Out with the Old
Almost two years ago, my husband and I found out that we were expecting our first child. We were over the moon with joy and as many first time parents do, we had many items on our long list of “We will never do that”. One of the biggest things we said we’d never do was let our house get overrun with toys. We were very confident that we, newbies who knew everything, would never let our house get cluttered.
So it was with great irony that, my husband and I sat in our front yard this weekend selling, haggling and giving away years worth of stuff we’d accumulated in an attempt to free up space for our 14-month old’s toys. What can I say? She’s cute and we’re pushovers. I have to say; it felt so good to rid ourselves of all of that old junk, even though we swore up and down we wouldn’t need to make room for more toys. What’s replaced our old stuff? New toys, educational tools, books and many other new and exciting things to keep up with our new and exciting person.
There are many things that can, much like our house, clutter up your business. What are some things that can clear the way for new and exciting tools (or toys!) to make their way into your business? We’ve listed some areas where you can increase some space:
Filing
Hanging on to old files? Perhaps it’s gotten to the point where there are way too many files that need to go that you’d need a full-time person to shred. There are many businesses that will come and shred (securely) for you. If your files aren’t old enough to be shredded, scanning is a great way to minimize the space files are taking up and it is a bonus for the environment too!
Equipment
If you are not utilizing your old equipment, get rid of it. There are guidelines to safely recycle your computer equipment yourself, or there are safe and trusted companies that will destroy your equipment in the environmentally safe way and rid the equipment of your data beforehand.
Emails
Has your email software become bogged down with old emails? Make sure you are getting rid of all of those reply-alls and keep the most current email in each subject. Empty out your trash. Go through old folders to see what you don’t need and is irrelevant and delete, delete, delete.
Ideas
Not everything has to be tangible. Are there old ideas and plans that aren’t working? Try looking at a new approach. Try bringing in something new and fresh ideas to replace the old ones that aren’t working. We hear this social media marketing thing is a hit these days!
So, what is taking up space in your business? Leave us a comment below, we’d love to hear from you. Don’t forget to click here to check out our full list of services we can assist you with.