Organize Your Research Clutter

If information is the currency of the 21st Century, in what account are you stashing your valuable data? As entrepreneurs and teleworkers - often considered "data brokers" because of the information peddling we perform - our efficiency stems from how quickly we can access the stats, names and numbers we collect.

Online magazines, e-mail and Web sites. Clippings from newspapers and periodicals. Sound bites from television or radio news segments. A snippet here and a scratched out stat there, it's enough to clutter your desk - and mind.

Control that chaos. I used to categorize my Rolodexes. Now, I create a digital research or stat file. It began by creating a file in which to post all of my assorted research information and statistics for use in my writing and business development. How? I opened a blank Word document and named it "Research." I created categories, like Home Office, Telework, Technology, The Web, Computing - the list goes on, but the common thread is that they're all pertinent to what I write and speak on. (The same can be done with "tables" in a Word file, or by using Excel).

Now, any time I discover a new stat, I open that Research doc. If the info comes to me by email or the Web, I copy and paste it into the file - making sure to include the source e-mail address or link. If it's something I scribbled down from a radio or TV show, I type that info under the appropriate heading.

If I learn of a new source for future information - like a researcher, analyst or company that follows business trends, I drop that information into a table, again organized by topic or category.

It becomes habitual - with the file growing more rich and valuable with each bit of information. And that's value we can deliver to our clients and employers - making us more valuable in return.

Jeff Zbar, the ChiefHomeOfficer.com, is a speaker, writer and expert on alternative officing. He is the author of Teleworking & Telecommuting: Strategies for Remote Workers and Their Managers (Made E-Z Products, 2002); Safe@Home: Seven Keys to Home Office Security (FirstPublish 2001) and Your Profitable Home Business (on CD-ROM from Made E-Z Products). Visit his Web site to subscribe to Home Office Success Stories, his free electronic magazine on home business and teleworking.