Asana for the Creative Entrepreneur
By LindaMae Ogilvie
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Asana for the Creative Entrepreneur
Creative business owners are some of my favourite people! As a designer and photographer, I understand all the hats we need to wear in order to run our business. As managers, we take care of the business, admin, financials, orders, and emails… as entrepreneurs, we learn new skills, generate ideas, network and make new connections… and then, we are artists. This is the side that we need to protect the most. This is the side that creates the money-making work, the brand that is uniquely one of a kind!
Sometimes juggling all the aspects of our business can cause stress and disorganization, creating an obstacle to our success. I get it because I have been there. However, believe me when I tell you there are ways to overcome these challenges and streamline your creative business. Today, I am speaking to the manager side of your creative business. Let’s take a look behind the scenes and see how using the Asana platform helps eliminate the worry and tension and let’s organize your workflow.
What is Asana?
Asana is a project management tool that can help you stay on top of your tasks, deadlines and projects. It offers a centralized platform where you can collaborate with team members, and manage workflows, such as digital marketing, commissions, business stats and more. This platform is used by businesses of all sizes from artist solopreneurs to large corporations, and it can be completely customized to suit your individual needs.
Stress is a big obstacle to staying creative and remaining productive. I discovered Asana a few years ago when I was struggling to balance two businesses, teaching online and supporting my family. As someone in the creative field, it’s important to find ways to manage challenges so you can focus on creating the products needed to grow your business. Read on for a few ways that Asana has helped me out of stress, complete overwhelm and disorganization.
1. Intentionally Plan Your Day:
With Asana, you can create a to-do list of all the tasks you need to complete, and then focus on them based on importance and deadline. When I open the program, I click on ‘My Tasks’ and view all of my projects on one screen in a calendar (my choice) or it can be changed to boards or list format. From this point, I can focus on what I need to accomplish today while keeping in mind the deadlines are coming up.
2. Collaboration:
Collaborating with others can be a great way to share the workload and get your team involved. Asana allows you to invite your team members to your projects, assign tasks to them and track their progress. Share the responsibility and reduce the stress of feeling like you are doing everything on your own. Although I don’t have a team at this point, I stay connected to my clients and am able to check in with them and answer questions as needed.
3. Customization:
Make Asana fit your business with custom templates, workflows, tags and integration with other apps. Create projects that are unique to your creative business including an inventory of your art pieces, drafts for your next book, sketches for your paintings and whatever else you need. This is the fun part where we can design customized templates in Asana specifically to create solutions for your business.
My favourite part of Asana is the organization! Keeping your creative business organized is crucial for success. It helps to stay on top of deadlines, track progress and identify areas for improvement. Here are some ways that Asana can help streamline your business.
1. Project Management:
Asana allows you to create projects for different aspects of your business, from administration to marketing to sales to production. Within each project, we can create tasks, set deadlines and track progress. This way you can see the overall view of your creative business and identify areas that need improvement or change.
2. Files for Inspiration:
Different creatives often have a lot of files, such as sketches, designs, photographs, drafts and contracts. Asana allows you to upload and store files within each project so that you can access them when you need them. If you have a work in progress, such as an intro to a new book, just upload it to Asana so it’s there when you need it. This will save you time and reduce the worry of searching for files helping you to stay organized.
3. Communication:
Staying connected with your team is essential for any successful business. Asana allows you to communicate with team members within each project, so you can discuss ideas, ask questions and provide feedback. With communication staying within each project, everyone will be on the same page and any misunderstandings will be avoided.
As a creative business owner, managing behind the scenes can sometimes become stressful and disorganized which in turn will affect your productivity and creativity. However in your business, with the help of Asana, you can manage tasks, collaborate with team members, customize the program to suit your needs, organize files and communicate effectively, while you can focus on creating your unique brand and growing your business.
I have been known to use Asana to organize some of my personal pursuits such as running a community garden, tracking my reading lists, and even birthdays! I have had the pleasure of working with many creative business owners to take back control of their businesses. They appreciate the individualized workflows we put in place to keep their business moving forward. Give Asana a try and see how it can transform your Creative Business!
If you enjoyed Asana for the Creative Entrepreneur, please visit LindaMae's website and download her free set-up guide to get started with Asana.
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