10 Ways To Spring Clean Your Business
As entrepreneurs, we sometimes have to wear many hats. We are the accountant, the customer service rep, the photographer, the designer, and the editor. Shessh! Must I continue? Between the consultations, emails, ordering supplies, follow-up, bookkeeping, and managing our social media you really have to take time to get organized and reset. Spring is here and just like cleaning your house, you need to do the same for your business. This could consist of many things but it has to get done before it gets out of control. Here are ten places for you to start to begin spring cleaning your business:
Clear out your emails. Take time to delete items that have been completed or no longer serve you. If you must hold on to emails try creating folders to organize certain emails. Some emails you might need to organize are invoices, contracts, business and license paperwork, w9’s, etc.
Clean up your social media. Make sure that the people you follow are inspirational and give you positive energy to keep you going. Unfollow or take a break from those accounts that stir up negative feelings, anxiety, or temptations that do not serve you.
Organize files on your computer. Bring order to your desktop. This may consist of putting your files in the correct folders or creating new folders for your files to make them easy to find later. You may also need to invest in an external hard drive to store documents, photos, and videos. When you store files on your computer such as photos and videos it will begin to slow down your computer. Invest in an external hard drive.
Organize your finances. Create a folder to make filing your taxes a breeze. Also, remember to keep your receipts so that everything is accounted for. Look into software such as Quick Books, Fresh Books, and Gusto to help ease your bookkeeping and accounting duties. I’ve been using Quick Books for the past two years and it has been one of the best business investments.
Review your systems. Get rid of subscription services for your business that no longer serve you. Replace what you need with software that will help you run your business more efficiently and effectively. My go-to operation tools are 17 Hats and FloDesk.
Clear out, inactive email subscribers. If you have subscribers on your email list that are not engaged with your business REMOVE them. Having inactive subscribers only hurts your click rate and open rate. Not to mention you’re paying for subscribers or you will be if your email list continues to grow. Clear out the people who no longer wish to here from you and make room for new followers and subscribers.
Google Drive. Create a Google Drive for your business if you haven’t done so already. Having a Google Drive, allows you to access your files from anywhere. Google Drive also gives you access to many free programs such as Google Sheets, Docs, Slides, Forms, etc. I store many of my important documents on Google Drive.
Organize your workspace. Clear your desk, declutter your office, and store away any materials you don’t use daily. You are sure to feel better working in a clean and neat environment. If your workspace is cluttered more than likely your head is cluttered and we need as much brainpower as we can get to run a successful business. Check out some of my organizational tools now.
Bring Order To Your Many Journals and Notebooks. Boss Lady! How many journals do you have and need? Okay, okay, okay! I’m guilty of this as well. However, what helped me was that I designated one notebook as a gratitude journal, one as my business journal, one for monthly goal setting and reflecting, and one journal as my venting journal. If you have multiple notebooks and journals be sure to keep them organized so you can know exactly where you placed that good idea or quote.
Keep track of your passwords. Are you the one that’s always resetting your password? It’s such a waste of your time. You can either set up universal passwords or use a program called Last Pass to help you manage your passwords. No more wasting time trying to gain access to your accounts.
After completing each of these items you are sure to feel organized and ready to efficiently handle your business growth. Reduce the time you spend searching through emails, trying to find the right passwords, and looking for files with just a little spring cleaning! Wake up an hour early each day to knock out one or two of these tasks. If you have time on the weekend get it done. You’ll thank yourself later. Let’s get our businesses organized so we can rock out quarters 2, 3, and 4.
Which task are you going to tackle first? Be sure to let me know in the comments.