Help me. I need to organise personal files. Plus multiple businesses. 1 business sells its own ebooks. 2nd business makes ebooks for other people

10-19 Concepts 13 Multiple projects
1

Very simple.

I have three categories of files in my life I need to sort out in my Windows computer before I can progress any further, with anything at all.

  • Personal documents
  • Media files
  • Business documents
  • All files related to my Ecommerce products.

I have multiple businesses.

Business 1) ebook business, selling it’s own ebooks.

Product 1) ebookX
Product 2) ebookY
Product 3) ebookZ

Business 2) printing business, creating ebooks for other clients

Client 1) Client A
Product 1) ebookXx
Product 2) ebookYy
Product 3) ebookZz

Client 2) Client B
Product 1) ebookXxx
Product 2) ebookYyy
Product 3) ebookZzz

Client 3) Client C
Product 1) ebookXxxx
Product 2) ebookYyyy
Product 3) ebookZzzz

Each client has their own ebooks they create themselves.

(We need to store those books somewhere, organise them and make sure we know which books belong to which clients.)

I don’t know where to begin with this.

Each ebook contains the following data which also needs to be organised:

  • Instructions documents
  • Mockups and product images
  • The ebook file itself

SKU system:

I am already crafting an SKU system for some ebooks, which we create ourselves. Based on a BMW parts numbering system.

But I am not 100% sure, how these should be organised in Windows folders, with all the relevant files etc.

Example systems I have seen:

However I still don’t have a grasp on the high level organisation, or what a good solid, foundation might look like.

My personal folders, have followed something which resembles this:

I also will have a virtual assistant team. Where we create different projects. So I need a file / folder system which helps me organise everything with this kind of mentality or methodology.

Anyone out there able to help me?

I’m willing to pay you, if you can spend time with me, going through it.

It shouldn’t take too long to do.

2

Give me at most 3 weeks – it has to be finished before I go on holiday in early August – and you can review the PDF that I’m putting together.

It’ll be a complete end-to-end guide to building a Johnny.Decimal system. I’m expecting it to be somewhere between 20 and 30 pages.

Until then, start at the beginning.

  1. Decide what the boundary of each of your projects is. The stuff at the top of 13.02 might help. Be really clear what each project contains and what it does not.
    a. Your projects together make up your system.
    b. Do one project at a time to avoid confusion. They do not overlap; they may have similarities.
  2. For each project, follow the outline at 14.01.
    a. Write down everything that you do in this project.
    b. Take your time: if you try to do this in an hour the result will not be great.
    c. Group those things in to areas.
    d. Group within areas to categories.
  3. Use Post-It notes or a mind map for this.
  4. Before you implement, test yourself. Ask questions. Check you can find your things.
3

Whilst searching through my old pc files, I stumbled across a bunch of folders where I had already created something quite neat.

The folders basically have the categories which could slot into a Johnny system fine.

I just need to fine tune it / tweak it.
So I have general folders right now:

image

But then I want to make folders by staff department / project type.

https://coschedule.com/blog/marketing-file-folder-structure-organizational-system-template

Examples:

Strategy:

  • Content Strategy
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Channel-Specific Strategies

Logos / Brand Images:

  • Logos
  • Stock Images
  • Office Images

My team members should consist of these departments:

General Virtual Assistant (GVA)
Product Research and Creation
Web developer
Graphic designer
SEO / Internet Marketing VA
Content writer
App developer
Video editor
Customer Support

Basically, I can create top level folders (departments) which should be able to house everything related to it.

Then re-create the same structure in a task management software.
Then assign staff members to a specific department.
All related documents are kept in each department.

Step 1) Create admin and general department folders.
Step 2) Create product folders to store products.

On my B2B business

Step 1) Create admin and general department folders.
Step 2) Create a folder, titled Client XYZ.
Step 3) Create product folders to store Client XYZ products, inside Client XYZ folder.

1 Like