A friend/colleague of mine came over the other day to do a business strategy session.
I was all set up to meet with her in our living room. I don’t often have people into my office because it’s not too big, and well, it’s a sea of papers some days. If we do need to be in the office, I make sure to do my filing. My desk is not too bad, but I have another desk that is a dumping ground (so sue me, I’m human!) LOL
Well this particular day, I was stuck on a support chat at my PC which is … in my office. So I had to set our strategy session up in there at the last minute while I tended to that during our session. She was less than impressed with the state of disarray. It’s a good thing we are friends!
As I looked around I realized that this wasn’t just a week or two of papers on my desk, which is pretty common for me. There are piles of things from various events I have helped to organize over the last few months, there is back to school stuff, there is year end filing stuff (egad!) and there is business planning stuff.
I took this photo this morning and realized just how bad it is, so I am on a mission to declutter and tidy it up this weekend! In my defence, it has been a ridiculously busy time for me the last 5 months, with four major volunteer ventures as well as my business stuff going on! (dumping ground desk is on the right – stuff on it, above it and below it!)
What about you? Have a look around at what is cluttering up your business. Assessment time! What needs to be fixed/adjusted?
Stress is one of those things that others point out to us. Not something that we often nosptice ourselves. Being a small business owner is sometimes like being a superhero (‘look at all the things I can manage!’). But it doesn’t have to be – and in fact, it shouldn’t be.
Look at your daily routine. If you are experiencing stress in one or more of these areas, it could be time to tidy things up.
If you have too much client work, you could be under a lot of stress to complete it. Look around your desk. Is it organized? Are your projects and files organized? Sometimes when we get too busy, even just for a short period, it can really take its toll on us if our surroundings are not in order. If you are running around and feel like you are not organized, it’s time to stop for just a few minutes and get everything in its place. Think about what you need to help you approach your client work more easily, and put it in place. Often it’s just getting things filed away on our computer or our paper files that helps us feel better.
If you don’t have enough client work, you could be under a lot of stress to find work. Look at your follow up system. How are you plotting your strategy there? If you are not organized enough to have people that you are networking with and planning follow up with, you could be causing yourself more stress than you need. Get things in place. How many clients do you need? Where are they? How much contact do you have with them? How many people can you schedule sales conversations with (that’s where the clients come from!) Put a plan in place to reach out to ‘x’ number of potential clients each day (my favourite number is 2 – easy to do!) and you will be well on your way to new clients in no time.
If you are having a hard time managing your team or your books or your marketing, look at the support system you have in place in your business. Is it too much physically for you to handle? Or do you just need a better system? As we get busier and more successful, it’s essential to realize that we can not keep doing all of the management pieces ourselves. At some point it’s necessary to either outsource projects (like bookkeeping) or bring on support (like a project manager) or seek advice (for marketing). Look at your business objectively and decide what you need to do to help yourself be more successful.
For more tips on getting inspired to tidy up your business, listen to this free audio that I’ve put together for you:
10 Tips To Spring Clean Your Business
And … I’ll be sure to post an ‘after’ picture of my office, just to prove I did it!
UPDATE: I took an hour to tidy and file. There is still some ‘top of desk’ work to do, and to move a few boxes to my storage room, but I wanted to let you know what a difference even an hour can make.
