Cleaning Up (And Out) For Spring
- March 24, 2014
- Posted by: Rochelle
- Category: Client Relationships, Marketing + Selling
This article extolling the virtues of a 40-hanger closet spoke to me and I’ve hung onto it.
I haven’t quite pared down to a 40-hanger closet, but keeping just the timeless essentials resonates. With the notable exceptions of my shoes and kitchen gadgets, I live pretty lightly (on purpose). When each object is essential—and much loved—it takes on importance and meaning.
Which brings me to Spring.
Glorious, alive, sparkling Spring. When we refresh and renew, paring down to what really matters. Why restrict it to houses and gardens? It’s the perfect time to hit the REFRESH button on our work lives…
Make the first step an easy one—look around your workspace. Does it make you happy? Or does gazing in the vicinity feel like you’re at the outer gates of hell? This isn’t about making your space magazine-ready, but having it speak to YOU. You want your physical space—even if it’s a laptop in the coffee shop—to make you itching to get to work.
Try using that same technique on your marketing and sales and social media. When you look at your website, do you feel good? Does it capture you? Let’s say it does. Take it a step further (sort of the marketing equivalent of beating the rugs and cleaning the drapes). Go through every single page—every line of copy, every image, every link. Do they work? Do they make sense? Are your copyrights and citations current? A few minor tweaks may be all you need to spiff up and pull in a few more potential clients.
By then you’ll be ready to look at your work itself. Ask yourself this: if you were starting over your business today, which clients would you happily—joyously—take with you? Are there any you’d be just as content to leave behind? If your answer is yes, then it just might be time for some Spring cleaning. Saying good-bye to the less-than-great makes way for the extraordinary. Why not search for a brilliantly qualified alternate to introduce those clients to? It’s the equivalent of giving a beloved heirloom to the person who will most appreciate it.
Bonus: your good karma will multiply.
Try at least one of these ideas if only to keep your work—and you—alive and fresh for the new season. You deserve it.
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I got lost at “look around your workplace”. I can just hear my wife telling me to clean it up and clean it out. Regular one way conversations we have about my workplace. There was a time when my desk was clean and free of paper at the end of the day. Emphasis is on “was a time”.
Maybe this is my starting place. But wait, what am I going to do with all the papers hiding the clutter? 🙂
I have to tell you Ed, every time I let my desk get cluttered, it bugs me. And every time I clean it, something new and good appears. A new client, a new request, SOMETHING happens so that I no longer question. I just clear 🙂
I enjoyed this one; one reason I’ll share off list.
Great post! Greater advice.
I also got a nice laugh at the reference on the clients but that one is old news here.
I love my office space (a lot of credit to my wife) but there remains a bit of wall-hangings to complete (I try to leave it for moments I hit a creative roadblock) and some modest “reassignment” of office materials (the equivalent I guess of the cleaning). I often call these and the many “tasks” you identified re-imagination. It can be a simple as re-arranging files so those you go to frequently get placed most accessibly (I still wonder why I took so long to make the change (actually to realize it should happen); it was like no time at all to do it).
I also recommend taking this fresh approach to much of what we do. I enjoy making things better.
Thanks Corey!