Organizing email for efficiency
Staying on the topic of email from last week, here’s a question from a fellow subscriber…
Curious, at some point, would you be willing to share about the email filtering system you have in place?
Yes, please!
My email doesn’t stress me out and I don’t have a need for a VA to manage it (which is great, because then I’d just be managing a VA…I’d rather manage my own email in that case).
Here are the 3 major factors that keep my email stress-free:
I only have TEN clients - I can’t imagine what doing 500 tax returns every year would get you (yikes.)
Dedicated time for email - in my time blocking, every work day starts with 30-45 minutes dedicated to going through email. If someone emails me after that time block, I likely won’t get back to them until the next day’s email time block. (It’s worth noting that this is more or less illegal in corporate…but I’m not there anymore ;o) so I’ve decided that this is how I do email now. No one has ever died or fired me over this.)
Automatic email filters (lots of them) - this is where the money’s at
I’ve set up a bunch of email filters in Gmail / Google Workspace to auto-filter all of my clients into individual folders (one folder for each client), as well as newsletters or mailing lists into another folder.
I have more folders than that, but the auto-filters are mainly pointing to those 11 folders (10 clients + 1 newsletter folder).
Here’s what it looks like, collapsed down:
Then, when I get to the email time block on my calendar, I triage (in this order):
Clients
Inbox (usually very random emails that I can knockout, file away, delete or unsubscribe to)
Newsletters (I save these for when I have time to truly read and enjoy them. And If I’m not enjoying them, it’s time to unsubscribe)
Here’s how you create a filter in Gmail / Google Workspace:
If you check that last box, the filter will sweep everything in your inbox that currently meets that criteria. (Also a shoutout to Jonathan Stark as the example here. He’s not an accountant, but has a ton of worthwhile resources on pricing. The accounting version of him is Geraldine Carter.)
The structure of the filters allow me to get through most of my email everyday in under 30 minutes. And if I only make it through my client folders one day, I let the rest go until the next day.
Again, no one has ever died or fired me for treating my email this week. This system results in me always responding in 1 (sometimes 2) business days.
Talk soon,
Erica
Behind-the-scenes in my business this week:
Normal “Week 2 / 3” of close for me this week. I also had one of my top tier clients end our contract at the end of this month, so I’m working through the disengagement process (yay for having an SOP for everything).
I’m having a lot of feels about the loss though (frustrated to get cut after I’ve been red-flagging / they’ve been ignoring cashflow issues for months; grateful we have a personal financial backstop built up that the lost revenue doesn’t panic me; excited to figure out what I’ll backfill the vacancy with—perhaps not the same type of client?). So many thoughts.
School is back in session next week. Can I get an Amen?
Found this little friend on my morning walk while trying to clear #allthethoughts and it was a nice reminder that we don’t have to go fast to get to where we’re going.
Go your own speed, even if it’s not as fast as everyone else.
(I brought her home for our 9yo to see and then immediately brought her back to where I found her—just not in the middle of the road this time. Also…that’s not poop, that’s gravel.)
Money back guarantee, if you get in there and don’t see the value. No questions asked.
More details in the link above.