Time Management by the Very Time-Challenged

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He even has been able to handle property tax disputes in-house.

In June, Hamilton hired an office manager, who culls his e-mail clutter. She handles what she can, then passes on items that require Hamilton's attention. "Letting go of stuff is somewhat difficult," he says, "but it frees up time for me to look at growing the companies." To help do that, the Denver-based entrepreneur uses Tuesdays to hold a two-hour meeting with his BareRose team, immediately followed by a two-hour session with his Red Canyon employees.

Technology helps, too. Hamilton uses rentmanager.com to manage his properties under BareRose Real Estate. At Red Canyon he has started using software from salesforce.com to manage the recruitment process and customer relationships.

His new hires and the right technology let Hamilton enjoy the variety he craves in business. "From my perspective, that's what I have to have," he says.

TAKE FOUR STEPS

Paul Holstein knows how to organize, and has built a $13.1 million, 45-employee company based on exactly that. He founded CableOrganizer.com, which sells products that help get rid of cord clutter in homes and offices. Then Holstein went further, launching LifeOrganizers.com, an informational Web site that offers tips for organizing every aspect of life. One year after launching CableOrganizer.com he enlisted a partner to start Ultimatewasher.com, now a $3.1 million, five-employee pressure washer retailer in Jupiter, Fla. "Ultimatewasher is located 100 miles away, but I speak to my partner there at least once a day," Holstein says. "I also send my accounting department up there once a month, and I visit several times a year."

Thanks to his passion for organization, you'll find only two things on Holstein's desk at any given time: the immediate task that he is working on and his to-do list. For everything else, he has a four-step system. "I'll either handle it, file it, delegate it, or throw it away," says the Fort Lauderdale-based entrepreneur. He learned about the four-step system from a consultant while he was working for another company, and insists that he tables absolutely nothing for later.

Holstein also relies on his iPhone to help organize his businesses. He especially likes an app called Evernote, which lets him easily store important lists, such as credit-card numbers and frequent-flier numbers. Another favorite is Toodledo, which lets him create to-do lists with alerts that remind him of items at specific dates and times. Every other month, Holstein brings in a professional organizer, who tackles paperwork that doesn't require any particular action (such as bank statements) but needs to be filed.

Just last year, Holstein decided to start yet another business, RezClick.com, a software company that provides schools with online reservation systems for classes. RezClick is based in Fort Lauderdale and so far has two employees and about $50,000 in revenues. With a third company, information overload could easily loom large, but Holstein says focusing intently on one item at a time, via his four-step system, ensures that everything will be taken care of at the end of the day. "That's the only way I can sleep at night," he says.

Return to the BWSmallBiz December 2009/January 2010 Table of Contents

Teri Evans is a freelance writer based in New York.