Organization

[Ninjakreborn]

management is something I have worked on awhile.  I studied a lot of things related to client interaction, planning, management, and things to help my business run smoother.
I use active collab, tested my timeframe with and without, I work a lot more efficiently with it managing my projects.
I use google calendars (I recall the advice about over-micromanagement), so I only use it, for big meetings, calls, appointments, just big things, that cannot afford to be missed.
That organized my general life, and tripled my work production, while doubling my personal production, finally letting me get things prioritized and done right, a big improvement, and a lot better.

Now I was noticing I was having trouble keeping up with incoming projects, and always following up, so I came up with a small system, it helps a lot, but it's still a little difficult, I was going to explain what I do, and see if someone can offer improvements or something that would work better.
I get a lot of projects in my email that are clients, asking me questions, or just wanting to start talking about a project, some I email don't respond for awhile, or require a couple of followups.  Some clients want to work, but they take some time to get in contact with a second time, and take awhile to organize there projects and get them started.  So I started breaking it down, when I first get an email, I email them back and put them in a folder in my email called followup.  later on (couple of days), I email them back, and put there email in second follow up, a couple of more days, I email them again, third followup, then one more time about 3-4 days later, then delete there email address.
Now, for general people, whether it's initial contact, first followup, second follup, or third followup, I put them into a folder called clients.  This is after I have personally talked to them on the phone, or via email where they responded and expressed interest, normally I deliver a quote, and I am suppose to get back to them via phone, or email after a specific amount of time.  This time, I put there folder in clients, and in a notepad document, giving client information, initial quote I gave, and contact information.  When we finally work over all details tehy go from that list, to something I call a project profile. Which is a folder on my computer called profiles, then there is a folder named the project name (website name, or client name), and it has any project specific information (images specs, instructions, client contact info), pretty much any technical or non-technical information related to the client. After the project it goes into a folder called "past projects or hold".  Then from here, if I am sure I never work with them again, I remove there profile, and email to save room, and keep me from getting confused, if I am going to work with them again later, I remove there email address, but keep everything under hold in projects, so if I ever need to dig up the information again for reference, or for the project I can.  This system works sound, but it still gets a little confusing at times, any advice?

[redbullmarky]

thanks for the life story, but what exactly are you after? its quite simple, if you keep it that way. client calls. you decide "can i do this or not and can i fit it in?". if yes-> do it. if not->"sorry client, i cannot do it until 2 weeks time as i've just booked one in. is that ok with you?"
it's not rocket science, so best not to over-complicate it. if this is the way you are with just the planning side of things, god knows what you're like when you're actually working...