Spring Clean Your Business!

I know I know you all thought I've fallen off the face of the earth. I assure you that I haven't. I've just been incredibly busy. I've also been doing a little Spring cleaning. Yes it's that time of year again. Time to clean out the closets and make everything fresh and sparkly. While Spring cleaning your house is always a good idea, have you ever thought about Spring cleaning your business?

I know the concept might sound a little bit odd but Spring is a great time to physically and metaphorically clean out the cobwebs of your business.

Organize Organize Organize!
Some say a messy desk is the sign of a brilliant mind. If that's the case I must be a flippin' genius! All kidding aside my desk does tend to get a little crazy when I'm in the zone and I've got a list of deadlines a mile long. Notes and scribbles jotted down on scrap paper, files out of place, I'm sure you can relate. But there's no better time than now to take an afternoon and go through it.

1. SORT & TOSS - Sit at your desk with trash can and/or paper shredder nearby. Make a "file pile" and get rid of anything that needs tossing. (*Note: be sure to shred anything that contains personal information like account numbers, addresses, etc... rather than simply throwing it away.)

2. FILE - When you're done tossing, file the important papers that remain. If you don't have a filing system now is a great time to set one up. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. A simple system filing by client or project name or by category (i.e. financial, project ideas, associations) is a great way to get those papers off your desk and in their proper place.

3. PRIORITIZE - Create a simple box system on your desk. It can be a simple "incoming" and "outgoing" system or a little more involved with boxes for "to do" and "to file". It depends on your business and the way you work best. The important thing is to find a way to manage the flow of work coming across your desk.

As you're priortizing your paperwork have a calendar or day planner handy to make note of any obvious deadlines or project notes. Then you can sort the paperwork according to due date.

Congratulations! You can see your desk! But you're not done yet. See the the thing with the square box and keyboard sitting there? That's your computer and it needs a little Spring cleaning too.

Your Computer

1. CLEAR YOUR DESKTOP
Just as you did with your "real" desktop you need to clear off your computer's desktop as well. Put items in folders and label the folders in a way that you will recognize them. (i.e. client name, project name, category). Once you have everything sorted in their appropriate folders, move those folders to another location. Either your hard drive, external hard drive or if the files are no longer being used archive them on a disc, online storage or some other preferred storage method.

2. ORGANIZE YOUR HARD DRIVE
Check out your computer's "Documents" folder, or wherever you keep your files, for any important files that need attention whether it's to work on them, delete them or archive them. It's always best to archive old files and keep only on your computer what you are working on at the moment. Don't trust your computer to keep them safe. Computers crash. Make sure that information is kept safe at all times. Consider purchasing an external hard drive (starting at around $100) and do a weekly backup of your files. That way in the event of a crash you'll have the most recent version of a file saved.

3. COMPUTER MAINTENANCE
Take care of your computer by doing a disk cleanup as well as a defragmenting. These options are normally found in your accessories folder if you're on a PC. Also clear your internet browser's history and cookies. All of these things take up memory and cause your computer to run slower. By performing regular maintenance you'll keep it running at optimum performance.

If you happen to have more than one computer, rinse and repeat! (Jackie's Disclaimer: Please note I am not suggesting you immerse your computer in water or shampoo it by any means. It's just a figure of speech :o) )

Evaluate
Once you've cleaned up your workspace consider evaluating your business. Did you create some goals around the first of the year? How are those coming along? Are you on track or do those goals need tweaking? Is your business moving in the direction you want it to go? Why or why not? What do you need to do in order to move into Summer with the business you desire? Write it down! Make a plan.

Whew! With all of that Spring cleaning you've done you're probably ready for Summer Vacation! I don't blame you but I promise it will be worth it when your business is going full speed ahead. Now, where did I put my pen?

Are You a Chronic Joiner?

Are you a member of so many Facebook groups that when you get a message from one of them you think, “When did I join that group”? Or do you forget you joined a membership site only to remember when you get an email notification that your payment has been processed on your credit card? Like many business owners out there you could be a chronic joiner.

I am guilty of being a chronic joiner myself. Hi, my name is Jackie and I am a chronic joiner. There I said it! It’s ok, you can admit it. We are not here to judge. Go ahead!

Being a chronic joiner doesn’t make you a bad person, it just means you are trying to find the best avenues to learn from, network and improve yourself and your business. Doing so however, could be cluttering up your life and creating an unnecessary feeling of overwhelm.

The problem is, there is so much great information out there you want to take advantage of whatever you can but if you’re not taking advantage once you join then what is the point?

I know for myself, I belong to way too many Facebook groups. Some I joined to be supportive of friends, some I joined because I thought they would benefit my business. Guess what? I don’t participate in any of them. Not because I don’t want to but because I forget or the group doesn’t appeal to me anymore and I just don’t take the time to leave.

I have also joined several social networking sites thinking they were perfect for me (and they might be) but since I mainly do my networking through Twitter and Facebook I rarely take the time to visit the other networks that I belong to.

Along with those I have also joined a few paid membership sites which are all great but my $20 or $30 is going out the window every month because I forget about them.

So what the answer to getting focused and eliminating the excess from your life when it comes to memberships?

Evaluate and Purge
This week I plan to go through my Facebook and other online groups and evaluate why I joined in the first place. What was I hoping to accomplish by becoming a member? If I don’t know or can’t remember, they will automatically be deleted from the list. When I have it narrowed down I will go through and look at what is remaining and see if those groups are something I want to participate in and learn from. If they are not then they will also be deleted. What’s left should be a very short list of high quality groups that I can take a few minutes each day to digest information from and/or participate in.

The same goes for membership sites. I plan to evaluate why I signed up as well as evaluate the information on the site. Is it what I thought I was getting when I joined? Can I get this information free somewhere else? Am I taking advantage of the features and benefits of the site?

I highly encourage you to take stock of your various memberships in the same way. It’s difficult to have room to grow and flourish in your business if your space is cluttered with “stuff” you’ll never use no matter how good your intentions may be when you first join.

The next time you’re tempted to join a group or become a member of something. Look past the excitement of the moment and ask yourself if you really have the time to get the full benefit of joining or if that time or money could be better spent somewhere else. “Join” me in kicking the chronic joiner syndrome!