As someone who’s used to – and enjoys – feeling at capacity most of the time, I wasn’t sure what to do with myself when things slowed down for the summer. I began by decluttering my home, a task which turned out to be quite rewarding.
After a while, though, it occurred to me that this newly found ‘extra’ time is rare and temporary. So, I decided to take more deliberate steps to improve things here at the home office.
If you’re interested in doing the same, here’s what I recommend:
1. Examine your business from the outside in. Look at your email signature – is it professional and clear? When was the last time you read all the pages on your website? Or subscribed to your own newsletter to see what happens?
2. Check out your LinkedIn profile. Make sure your profile picture is up to date. Ask for those recommendations you’ve been thinking about. Update your profile with any new qualifications or certificates.
3. Repurpose past content. If you’ve got past newsletters that are not yet up on your website take steps to add them. Do you have newsletters that could be turned into social media posts? Go ahead and do them now.
4. Clean up “tolerations.” You know, those annoying little things you are still putting up with. Are you always struggling to find client phone numbers? Do you keep needed supplies in the basement instead of near your desk? Is there a pile of papers in the corner that you’ve ignored for months (years?)? Take the time now to handle all those little annoyances.
5. Organize your desk and desktop. Take everything off (yes, everything) clean it thoroughly, and only add back what you need. Create folders and rename files so that you can easily find and access them. Delete all the files you no longer use.
6. Review your finances. Why wait until tax time to organize your expenses? Bring them up to date now.
7. Plan your next big project. What are you waiting for? Just do it!
A little downtime can be disorienting for people who are used to being at capacity. So yes, make sure you relax. But when you’re ready to jump back in, take advantage of the opportunity to take your business to the next level.
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