Five Email Organization Tips using Spark Email App

by Michele | Planning-Organization-Productivity

Five Email Organization Tips using Spark Email App

As an online business email is a cornerstone to communication, it’s time to clear the clutter, speed through your inbox and respond to what’s important with these five email organization tips using Spark Email App.

You could say that I’m a tech enthusiast, I’m constantly checking out new software apps. This can be a good thing and a bad thing y’all.

Spark has been my go-to email app for going on a year, I do not see myself switching. It has a number of time-saving features that allow you to respond to what’s important, so you can spend time on revenue-generating tasks.

In addition, Spark Email App allows me to connect all my email accounts into one application. It works fantastic with Google, Exchange, iCloud, Yahoo, Outlook – are you picking up what I’m laying down yet?

Oh plus, it syncs across all my devices. Friend, I have a lot of devices. 🙂

Ready, set, go

Here are the five email organization tips using Spark Email App that will get you clearing the clutter and speeding through your inbox.

Tip 1 is Smart Inbox

If you’ve followed Miss Task for any amount of time, I’ve mentioned once or twice that I sort my inbox before I even begin responding or doing the work. This lets me get all the clutter out of the way.

What is the Smart Inbox? Are you familiar with Gmail’s categories that are the different tabs? Smart Inbox divide your inbox into different sections or cards as they are referred too in the Spark preferences. Here is a great image from Spark’s website to give you a visual.

When sorting through you messages you can pin them for quick and easy reference. Pinning important emails keeps them top of mine so you can respond to what’s important.

Spark does some of the heavy liftings when sorting your inbox as it’s smart enough to know what type of emails are coming into your inbox. It will sort your emails into personal, newsletter and notification boxes to help you speed through your inbox.

Tip 2 is Templates AKA Canned Responses

If you’re not using templates or canned responses you need to be! What I love about these templates, is that you can add labels that stand out so you know where you need to add personal information; such as names, dates, items that you’re working on.

Templates can be set up for those emails responses that you send repeatedly to your clients.

Here is another fantastic visual from Spark’s website.

Tip 3 is Scheduling

Are you answering your client's message at 2 am? Well, snooze that response to send later. They have time you can pick from or customize in the preferences or you can select a specific date and time.

Another way this is handy? Perhaps you have a Podcast and you chat with a potential guest. They ask if you could follow up with them at a later date maybe three months down the road. Don’t add it to your to-do list, just get it done after the call and snooze the email to send in three months. That way the conversation is fresh in your mind while you draft the message. Pretty handy, dandy am I right?

Tip 4 is Quick Replies

I use this ALL THE TIME! I’ve set up quick replies to acknowledge receipt of work from my clients, a quick reply to let them know that the work has been completed. A simple Thank You and You’re Welcome with of course a cute emoji.

In short, quick replies allows you to set up predetermined short responses with your own personal twist.

Here is an example of Quick Replies for Spark Email App.

Five Email Organization Tips Using Spark Email App

Five Email Organization Tips using Spark Email App

Tip 5 Built-In Calendar

No need to jump to your calendar application to check your schedule or add a meeting. Spark has a built-in calendar that is associated with your email accounts.

For me instead of going into Zoom to schedule my calls I’ve added the Zoom integration to Spark and it can be set up right from the calendar. So much easier!

Quick Wrap Up

Smart Inbox this divides your inbox into sections or cards
Templates allow you to create saved responses that can be used over and over again instead of drafting a message from scratch.
Scheduling Message no more 2 am responses to your clients schedule them for delivery during working hours.
Quick Replies because sometimes you just want to say “Thank You!” with a mouse click.
Built-In Calendar to keep track of your calendar and schedule without having to open another application.

Ta-Da, a list of five email organization tips using Spark Email App!

Miss Task helps online businesses simplify project planning by breaking down big projects into small accomplishable daily tasks.

If you’d need help planning and organizing your Inbox schedule a planning project workshop today!

Book A Planning Project Workshop

Time Blocking For The Productivity Win

by Michele | Planning-Organization-Productivity

Time Blocking For The Productivity Win

You’re going a million miles per hour and looking back at your day you feel less than accomplished. Enter time blocking for the productivity win.

What would it feel like to look back at your day and feel productive and efficient? You’d feel like you won the day, just saying. One small step that you can do for the productivity win is time blocking.

No worries Friend if you’re not a planner. It’s a life skill that you can improve on I pinky swear, plus I’m guessing that you’ve got a little bit of a planner in you. You’re showing up for your meetings on time, am I right? Please say I’m right. Woo, you have me scared for a bit there.

When Are You In The Zone

What day or time do you feel your productivity superpower coming out? If you’re not sure, start to pay attention and simply jot down a little note of the day and time that you crushed your work.

This would be a good indication that you’re in the zone of productivity.

Let’s make this your first official time block. You’ll want to use this for a creative project that’s going on or one that you have been procrastinating on for a while.

What are things to time block

Days that you take client meetings
Days that you take discovery calls
Days that would be just working
Days to record your podcast, videos
Days to write your blogs

Time blocking goes hand in hand with batch creation. When you batch like work it will get you into the flow and keep you in the state of flow verse bouncing from one thing to the other without getting it completed from start to finish.

This can be done in many different ways, what’s is important is to find when you feel like a productivity rock star.

Often when I ask a new client about time blocking or batch work, most of the time I get a giggle because this isn’t something they are doing at all.

Start Small

If this whole time blocking and batching is new to you start small. Begin with 45 minutes of dedicated time that is scheduled 2-3 times a week and see how it goes.

What is something that you’re getting behind on, that you find you’re doing it at the last minute EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK.

My own example for the past

When client work began to fill my days, the creative work for my business went out of the window.

My blog and social media posts came to a halt. Blah, so all that time I’d spent building it up well y’all that don’t stay without being nurtured. Business lesson learned number 209.

Now my first two hours of my workday are dedicated to creating content in my business. I work in sprints of time, I set the timer for 25 minutes and pour out all the words. Somedays I’ll have it all done, others the struggle is real and I start over a bazillion times.

When I plan my day I know that client work does not begin until 9 am for me. Blocking this time and setting the bounty has also taught me to not say yes to all the thing and projects.

Which with my people pleasing, helpful personality it's important that I do not overbook myself. Business lesson learned number 388.

My time blocks are simple

Every weekday is content focused, while I enjoy my coffee.

Discovery Calls are the afternoons on Mondays and Tuesdays

Client Calls are scheduled only during their scheduled time block Monday – Wednesday. 98% of the time the block is consistently scheduled at the same time every day.

Planning workshops are on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. With the preferred day Wednesday.

Thursday is 100% focused on the work

Friday is blocked for my operations and financial. Financial Friday WooHoo. Client work is kept to a minimum.

This is a typical Wednesday

7-9: Content Creation
9-10: Client Project
10-11: Client Project
11-12: Client Project
12-1: Client Project
1-2: Project Management Work
2-3: Daily Work Out/Get Ready/Eat
3-4: Wrap Up the Day and Finish Anything Undone

Please send me your questions and comments, either here or a direct message on Instagram, find me here.

Daily Planner

Need help getting your day organized?

Get our daily planner printable and use this to time block and plan your day.

We send you a few tips and tricks along the way too.

Ready, Set…

Let's Do This

Quarterly Project Plan For Your Online Business

by Michele | Planning-Organization-Productivity, Online Business

Quarterly Project Plan for Your Online Business

This is a great time to begin your Quarterly Project Plan for your online business. I’m not talking about a huge extensive plan, just getting your projects laid out for the next quarter. What is the best use of your time and energy?

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A Little Side Note

If you’re planning a large launch to take place in the next quarter and you know all focus needs to go into this. This would be your only project for the quarter.

Let Me Guide You Through A Quarterly Project Plan…

Brainstorm an exhausted list of all the projects that you want to accomplish in the next three months. When I say exhausted, I mean braindump all the ideas and information from your head on the list. No project is too small or simple for the list. Write down everything that pops into your head, no judgment.

Get out your pen and paper and get the projects out on paper. I like to highlight, cross off and of course color code.

With your brainstorm list, figure out which projects are aligned with the vision and mission of your online business. Cross off any that is unaligned or feels heavy in your business.

Circle all the projects that are aligned with your online business and rank each of the tasks by importance or if they have an outside commitment. An example of an outside commitment to someone else to be a guest on their podcast. This will aid in where you need to start.

Now on to Quarterly Project Plan for your online business

From your list above what did you circle as projects to work on for the upcoming quarter?

If you have a project management system you can set this all up inside so you know what to do when. If not, a paper calendar or Bullet Journal will work just fine.

At the top, write out your online business mission, vision, and goals for the upcoming quarter. Under this break it into three columns. One for each project.

Looking at your list if you had to pick just one project what would it be?

Start with that one.

Under the Project Header

Now we are going to put in all the tasks that need to be completed by who and when. Will you need any resources, such as a new software application, to complete the task?

Not all the tasks must be completed by you. It’s very important that you stay in your lane and delegate out the tasks that can be done by someone else.