Hasta La Ideas

A recent article in USA Today explores organization and how it can help keep expenses low in these tough economic times:

We have all heard about R.O.I. — Return on Investment. It’s a useful way to analyze whether you are receiving sufficient bang for your buck for your efforts.

But have you ever considered your R.O.O. — your Return on Organization?

Look, we all know that main two pain points for most small businesses are not enough time and not enough money. This is even more true in light of the current economic environment. But what if I told you there was a simple, affordable way to get more of both? After all, as we all know, time is money.

I have been doing some work with Office Depot recently in order to help small business owners understand how, with just a few smart changes, they can increase their R.O.O., and how that can have a significant impact on the bottom line. In fact, it is estimated that increased R.O.O. can yield up to an extra two hours of productive time a week and up to an additional 6% of revenue.

How? Well, think about it. It costs five times more to create a new customer than it does to keep a current one. The whole idea is that with some extra time you can take better care of your best customers. No, 20 minutes a day may not seem like much, but what if you used those 20 minutes a day to their maximum effectiveness? You could check in with customers, make some sales calls, send out some “checking-in” e-mails … that sort of thing.

His later suggestions for how to specifically be more organized at work aren’t too in-depth, but I think he makes a very good point in this first section of the article. Being efficient with your time can create more opportunities for profits. The implied flip-side, of course, is that being disorganized can cost you your job/client/opportunity.

I also like the phrase “R.O.O. — your Return on Organization.” I may have to use that in the future.

What do you think? Is there such as thing as R.O.O.? I’m interested in reading your opinions in the comments.

The Tweed Run: 150 stylish cyclists take to the streets of London. Photos here and here, via Perpeduum.

Bloody brilliant!

In the past, I have written about wallet alternatives that help keep pocket clutter under control. I can attest to growing tired of my traditional wallet and all of the clutter that used to accumulate in it. The more storage space I had in that fat wallet tended to be occupied by old receipts, photos I never looked at, or cards for which I had no use.

I wanted to add the Flipside Wallet to the list of wallet alternatives. It is easy to use and has a cool design. View the helpful video to watch the Flipside Wallet in action. It holds up to eight credit cards/ID cards, up to twenty cash bills, and features a slot for pictures or whatever else you would like to fit in there.

The Flipside also shields your credit cars from RFID readers that identity thieves have been known to use, and helps to prevent your cards from being demagnetized.

Coup de coeur pour le style de Dmitry Maximov, un artiste et illustrateur russe en provenance de Moscou extrêmement doué pour les photo-manipulations. Un mélange subtile et des dessins mystérieux, mis en scène dans des décors irréels. Galerie complète disponible dans la suite.

Des personnages ronds plein de bonheur et de tristesse. Le tout dans un monde rempli de poésies.

Portfolio de Dmitry Maximov