Yes, yes it is that time to sweep out the dust bunnies and cobwebs… it is spring again!! More important than dusting and mopping, reorganizing your small business is at the top of the list, I am sure. Here are a few simple steps to getting your small business looking ship-shape so you can breathe a little easier and stop inhaling all of that extra pollen! The word for 2014 is minimalism and that means in a word: simplicity. De-cluttering your business will help you purge all of those things that you feel weigh you down and you can begin anew.
CONSIDER GOING PAPERLESS: Going “paperless” is the new thing with all of your bills, right? Why not catch up with your business. Instead of buying bigger and heavier file cabinets, free up that space and buy a CRM service with cloud storage and voila! all of your information and data is now available anytime, anywhere. Look at all of that extra room! And no more banging your head or knee or foot on a bulky file cabinet.
SO FRESH AND SO CLEAN, CLEAN: It is time to freshen up your website! With so many people quickly browsing through the web, you want to make sure your site’s interface is clean and user-friendly. This doesn’t have to be a complete over-haul, but remember; MINIMALISM works!
TIME FOR AN INBOX DEEP-CLEAN: Yes there are millions of spam e-mails sent out daily and yes you are affected. Now is as good of a time as any to get in there and scrub your E-Mail down. A good way to go about this is to put “unsubscribe” in your Inbox’s search box and unsubscribe to as many of these companies as you can. It is slow and a bit pain-staking but in the long run at least you got it done! Now if you are looking at that cock-eyed, instead of spending one whole weekend on the project, take ten minutes at the beginning and end of each day to sort it out. It will feel a lot less like wasted time and you will be happy with the results.
WORK IT OUT: No, I’m not talking getting on the treadmill (although they say 10-20 minutes a day does increase all of the good things in life and cuts out most of the bad) I am talking specifically about workshops. Brushing up on what you already think you know will show you there are lots of things to learn and learning is an evolution. There are many free workshops online that you can try or even maybe a leisure class or two. This is also a great way to network and freshen up your ideas so you can start the summer off better than ever!
BE EASIER ON THE EYES: It will not just do to spruce up the things you don’t stare at every day, like your files or your website, but to maybe spend a teeny bit of cash on the things you do. Besides sweeping and dusting, make sure your printer/copier are in tip-top shape and maybe throw out that old desk chair that makes your bum numb. Little subtractions and additions like that can really change your perspective when you sit down at the beginning of each day. Throwing away things like old files or even putting them out of site can really make a place look cleaner. And that’s the point, right?
GOOAAALLLL!!!!: Have a goal! It’s simple. Well, maybe not but it is certainly important. Getting refocused is the numero uno way to have a fresh eye and having a goal to work on is the way to get there. When you set small goals (or big ones if you have really been thinking it through) can lead to new ideas and ways you may have not considered in your business before. Think about it; what’s a day without a goal?
These are mostly simple and maybe some not-so-simple ways to clean out the clutter and make your small business look new again – even if only to you. A fresh perspective can really make you feel better and look forward to work, instead of getting caught up in a dull grind. And nothing is more important than loving what you do!!
