On Hold? Don’t Leave Them Hanging: An Office Manager Tip

Call on hold? Don’t just leave them hanging. Check back and see how they’re doing. It’s called “hospitality.”

What are your tips?

4 thoughts on “Office Manager Tips

  1. Fatima

    Hello Bridget!

    Thank you soooooooo much for sharing these tips! I am about to become the office manager of a construction company and I am absolutely sure these tips will prove useful!
    In my new job, there are going to be many deadlines to keep up with so I was wondering what type of (free) sofware I could use to manage these deadlines (I was thinking of something with a calender system)? And where can I get spreadsheets to process invoices and other office related matters?I am looking forward to getting your reply, keep up with the good work and the lovely writing!

    Take care.

    Fatima.

    Reply
  2. Kelli Williamson

    Fatima,

    I would HIGHLY recommend Quickbooks by Intuit. Although it would require a small up-front investment of both time and money, you & your business will REAP benefits for years to come. I am the office manager for a painting contractor here in So. Ca. & could not IMAGINE working efficiently without Quickbooks. http://quickbooks.intuit.com/

    Also, I agree with Bridget and use GMAIL extensively. CALENDAR to track jobs, deadlines and other important date related things (ie. customer and vendor birthdays). DOCUMENTS for the spreadsheet functionality and “share-ability” of these documents.

    Best Wishes for a successful business venture.

    Kelli
    kelli.k.williamson@gmail.com

    Reply

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