If you’re a business owner, you’ll know that procrastination is part and parcel of the game. Whether social media is your downfall or you’re just overdue for a good old-fashioned spring clean, we could all use a few nifty tips to pep up our productivity levels. We asked three small-business owners, Samee Lapham, Ginger Taylor and Maggie May Moshe, to share their tips and tricks for making the most of your time in the workspace to avoid dilly-dallying your days away.GINGER TAYLOR, ARTIST

Give us a little tour of your workspace. I would probably benefit from having fewer knick-knacks so my studio would look less like a child’s bedroom, but I’m far too sentimental for that. In every nook and cranny there are sentimental objects, like gifts from friends and family, and toys from my childhood. 

How do you like to set up your space? Half of the studio is for my two employees, who run my online platforms. There’s also enough space for my own zone for painting and designing, photographing merch and my own admin. I have a small computer desk and two standing art desks that I can paint from.What’s a typical day of work for Ginger Taylor? It varies every single day, which fits with my ADHD brain perfectly. Some days I’m working on digital design for clients, designing merch and doing basic admin, and other days I’m making a huge mess creating physical art. 

I can get overwhelmed with all the little parts of my job, so I have white boards sectioned into specific lists. I do a ‘brain dump’ list which works about 50 per cent of the time – I am a classic ADHD person who likes to do the fun things first and leave the boring bits to the last minute.

Do you have any tools or gadgets that help you do your work? Yes, lots!

Picking up my phone or sitting at my computer to google something or play music can open a WORLD of distractions for me, so it helps to just ask my Google Home to do those things while I have a paint brush in hand.

I set 20-minute slots for myself with an egg timer. I have a magnetic one that audibly clicks the seconds. This could drive some people a bit nuts, but I like it because it reminds me I have a task to do. 

When I get to my studio, I grab my tool belt and leave it on all day. Most of the time it’s carrying my phone, water bottle, lip balm, pencils, brushes and anything else I need when I’m working so I don’t put things down and lose them.I have tried all sorts of calendars, diaries, planners… you name it! Nothing seems to work better than my annual calendar. I am a visual person, so I need everything colour coded and physically in front of me to be able to pay attention to it.

I got some see-through drawers from Office Works and they help me remember where all my art supplies are so I don’t get distracted by what I find along the way.

My job heavily involves social media, so I need my setup to be fine-tuned so I don’t waste time. I have never found a tripod that works for me perfectly, so I created a monster version to suit my needs. It’s made up of about six different tripods and ring lights I have bought over the years.

I do not know how I ran my small business without my employees, George and Carmelle. I had been telling my therapist I was overwhelmed and stressed, and she suggested I delegate my work. I have never looked back. I now tell anyone who is running a small business that they need to delegate, delegate, DELEGATE!What hacks do you have for keeping your workspace organised? I clean my desk every night when I wrap up work so it’s clear and ready for me to start the next day with zero stress. I created a tool wall and my computer desk is teeny-tiny, which I prefer because when I had a bigger desk, I ended up using it as a dumping ground.Snap by Marie Luise

MAGGIE MAY MOSHE, CO-OWNER OF THINK THORNBURY

Give us a little tour of your workspace. My workspace is the room above my shop, Think Thornbury. I’m a small-business owner, artist and mother so having a flexible workspace is essential. 

I recently finished adding curtains to the warehouse shelves that store all my tools, books, paperwork and miscellaneous items. Everything hides behind the curtains now – it’s made a huge change to the space and I love it. 

I have a small creative ‘altar’ with some of my favourite items on it: the protea from my wedding bouquet and some dried hydrangeas from my son’s naming ceremony. I have a large table on wheels which is perfect for moving around and working on. There are also large wooden trestle tables that can be pulled out for creative workshops. The space is very flexible!

How do you like to set up your workspace? Over the years my workspace has extended from my bedroom to the dining room in various sharehouses. Opening my own shop finally allowed me to have a beautiful light-filled room that I can keep calm and tidy. I think it’s worth noting that this has taken me years and a lot of dedication to be able to financially facilitate. It didn’t happen overnight and was a long-term goal for me. 

I know my brain functions best in a tidy workspace. If I’m working on my art, I will lay all my tools out and select my colours. If I’m working on my laptop I will open my notebook, diary and have a pen in my hand for taking notes as I need to. Snap by Marie Luise

What is a typical day of work for Maggie May? There is no typical day. Part of the joy of building and running Think Thornbury is that there is flexibility between my family life and working life. My husband is a musician and we run this business together. There is a structure within our working life, and it takes a lot of communication and respect for all the needs of Think Thornbury, family life and our respective creative pursuits. Our day/week/month depends on how busy the shop is, what gigs or recording sessions Joshua has and other commitments.

Something that can stop plans in our tracks is if our son needs us. Childcare bugs can happen at any moment! We always knew this would be something we’d have to consider as creatively employed people who were also dreaming of having a family. 

Do you have any tools or gadgets that help you do your work? My laptop is essential, and digital systems allow us to keep organised and run Think Thornbury as smoothly as possible: everything is in the cloud; Think Thornbury runs through Lightspeed and Shopify; the roster is on Deputy; we manage our systems and team through Monday.com; and all our accounting is done through Xero.

My artistic practice is completely analog. All I need is a sharp pair of scissors, yarn and cotton, needles, thread, rope and uninterrupted time in my studio.Snap by Marie Luise

What hacks do you have for keeping your workspace organised? It has taken me years to build systems that keep my physical and digital workspace organised. I am always working on improving them so I can make art and run Think Thornbury while also supporting myself to have good mental health. 

There is a romantic idea that artists and creative people work in beautiful chaos. All credit to the romance, but I thrive in a space that is organised. It means I can switch between running creative workshops, doing admin or working on my own projects.

Clean as you go. Take notes, you will forget things. Are you avoiding a simple job? Just do it. Don’t half-do jobs and leave them for later, they will come back to haunt you. 

Buy storage boxes for your materials and reorganise them regularly. I use clear ones because I can easily see what’s in them.

Build support structures in digital workspaces where you need them. If you’re distracted by your phone, put it on ‘do not disturb’ or use a digital lock on apps. If invoicing or bookkeeping isn’t your area of expertise, ask for help and dedicate some time to figuring out how you will improve here. 

My favourite part of leaving a clean and organised workspace is knowing I have given myself the very best opportunity to be creative when I return.SAMEE LAPHAM, PHOTOGRAPHER

Give us a little tour of your workspace. My workspace is in the bigger bedroom of the two in my humble abode in Sydney’s Inner West.

I love having this dedicated room as it allows me to house all my creativity and what inspires me – from treasured books to ceramics and artworks – and I can dabble in my own artistic experiments. It is also the first time I've been in a rental home with enough space for my art easel, which was gifted to me by my parents as a teen and is very sentimental.

How do you set up your workspace? It took me a bit of time to decide on the layout of this space as I am not a minimalist, despite my best efforts.

I have two desks (one is a dining table I found on eBay!) that I flit between, depending on my mood. I often use the window-facing desk for admin, video calls, content creation and any analog-type work. It gets the best natural light! My other desk is positioned on the wall opposite and is a standing desk, and I use it most when editing photos, meaning I have to shut all the blinds and hunker down.

What is a typical day of work for Samee? I don’t think I have a typical day! If I have a shoot booked, I will have packed everything I need the night before and will most likely be off early to the location. This could be anywhere from someone else’s home studio to take photos of their process and portraits, to a venue like ICC Sydney to capture a large-scale multi-day event.  

If I’m not on a shoot, I’m at home tinkering away on admin, emails, or content ideation. I might have a video call with a client, or I am in my editing cave for days on end – and I’m always hanging with my cat bestie Hazel. Do you have any tools or gadgets that help you set up your work for productivity? I’m not a big tech head, but who doesn’t love efficiency and making things easier for themselves? For me, it’s more about being attuned to the times of day I’m most productive and aligning those with specific tasks to ensure I get things done. This is something I’ve learnt about myself over many years of freelancing.

A tool I can’t live without is my paper diary, and I am a huuuge list-maker. I love my Rhodia notepads – pen to paper all the way!

What hacks do you have for keeping your workspace organised? This makes me giggle because my workspace tends to shift and change naturally. It is organised chaos!

I keep all my photography gear in a big drawer that I can open and see everything all at once, and I always have my camera batteries plugged in, so I’m ready for any last-minute moments. Having a ‘home’ for everything helps me the most – even if it gets a bit out of control (let's face it, it happens!), I still know where things are.

Considering my work as a photographer is more about keeping the digital space organised, I love that my workspace can be about what brings me joy and oscillates with my other creative interests too.