Free Basic Paint and Body Estimate Form from Formville from body shop estimate template , image source: www.formville.com
Every week brings files, emails, new jobs, and job lists. How much of this is different from the work you’ve done before? Odds are, maybe not much. A number of our daily tasks are variations on something we have done countless times before.
Don’t reinvent the wheel every single time you start something fresh. Instead, use templates–standardized files with formatting and text as starting point. Once you save a version of the template, simply add, remove, or change any info for that record, and you’ll have the new job done in a fraction of the time.
Templates work everywhere: in word processors, spreadsheets, project management programs, survey programs, and email. Here’s how to generate documents from a template — and how to use templates from your favorite programs –so it’s possible to get your ordinary tasks done quicker.
Templates take time to construct, and it’s easy to wonder if they’re worth the investment. The short answer: absolutely. Editing a template requires much less time than formatting some thing from scratch. It’s the difference between copying and pasting some text, or retyping it.
That is not the only benefit: Using a template means you are less likely to leave out crucial information, too. For example, if you need to send freelance writers a contributor agreement, changing a standard contract template (instead of composing a new contract each time) guarantees you won’t depart out that crucial clause regarding owning the content once you’ve paid for this.
Templates additionally guarantee consistency. Maybe you send regular project updates to investors or customers. Using a template, you understand the update will always have the formatting, design, and structure.
How to Produce Fantastic Templates
Not many templates are created equal–and a few things do not require a template. Listed below are a few guidelines to follow.
First, templates should be comprehensive. So err on the side of including instead of too small, it is more easy to delete info than add it in.
Imagine you’re developing a template of your resume. You’d want to list details about your responsibilities and achievements, and that means you’ll have all the information you want to submit an application for any job.
You can always delete notes on, but you might forget it if it is not in the template.
Some tools will automatically fill in all these variables for you (more on this in a bit). But if you have to fill in the data on your own, include some text that is obvious and easy to look for so you can locate.