Creatives and small business owners, you’re gonna want to read this blog post! We’re talking all about how you can spring clean your small business.
Spring is officially here (even if the weather in Chicagoland doesn’t show it!), so it’s the perfect time for a little spring cleaning in your small business!
If you’re like me and want to knock out some to-do’s, you’re going to love these spring cleaning ideas!
1) Organize Your Inbox
If you know me, you know that organization makes my heart happy. Type A much? I love organization from folders to labels to color-coding… So, it should come as no surprise that I’m recommending you organize that inbox of yours!
Take some time to sort through your inbox. Unsubscribe from email lists that are no longer serving you. Create labels for clients, projects, collaborations. Sort emails into folders for business orders and receipts, inquiries by type, educational resources, and more. Update your email signature. And hey, if you’re really feeling motivated once you dive into your inbox – add your own email templates to your inbox (hey Gmail users), too!
2) Update Your Website & Printed Materials
Oh yes, that website of yours is the perfect place to start! Oftentimes as creatives, we find ourselves in love with our websites after a rebrand or website redesign… Then, we get into a routine and life gets nutty and we forget to keep our websites fresh. This spring, I challenge you to hop into the backend of your website and make some updates! Whether you’re updating photos or copy, these updates are totally worth it. Our work grows and evolves year after year as creative small business owners, so our websites need to reflect that, too!
One of my favorite tips when it comes to website updates? Keep a folder on your desktop for your “2021 Favorite Work” and drop files and images into the folder throughout the year. Gathering your favorite work as you create it is a LIFESAVER, I promise. Then, when winter and springtime hit, you can easily jump into that folder and update your website!
In addition to your website, make updates to your printed marketing materials! Printed materials are one of my favorite parts of my brand and client experience. But that isn’t to say that they never need updating! Carve out some time to open up the various printed materials in your business and see if any updates need to be made. When the busier months hit, you’ll be glad you did this now as you spring clean your small business!
3) Sort Virtual Files
Remember how I said I love organization? Well, here’s another idea for organizing your business! When it comes to your virtual files – whether you’re using folders on your computer, Google Drive, or a service like Dropbox – they need to be organized. Think of the time you may be wasting because you can’t find files or don’t remember where you saved something. Do you feel me?
In this spring cleaning season, I encourage you to set aside some time to sort your virtual files and create a better system for organizing those files in your business. The icing on the cake? Sorting your virtual files now also makes cloud backup (and data retrieval later) so much easier, too!
4) Revisit Your Expenses
This is one of my favorite spring cleaning to-do’s in my business!
Okay, I get it – bookkeeping is not fun for [most] creatives. It’s one of those crucial tasks that many don’t enjoy in their small businesses, but we all know that up-to-date bookkeeping helps our businesses grow and thrive! So, on that note, open up your spreadsheets or Quickbooks and take a look at your expenses. When I sit down to revisit my expenses, I like to look back at my expenses from the last year overall AND on a month by month or quarterly basis. This helps me see what was going out of my business account throughout the year, and then I can decide if there are any unnecessary expenses. Keep in mind that sometimes you’ll find unnecessary expenses and subscriptions during this task… And that’s okay! I would bet that most (if not all) creative small business owners have at least one expense that isn’t necessary and could save the business money in the long run.
5) Clean Your Office
And finally, clean your office! This idea may seem like a no-brainer, but really, clean your office… If you have a home office like me, sometimes things get out of place and simply need organized or re-organized. So, go through your office and do just that. And while you’re cleaning out your office, dive into your filing cabinet, too! Organize receipts, any printed contracts, insurance policies, client docs – if it’s in your filing cabinet, organize it! This is also the perfect time to make sure that you have photos of all your business receipts – added to a folder or uploaded to Quickbooks – as well.
To all the creatives, here’s to a great start to spring – happy spring cleaning your small business!
