4 Steps to Implement Your Business Goals

Implement business goals effectively with these 4 steps!

Last week I wrote about creating SMART PATH goals for your business. Once you set your goals, how do you implement them? 

Step 1: Set Priorities

When all tasks have the same priority level, it’s difficult for you and your employees to know what to do first. I recommend using a time management matrix like Stephen Covey’s to separate tasks into categories based on importance and urgency.

Create a list of tasks that are done on a daily or weekly basis in your business, and separate them into these categories. Use my free downloadable worksheet to guide you through the process!

Once you have categorized your tasks, you can create a schedule based around the high-priority tasks, and schedule less urgent or important tasks around those foundational blocks. 

Step 2: Training

Knowing which tasks to do is only useful if you and your employees know how to complete those tasks! Creating workflows for each task is essential, so that there’s a clearly defined process for reaching each goal. Make sure that each person is trained in these processes, so they can work independently when possible. 

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5 Simple Closet Organizing Tips

Use my closet organizing tips to achieve your dream closet!

Tip 1: Keep Like with Like

Keeping similar things together means you can visually assess what you’ve got. When your sweaters and pants and skirts are all in a jumble on the closet floor, it’s hard to know how many of each thing you have. Separating items by category keeps your wardrobe balanced. It also makes things easier to find. Just like a file folder with subfolders inside, you can create a system in your closet that makes locating items simple. No more digging through piles to find that one sleeveless top you know is somewhere in there. It’s with the other sleeveless tops!

Of course, there are many different ways to categorize items–you don’t have to do it by sleeve length. Use whatever method works best for you. If you’re not sure which to pick, roll a die and pick one at random. Try it out for a few weeks and see how it feels!

You can sort by

  • clothing type
  • color
  • season
  • sleeve length
  • occasion…

There are tons of options! You can even sort by outfit! If there are pieces you know you always wear together, group them.

Tip 2: Hanging vs. Folding

Are you a hanger, a folder, or a mix of the two? I like a hybrid approach where the type of garment determines my storage method. Blouses and pants that crease and wrinkle are best hung up, while denim and t-shirts are great for compact folding. That’s not to say you can’t hang it all! If you’ve got the room, go for it.

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Are Your Business Goals SMART?

Set achievable business goals with my SMART PATH system.

Running a business can be tough. People like to be challenged, but not overwhelmed. How do you make sure your business goals are engaging and realistic?

Tackling too much

Having big dreams for your business is great! But just like making a New Year’s resolution to never eat a carbohydrate again, or to go from never jogging to a marathon winner by February, if the bar is set too high, the chance of burnout or failure increases.

So, how do you make progress without burnout?

In my experience, it’s difficult to make progress until you pay attention to the process rather than the end goal. Instead of making major changes immediately, I advise business owners to break their goals down into the SMART PATH system. You’ve likely heard of SMART goals, and adding the PATH to achieving them increases productivity without sacrificing morale.

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How to Declutter Your Closet

Let’s declutter your closet!

Does your closet feel a little claustrophobic? The best way to make space is to declutter your closet!

When I work with clients, I use the acronym TRACKS to sort and pare it down to the essentials, and you can use it on your own, too.

TRACKS stands for Trash, Recycle, Action, Charity, Keep, and Sell. When I’m decluttering with someone, we go through each item and ask which of these categories it belongs in. Sorting everything into these categories is a big step towards a neat closet!

Trash

It’s the first letter of the acronym, but it’s really the last resort. Only send a piece of clothing to the landfill if it doesn’t fit in any other category.

Recycle

Recycling clothes usually takes the form of donation, but you CAN reuse material in other ways if the garment is no longer wearable. Here’s a neat video about how to make t-shirt yarn! You can also cut garments into rags and use them to clean up around the house.

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Streamline Office Efficiency – Review Your KPIs! 

Streamline Office Efficiency – Review Your KPIs! 

It’s always helpful to look at your business with an eagle-eye view, and the new year is a particularly good time to do it! Reviewing your business as a whole shows you where you’re on track, and where you need to spend some time improving. But what do you look at? What metrics do you use to compare this year to last year? 

Assess Your Business

Key Performance Indices (or KPIs) are the quantifiable data that tell you how you’re performing in each area of your business. The numbers will be unique to your business, and the goal of using KPIs is to look for patterns through consistent measuring. So, what are the basic KPIs? 

  • Financial: How much money are you making? How much are you spending? 
  • Marketing: How many people know about your products or services?
  • Sales: How many people are buying from you? How many of the people you’re marketing to are actually making purchases? 
  • HR: Do you have the right number of employees? Do you have the right people in each position? 
  • Inventory: Do you have enough inventory to fill orders? Do you have an excess of inventory?
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What’s Your Closet Style?

What's your closet style?

When you know what your closet style is, then you can work toward it!

Clothing is an everyday part of life, which means your closet is a central part of your morning. Does it take forever to find what you want to wear each day? Do you roam the house, looking through piles of laundry for what you want? Getting dressed can be simple and stress-free, but not if your closet threatens an avalanche when you open it. A simple-to-use, calm and orderly closet? You can make it happen! Over the next four weeks I’ll take you through the steps you can take to make your closet work for YOU. The first step: find your closet style.

Why Organize My Closet?

An organized closet brings many benefits! An organized closet…

  • contains ALL of your clothes, so you only have one place to go to find what you need. 
  • contains clothes you like and wear. You can go into your closet and be guaranteed to pick out something that fits you and matches your personal style. 
  • keeps your clothes in better condition. When they’re wadded up on the floor, or languishing in the dryer, clothes develop wrinkles. The less you have to iron, the longer your clothes will last. And who wants to iron, anyway? 
  • makes it clear which clothes are clean. When your clothes are strewn all about the house, it can be difficult to tell the dirty stuff from the clean stuff. Clothes might go through the wash two or three times! When all your clothes have a home, it’s simple to tell what’s clean.
  • is decluttered, meaning you have fewer clothes to deal with overall. Things might get worn more often, which gives you a chance to update your wardrobe with current styles without having barely-worn items hanging around for ages. 
  • is eco- and budget-friendly! When you store clothes properly, they last longer and you won’t have to buy new ones. Donating items that you don’t wear gives them a chance to be loved by someone else, too. The longer a piece of clothing stays in circulation, the less new clothing has to be made. Don’t buy into the throwaway mentality of fast fashion! 

Speaking of Fast Fashion…

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