The secret to getting your business organised for the year ahead

Getting your business organised is the easiest and hardest thing to do. The tasks are simple, but finding the time is hard and changing habits are even harder! But I'm here to give you my top tip for getting yourself organised for the year ahead, you will need to set aside some time to do the first bit but then you have the option of delegating everything else if you want to! The added bonus? Once you've done the hardest bit, you've got it set up forever! The very first place we start is by doing the big review. You'll need a pen and paper or a Google Sheet for this one.

I want you to go through every inch of your business and make a big list of any amendments/updates you need to make or things you need to review. Yep, every last little thing! I said it would take time but I promise it will be worth it Why? 1. It's going to give you clarity on what your business is doing and how it works (you've been grafting all year so it's time to step back and look at the bigger picture)

2. It's going to give you a structured list of all the changes you need to make.

3. You will feel a million times better knowing everything is set up for the new year! Here are some ideas of things to review that I've done recently: Tech; Dubsado, Trello, Website, Zoom, Email Marketing, Canva Admin; Emails, Computer, Google Drive, Passwords, accounts, invoices, receipts, contracts. Digital; Social media, google reviews I go through everything and write a list of all the things I need to update, change or review for each one. Once I have my big list I set aside time each week to go through it. Let me give you an example with my emails: ✅Clear Inbox ✅Clear Junk ✅Empty Trash ✅Review each label and delete unnecessary emails ✅Save and store any documents, receipts, invoices etc. ✅Copy any useful info to Notion ✅Organise labels ✅Set up folders for 2023 ✅Set up automation ✅Update signature ✅Update contact details and social media links. ✅Prep the out-of-office for December. By doing this, when I finish for the festive season my inbox is clear, organised and prepped for 2023. No more coming back to a mess on top of all the emails you've received over the past few weeks! Do the same for every single part of your business, it will probably take you an hour or 2 to complete the big list but once it's done, you have it for every year after, you can just update it as you go! AND - If you've got a team who's twiddling their thumbs this time of year, you now have a nice list to delegate to them 😉 If you don't and you're a one-person band just set aside an hour a week, put some music or Netflix on in the background and challenge yourself to see how many tasks you can tick off in the hour. I promise future you, will thank present you for doing this.

I know you might think this is a pointless task or something you don't have time for but you need to make the time to do this. When you're constantly working in the business, making updates and changes things can get a little messy and things change so fast we don't always have the chance to update things and then it slips our mind. This is giving you chance to catch all of those things. You may find a dead link that's been costing you potential sales, or an outdated contract that leaves you vulnerable.

You don't know what you don't know and you won't ever know if you don't look.