Detoxing your Business
It is the time of year when detoxing is all the rage. A quick search in the news section of my favourite search engine has come back with dozens of results for detox. From Gwyneth Paltrow’s Flax and Dandilion Detox to The Juice Detox, Deconstructed; that magic word is everywhere.
While scanning the web one phrase caught my eye, it was to “start the year all clean and serene”. I like that! So, let’s look at how you can Detox Your Business and be professionally clean and serene.
Cleanse Your Systems
Take some time to look at your systems and tidy up your work. It will help you see clearly what is going on in your business and where you need to focus your energy.
Switch Your Browser – Changing to a new browser allows you to start from scratch with your bookmarks and stored information. I did this recently and my new browser is now cleanly set up with bookmarks I really use in meaningfully named folders.
Create Folders In Your Email – Create folders and rules so that email from certain sources is automatically filed for you. Simply creating folders for Facebook and LinkedIn notifications halved the email in my inbox. Setting up these and a few other folders means that important emails can be easily seen in a much less cluttered inbox.
Tidy Up Your Files – You need folders here too AND meaningful names on your documents. Organising your files properly will save you hours of time in the coming months. A good tip is to start your file names with the date (e.g. 20140112); your files will magically (well, alphabetically) spring into the right order.
Cleanse Your Clients
Do you have clients that you don’t enjoy working with? If so, the first question to ask yourself is are you charging them enough. We often find that small businesses have clients who they are under charging. Perhaps the client has been with you for a long time and you have not put their prices. Or perhaps your client has added more to what you are doing for them.
Don’t be afraid to increase what you charge to a fair level. If you are being paid appropriately for the work you are doing, you may find the client a lot more pleasant to work with.
Cleanse Your Services
What do you want to be doing this year? Are there services you love offering and services you hate? Which services make you the most profit and which make you the least.
Review your services now and only offer the things you want to be doing. We did this last year at Coastal VAs and now have a slightly slimmed down and much improved offering.
If you would like any help Detoxing Your Business please do contact us to book a free consultation.