By Chris Gardner.

Sometimes, when I hop on my soap box and go on and on about how essential an editorial calendar is to every blog – no matter the size or topic – I begin with this photo:

This is my office when I was still working a full-time, non-blogging job. I was lucky enough to have a dedicated space to work on my blog posts, original DIY and craft projects, but my work looked like my desk.

I’d publish whenever I could, on evenings and weekends. I’d publish as many things as I could at once, this way I could make sure to get them up while I had the time, blasting off all kinds of new content in a row. And I’d work on things as soon as I could, hopefully getting them published while their information was still relevant, seasonal, and contextually appropriate. (Read: before the actual holiday or even the celebration).

This is my office now. And I share this not because I think having a clean desk is essential to blogging success, but because I do think that setting yourself up to work consistently and efficiently is the best way to help grow your blog and your readership.

By Chris Gardner. Photography by Karina Perez.

In my personal life, I’m not much of a calendar person. When starting a new school year each year I’d buy a brand new day planner, full of clean white sheets and all kinds of boxes ready to be filled in. Then I’d use it for a week and then leave it in my bag. Or, during the last sixty seconds of a session, I’d dutifully copy the info from the course syllabus into my planer, and then never actually look at it when it came time for homework.

And, as you’ve probably guessed, I’m not much of a list maker either. Sure, I’ll create a grocery list every third trip to the market, and I’ll brainstorm ideas for a specific project. But as far as a master list with the stuff I’m working on, painstakingly synced between my paper notebook and that account on my computer with the accompanying app? Yeah right! It just becomes an end in itself – I’ll make a list of to-dos, not to remember them, but just so I can check them off my list.

By Helena Swyter. Photography by Johnny Miller.

Let’s pretend April 15th has come and gone. Your taxes are filed and the annual stress is starting to subside. Before you put all your tax documents away, take a second to evaluate how this year went. What can you do now to make April 2014 less stressful?

1) Keep your bookkeeping up to date

If you are self-employed, it’s very important to keep accurate books and records detailing the income and expenses related to your business. It’s easy to let the bookkeeping slide when you are busy with projects, but the scramble to get everything entered and organized by April 15th can be avoided by keeping your system up to date throughout the year.

Take the time to find an accounting software option you like so you will be more eager to keep up with this task. Bookkeeping will also be easier if you have a separate bank account dedicated to your business. This will keep you from mingling business and personal expenses and keep your books cleaner.

2) Start a filing system

Throughout the year, you will want to keep track of all receipts for large purchases related to your business. This can either be done in a file folder or by scanning your receipts and storing them on your computer.

By Sara Urquhart. Photography by Annakelle.

This post is a part of our blogging series for sponsors. See the rest of the series right here.

First, you must know what your goal for the contest or giveaway is—Twitter followers, Facebook likes, or simple brand exposure—and then find a blogger who has the ability to help you achieve that goal. Find out more about discovering the right blogger here.

Once you’ve established your desired outcome and talked about compensation, work with the blogger to establish a time frame and rules. She may have a standard protocol for giveaways on her blog, and that may be agreeable to you. If you’re working with several different bloggers, establishing one set of rules that everyone follows may be in your best interest. If you’re including cross-promotion with another blogger, blog promotion plus additional promotion on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, you can offer one generous price for the entire project, or break down each item by individual price.