Use A Tickler File To Organize Your Food Truck Business

We all know the life of a food truck owner is one that is filled with repetitive daily tasks, but do you miss some of those tasks that you plan too far in advance? Create a tickler file for your projects.

Use A Tickler File To Organize Your Food Truck Business

A tickler file traditionally contains 43 divisions – one for each of the 31 days of a month (labeled 1 – 31), and 12 for the months of the year. (Never mind that some months have fewer days!)

You take your projects (such as deep cleaning the hood filters in your truck’s kitchen) and put a written reminder about them in the file according to when they are due. For the current month, a project goes into the number files for whatever day it is due. When a project is due in other months, it goes in one of the month files.

Each day, you pull out the contents of the folder marked for that day’s date and work on the stuff in it. Then once the next month rolls around, you transfer that month’s reminders into the days, and repeat.

To ensure success

Make a commitment to review your mail and other papers the minute they exit your mailbox. Don’t allow anymore litter to enter your life.

Shred and toss ALL unsolicited ads immediately. This type of information is the culprit for the majority of your clutter. You are not going to miss out on the deal of a lifetime. Unless you will use it, toss it.

Open all financial statements and bills. Toss ALL the advertisements inside, for the same reason as stated above. Keep only the statement and the return envelope. Unless you pay on-line, then it is safe to toss the envelope too.

If you receive a magazine or catalog, it’s time to toss the old issue. This could be tough for some of you. So, maybe just start by tossing the catalogs. You can probably find what you want online.

The Bottom Line

Don’t force yourself to adopt a completely new set of organizational habits, consider experimenting with this tool and then integrate it with your existing habits. There is no single right way to keep your food truck business organized. However, there are plenty of tips and tricks you can incorporate to optimize productivity and keep you organized.

Do you use a tickler file to organize your food truck office? Do you have any additional tips? You can share them below or on social media. Facebook | Twitter

By Richard Myrick|2019-01-15T09:15:34-05:00Jan 15, 2019|Business|

About the Author: Richard Myrick

Richard Myrick is an architect by degree (Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, Michigan) who began his career in real estate development and architectural planning. In September of 2010 he created Mobile Cuisine Magazine to fill an information void he found when he began researching how to start a mobile hotdog cart in Chicago. Richard found that there was no central repository of mobile street food information anywhere on the internet, and with that, the idea for MCM was born. Richard also wrote the "Running a Food Truck for Dummies" available in bookstores everywhere and Amazon. You can reach out to Richard by email at: [email protected].