Spring is nearly upon us here in Houston, Texas! Along with festivals, crawfish, pollen and mosquitoes, Spring always brings to mind is cleaning and de-cluttering.
Every Spring Break, my mother would make us go through our belongings. The result would be an enormous pile of donations and yard sale items which would fetch very little if we ever got around to selling them. Inevitably, we would so the same thing again the next year.
One thing I never realized is that it is possible to de-clutter FOR GOOD. We weren't dong that- we just replaced it with a new accumulation of stuff.
I started down this path of minimalism only recently; it would jump the gun to call me a minimalist. Afterall, I have six kids. Instead, I would say I'm learning about it. After delving into real estate and talking to many a local business owners here in Cypress, here are my top 5 tips for incorporating minimalism in your business!
1. Find New Ways to go Paperless- if you're not already paying all of your bills online, wyd? You should be. Now, have you thought of using an online Calendar? I use Google Calendar. I can sync my account with whomever I choose so we can stay up to date on events. Best of all, you can set repeat events- never forget a birthday again! You can even use Google to create To Do lists. Go digital!
2. Reduce your overhead, especially product- if you already have an excellent method of bringing in and sending out your materials and products, this may not be the tip for you. However, many businesses suffer from ordering too much product, only for it to go bad, get damaged, or take up time, effort and space. Order only what you need and keep your inventory clean, fresh, and organized.
3. Let your employees go home- this goes right along with #1. Go online. It's 2018 and even if you operate a brick-and-mortar business, the internet is your biggest tool. From advertising and marketing to online orders and virtual assistants; benefits and payroll to self- check outs and work-at-home employees. Look around and ask yourself which of these jobs can be done from home or using technology.
4. Focus on your main objective- do one thing at a time. A cost-benefit analysis or point system can help you decide which project to tackle first. Just don't take on too many things at once. One of the biggest mistakes a restaurant can make, for example, is having too elaborate of a menu with out of season ingredients requiring many difficult cooking techniques. This is a recipe for a stressful and disorganized kitchen environment.
5. Protect your time- don't be a "Yes" man. Make a list of the tasks you dislike or which take up too much time. Most of them, you can probably delegate or find a way to reduce the amount of time you spend doing it. For example, I have a system for calendaring events- it now takes me about 15 minutes to set all of my social engagements for the month. Also, learn to say yes only to the projects which will benefit you the most. If this sounds like a purely selfish thing, it isn't- donating your time to community projects or charitable causes not only helps your business image in the long run but can soothe and refresh the soul as well.
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