Spring Clean Your Business
It is that time of year when you spring clean your house from top to bottom! We clean out closets, getting rid of the old to bring in the new, wiping everything down to make it shine, and reorganizing. But how much time have you set aside to spring clean your business. I bet your computer, website or social networks are feeling a little neglected and over-grown with weeds. Take a little time to learn how you can tidy things up.
Learn How to Spring Clean Your Business Today!
Here are a couple tips and tools to tidy things up!
Your gadgets
- Did you know that your smart phone is dirtier than a toilet seat? GROSS! Clean that baby, front and back, using a microfiber cloth with some rubbing alcohol on it. I also recommend throwing that microfiber cloth in the washing machine after cleaning your dirty, nasty smart phone.
- Have apps you haven’t opened in months? Delete any apps that you are not using. Any that you have purchased will be saved in the Cloud on your account so you can download again if you ever need it again.
- Make sure your Operating System and any other apps are up to date on all of your gadgets.
- Transfer and backup your images and videos to Dropbox so you never have to worry about losing them. This also helps free up space on your all of your devices.
Your computer
- Before you clean the inside, make sure to clean your keyboard, mouse, and go ahead and wipe down that phone! You really should do this weekly…
- Spring clean your files by going through them and clearing out what you have that you no longer need. Are you biting your nails at the thought of hitting delete on files? Create a folder and move the files there, if you don’t need them for 6 months to a year (whatever you feel comfortable with) delete the folder!
- Are you running tight on space? Do you have a virtual team? Then consider using Dropbox to store files online and easily share folders with your Virtual Assistant. Dropbox is the easiest way to save, sync, and share files online.
- Make sure all of your software programs are all updated with the latest version. This is crucial in keeping everything running smoothly. However, check compatibility if you purchase any updates.
- If you no longer use a software program, uninstall it! I have downloaded programs specific for clients or projects and then I no longer need them. This is a quick and easy way to free up some space.
- Unsubscribe!!!! Clean up your email easily by unsubscribing to those ezines and people that you don’t read! Its a waste of time to continuously delete emails that you are NEVER going to read. There is an unsubscribe button for a reason, use it. { Just make sure you stay on my list so you don’t miss a thang! 🙂 }
- Update all of your forms or documents that you use for your business. Do you have a Welcome Packet that you send to clients when they sign up? Make sure you look over these types of documents at least once a year to be sure they have accurate information in them.
Your website
- Go through all of your pages and content and take an inventory of what you have. If you have old pages up or content that refers to programs that are over, remove it! A huge mistake entrepreneurs make with their website is leaving old and outdated information up! This is just as tacky as leaving your Christmas lights up until Easter.
- If you are running off WordPress, make sure all of your plugins are up-to-date along with your theme. If you still are running an HTML website, look into switching to WordPress. Staying current with the latest technology can be overwhelming but switching to WordPress is essential for your online presence. Plus, it allows you to do ALL of your content updates yourself without having to depend on your website designer.
- Update your testimonials and ask for new ones! This is a great time to update your testimonials on your site. This is your social proof of how much you rock! Make sure that you have current testimonials from new clients!
- Update your headshots and images on your website. While you are cleaning things up, why not get new, fresh images to add to your website. (be on the lookout for mine… they are coming soon!!)
- Make sure you have social networking links on your site. Don’t be left out in the dust! This is a quick fix to your website. Do a Google search for free social media icons and link them to your social network pages!
Your social networks
- Go through your bios and about sections on ALL of your social networks and make sure they are updated. Don’t neglect this area! Make sure that your information is current and up-to-date.
- Clean up what friends show up in your news feeds. We cannot control what people post online as their status updates but we can control if we see it or not. Lately, I have been cleaning up my news feed by hiding those who post negative comments or anything that might take away from my energy while I am online.
- Clean up Pinterest make sure your pins on all of your boards are still valid. Check links and delete any pins that don’t make sense, are invalid, or no longer work.
- Maximize your social online presence with an updated Twitter background, Facebook profile images, and a custom landing page to capture email addresses on your Facebook Page.
And don’t forget about spring cleaning…
Your filing drawers or your vision board. While you are clearing away the clutter with your computer, make sure to do it in the office too!
- Update your vision board with new visions, goals, and key words that will inspire you the rest of the year.
- Box up taxes from 3 years ago and store them outside of the office.
- Clean up client files just like you did on your computer.
When you clean out the space where the old was, it allows for clear space for the new to come in! These are just a few suggestions to tidy things up!
Share with your Entrepreneur friends to help them spring clean their business too!
If you enjoyed these tips, please share with your friends, I made it easy with the buttons to the right! 😉
Alicia, this is a great idea! I usually do my file purging on New Years Day (clean start to the year) and each year I say “I’ve got to do this more than once a year!” Doing an interim spring cleaning is going to really help with that. Thanks!
Awesome post! It’s so important to do this. I actually do it on a regular basis – – in my home and my computer and online stuff. I hate clutter :). One thing that your list prompted me to do, though, is go through my Pinterest boards and check the links. Good one!
Awesome Leanne! So glad that it could help you! Pinterest is easy to forget about! xo, Ali
i recently moved into my totally remodeled studio-library, and have been trying to organize my files (paper and computer) to match the beautiful room. this post is extremely helpful for figuring out exactly what i need to concentrate on – thank you, ali!
I am working on my office to make room for new decor as well! That is what helped prompt this post. That and my computer was running pretty slow 🙂 xo, Ali
This is an excellent list of yearly chores to include in our lives!! I’ll be sharing this with everyone in the office! Thanks Alli!
GREAT Vivian! Thank you! So glad that I could help. xoxo, Ali
Hi Alicia~
Fantastic list – thanks for sharing. Every New Year, like Sheryl, I do a clutter cleanse – donate clothes and clear closets, etc, update vision board, etc. But, you bring light to an area many overlook (myself included)…the computer! It’s easy to overlook this since it can be hidden, but energy is energy and these are great tools to clutter-clear this part of our life as well and let the new energy in 🙂
Yes!!! Just thinking about clearing business clutter brings a boost of instant joy. My Mac seems to be getting quite weary lately. I think she needs a little TLC. Thanks for the great tips.
These are totally reasonable action steps to take to stay on top of your game. Being organized is very crucial to our business. I am definitely going through every step and possibly consider doing this 4 times a year (every 3 months). Thanks for sharing – Great Tips :o)
Hi Ali, yes I did miss your perky
self! Yours is one of the few that
I open up.
Yes, I didn’t do this New Years, as
usual, so cleaning up was sparked
by you!
Thanks Ali, I bedew a kick in
the behind!
Debi
This is great! Everyone loves a clean, decluttered and fresh space! This includes our technology components as well as our physical space. There is no better way to breath spring into the office than to give it a make over.
Wow how comprehensive! Thank you for this!
Thanks Ali! Great lists and easy to check off (I am addicted to lists). Good to know I am doing some of these on here and definitely agree with Eva — going to implement this quarterly! 🙂
Wow! This has really made me think a lot! I am printing this up and going through the list! Thanks so much for your generous help! So helpful!
Great tips Ali!!! Thanks for sharing.
unroll.me is the best email invention known to (wo)mankind. Instant spring cleaning!
Great idea! My macbook needs a serious detox! File overload!
Yay for Spring!!! Thank you for these tips Ali – I definately need to spring clean my office and business.
This is such a helpful resource list. I just wrote an article on spring cleaning your mind. Your business is also important part of you and needs this level of attention. I will be going through this list… thanks
This is a good reminder to clean up files in my Dropbox!!!
You’ve given me some things to add to my “to-do” list.
As for my email, unsubscribe has become my best friend!!
I’m working on my vision board now. Can’t wait until it all comes together!
I LOVE unroll.me for cleaning out my inbox — it CHANGED my life!
Thank you Ali,
I will take advantage of the long weekend, we have here in Greece and make sure my business is squeaky clean by Monday!
xoxo
Perfect timing! I am in dire need of a massive spring clean of my home and body! (thankfully my mind is already undergoing the cleaning process). And I just finished my vision board – so satisfying 😀
Your post just made me send 10 emails requesting for new testimonials. Something we all tend to keep forgetting. If I may add up to this, I guess its also crucial to delete our old profiles in various sites we no longer use. This will lessen our out-of-date digital footprint online
So many great ideas! I would have missed half of these. Thanks for the reminder, and thanks for making it so easy!
What a great list of things to keep up on. I find that I let things go and so now it is a little overwhelming thinking about everything to clean up. Time to schedule it in!
Awesome tips and advice. I can’t wait to get started on my spring cleaning. I am starting with Unroll.me
I so need to do this, more things to add to my spring cleaning and get ready for baby list lol!