Where is the top of your desk…

Happy 2012 to all my CTMH friends!  I know I've been MIA for a while longer than I had planned.  My "bucket list" holiday trip to Hawaii was everything I dreamed of and much more!  I am super excited that I get to go back again in a few short weeks with my daughter on the CTMH cruise.  One thing about having your own business, like we do with CTMH is that you have to pay to play.  What I mean by that is there is so much to catch up on when you leave your business.  But it is also the ultimate luxury to be able to schedule your work to fit your life.


BUSINESS BIT:
With that said, it leads me to a timely topic for the start of a new year.  Besides setting your goals and action plans for the coming year, another great thing is to start with a clean work space and a bit of organization.  One of the elements of my business that has always been a struggle is how to organize my accounting so I'm ready for tax time.  For years I had a gal who did my bookkeeping using Quickbooks.  A couple of years ago, she found a full time job and had to leave me :o(  I tried to learn how to use Quickbooks but it was a struggle and I messed it all up.  So, last year, I gave up and went back to my old method of a huge pile of receipts, bills and orders that I need to go through.  I'm sure by now, you're either nodding your head in understanding, laughing at me or wondering how I could be that disorganized!  As one of my 2012 goals, I am hear by telling you that I'm going to implement the following method to organize my financial files.  It comes from my very favorite website. The Success Factory. 

GET ORGANIZED! Where is the top of your desk – can you see it? Those of you who are fans of Flylady, know that she teaches skills to keeping your home organized but in bite-sized chunks beginning with a shiny kitchen sink. For a home-based business person, the “sink” is the top of your desk. 
Use small baskets or clear containers to group and organize CD’s, pens, and tablets of paper. File away bills and receipts for 2011. Put your 2011 files in a banker’s box with a lid so that you will be ready to prepare your taxes. Establish new file folders for 2012 using the same categories as you did for 2011.
If you need ideas for filing categories for this year – consider the following.
*One file folder for each month January – December (use these to file your party and sales receipts
* Alphabetically have file folders for business receipts in the following categories:
            Advertising & Promotion
            Auto Expense/Mileage
            Bank Statements/Charges
            Business Gifts
            Child Care Expense
            Computer/Cable
            Continuing Education
            Conventions/Seminars
            Credit Card Statements
            Home Office Expense
            Meals and Entertainment
            Office Supplies/Printing
            Postage/Shipping
            Telephone
            Travel Expenses
            Miscellaneous Receipts

Take a quick trip to the office supply store if you haven’t already. Make sure you have a 2012 calendar, a new spiral notebook to use as a 2012 phone log, a fresh phone message pad, file folders, labels and flash drive or CDs for backing up your computer files.

Leave me a comment and share how you keep your work space and files organized.

WELCOMES AND SHOUT OUTS:
The year has gotten off to an incredible start!  Our extended team has grown by 20 new team members since December 1st!  I'd like to give a warm welcome to the newest members and congratulations to the leaders for growing your teams.  January is such a great time to recruit.  Many have a need for extra money to pay off holiday bills and it's the start of a new catalog so the kit is full of all new products. 

DLLevel	Consultant Name	Date Signed Up	State/Province	Upline Name
Level 1	Linda Sower	01/05/2012	WA	Naomi Smith
Level 2	Jackelyn Johnson	01/12/2012	MO	Christina Eisenhour
Level 2	Judy Mason	01/14/2012	MD	Linda Caler
Level 2	Kim Hall	01/04/2012	TX	Adina Godin
Level 2	Linda Pantalone	12/01/2011	OR	Tina Lovell
Level 2	Linda Van Ness	01/02/2012	KS	Linda Caler
Level 2	Sarah Baker	01/02/2012	TX	Adina Godin
Level 2	Susan Lennon	01/07/2012	WA	Lisa Sargent
Level 2	Tisha Grindley	01/06/2012	WA	Lisa Combs
Level 3	Amy Coursey	01/06/2012	TX	Noreen Petty
Level 3	Kelly Herrera	01/11/2012	AR	Patricia Ervin
Level 3	Laura Johnston	01/08/2012	TX	Noreen Petty
Level 3	Lisa Florian	01/01/2012	TX	Noreen Petty
Level 3	Roberta Gould	12/02/2011	WA	Rebecca Cameron
Level 3	Sarah Bernardo	01/04/2012	TX	Stephanie Turlich
Level 3	Valerie Hudson	01/11/2012	PA	Debbi Harden-Young
Level 4	Jennifer Willcox	01/13/2012		Dr. Phil Wilhelm
Level 4	Louise Golicic	01/11/2012	FL	Venia Joray
Level 4	Maggie Lemke	01/08/2012	TX	Linda Norman
Level 4	Tarrah Vaupel	12/21/2011	IL	Dr. Phil Wilhelm

 TEAM MEETING NEWS:
For those who live in Washington and Oregon, I hold regular team meetings that are open to my 1-4th downline.  Here is the schedule dates for 2012:

Oregon Team Meeting   Salem, OR – February 18^th   
Washington Team Meeting -Kent, WA –March 31^st 
Oregon Team Meeting   Salem, OR – July 28^th   
Washington Team Meeting -Kent, WA – August 18^th
Oregon Team Meeting   Salem, OR – November 10th  
Washington Team Meeting -Kent, WA – December 1^st 

CREATIVE CORNER:
I have a 2 page retire list document for February 2012.  If you'd like a copy, email me and I'll send it to you.

I spent the past week, organizing my office and purging all of the retired product from my creative space.  I am trying to figure out a system to make it quicker and easier to do this.  I have decided to put a small label on my stamp sets and paper packets when I get them that tells me when they were new to the catalog.  I put  a SS2012 label on all my newest sets and papers.  It's interesting that I have so few stamp sets left.  It feels good and a bit sad to let go of some old favorites.

Below is a photo of my January Card Class artwork.  The Rock the Block LOVE Card is by Vicki Wizniuk with a tiny tweak by me.   

I am SO excited to start using all the newest stamps, papers and accessories that are in the Spring/Summer Idea book!

  Leave me a comment and share what your favorite paper packet is.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.
Author Unknown