Do you feel like your business is too much? Too many offers, too much busy work, too many projects that aren’t really aligned with your greater vision? In this episode, Melissa Swink discusses step two of the Make Space for More framework, which is decluttering your business. Tune in for real-life examples and success stories of decluttering in business, including products/services, clients, team members, and unnecessary meetings. This is a must-listen for business owners who need to declutter and streamline!

Key Highlights:

• Decluttering your business is essential for growth and alignment.
• Trust your gut and consider what is draining your time and energy.
• Say no or change direction when something is not aligned.
• Gracefully transition out of relationships or services that are no longer serving you.
• Focus on your highest priorities and eliminate or delegate the rest.

About Melissa:

Melissa Swink, Founder & CEO of Melissa Swink & Co., has a team of virtual assistants who provide administrative and marketing support for small businesses and non-profits.

Since 2012, Melissa and her team have helped more than 100 businesses grow through the services they offer, and she is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs create profitable, scalable businesses they love.

Her work is all about doing what works (and eliminating what doesn’t) and driving real, measurable results. Visit www.melissaswink.com to learn more! 

Thanks for listening!

If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the podcast

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.

Leave us an Apple Podcast review

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are really valuable and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review.

Hi everyone, welcome to the Make Space for More podcast, where we talk strategies for growing and scaling your business in a way that's authentic and aligned for you. I'm your host, Melissa Swink, and in today's episode, we're going to be covering step two of the Make Space for More framework, which is decluttering your business. Now you may have heard this popular phrase, and I'll paraphrase a bit, if it's not a heck yes, it's a heck no.

And I know Marie Forleo is somebody that I've heard that from. Others have said it in a variety of areas in the past, but the essence is the same. If it's not something that you're truly and genuinely excited about and you enjoy, should you be spending your time, money, energy on it? The answer is no. And in order to build a business that's authentic and aligned for you, you're gonna have to say no or change direction sometimes.

I know I certainly have. My business structure is very different today than it was in the beginning. Our offerings are different. Our team members are different. Our clientele is different. Everything needs to evolve in order to continue growing and expanding. But I'll tell you this, it is not easy and it's especially difficult if it's something that's currently making you money. It can be really scary to make some of these changes. So I've got a lot of things to break down in this step. I don't want you to panic, but before we do,

I want to recap briefly what we covered in episode five. So in episode five, we covered the first step of the Make Space for More framework, which is to redesign your role as the CEO of your company. And what we did in that episode is we looked at what is our current to -do list, and we separated that out into four main categories, which are what brings in new business soon,

what brings in new business in the future or eventually, what are business management things that need to be done, and what are just all the other miscellaneous to -dos that we have on our plates. And from there, we were able to determine what are our highest priorities as the CEO of our businesses. In other words, what are our needle movers and how do we design and structure our calendar and our time that's geared toward generating those results.

But then of course, the key question remains is what do we do with everything else? Because we can't do all the things. And that's what we're going to talk about today. And in the next two episodes, we're going to deal with the quote unquote everything else. So step two in the make space for more framework is to declutter your business. In other words, we want to release what's holding you back and keeping this stock. Now, before we dive into what these things might be,

and share some success stories for people who have navigated these changes in their businesses and start looking at what are your next action steps. If you know that there are some things that need to be changed in your business, I want to give you two things before we dive in. Number one, be aware that your gut will respond to this exercise better than your mind will.

I feel like your gut is going to know the answer to these things and then your mind may have the tendency to be like, no, it's fine or but I can't release that because it's my top revenue generator. There might be all sorts of noise that comes up for you, but I just want you to thank your mind for bringing these things to your attention. Set them aside for now. Just play in this a little bit. Like just imagine if I were to release this, what else could I?

No pun intended, make space for more for. The second thing that I want to offer to you today before we dive into what needs to be decluttered in your business is that if you've been waiting for permission to make these changes, I'm giving that permission to you right now. Sometimes I feel like we know the changes that we need to make, but we're waiting for somebody else to verbalize that out loud or to...

reaffirm or to encourage us to make those changes, I'm giving you that permission slip today. So with all of that being said, I want you to take a deep breath and consider a couple of things that I'm about to go through that may be draining your time and energy as the CEO of your company. Item number one, products or services that are difficult to deliver, not profitable,

or no longer excite you. So I wanna give you an example from a client that I've worked with over the years in the strategy side of her business. Now she is a very successful photographer and she was looking at how do I do more of the branding work that I want to do. This is where my true enjoyment lies, but she was also doing...

family photos and wedding photos. And those things, as much as she enjoyed them, they just were not fitting well into her business model as she was wanting to grow and expand this other area. And so what we decided, I gave her that permission slip that I think she was waiting for and she knew she wanted to make this change. I said, you know what, let's no longer offer these things on your website. We're going to remove these keywords.

from your Google business listing. Let's just remove that and let's just focus all of your marketing and your messaging around the work that you actually do want to bring in. And of course she had that option if it was a friend or a loved one who was asking her to do these other photos, that's fine. But it was something that she just decided, you know what? I don't wanna continue doing this. I want to be focusing more on that instead.

and I give her a lot of credit for making that change. And I know a lot of us have come to the conclusion over the years that maybe there's a service that you loved at one point, but then eventually you kind of got burned out from offering it. Think about what those things might be in your business, or maybe it's something that your clients really love, but ultimately the profit margin on that is very, very small and it's difficult to make a profit on that thing.

Maybe it's time to focus your time and energy on other things that are more profitable for you. And we'll talk more about that in a few minutes here. The second thing that you might want to consider when we're looking at what's draining your time and energy, look at your clients. Are there any non -ideal clients that you are working with? And I can share some personal stories on this that can be very difficult to discontinue working with a client. That's something that

I personally take very seriously and certainly take to heart if we're no longer a fit to work with a client. But I'll give you an example from about five years ago. I was working with a client who had become a close friend of mine and we were doing a lot of work together and she ventured into the area of property management and needed some support with coordinating and...

answering inquiries and scheduling and all those kinds of things. But ultimately, as her business grew in that area, which was fantastic for her, it meant that I was providing 24 -7 customer service. I found that I was taking phone calls and text messages and responding to inquiries and things literally 365 days a year. I remember one...

July 4th that I had a bit of a breakdown because I just wanted to take my toddler daughter to the pool. It was hot out and I got stuck on a maintenance call and I was just so frustrated because I ultimately missed the open swim time that they had that day. And as much as I was happy for her business to be growing in that area, it just was not something that I could support anymore. And ultimately I needed to...

walk away from that working relationship. And I'll give you some thoughts and some tips on trying to gracefully transition out of situations like this. We'll get to that in a moment. But that was a huge step for me in looking at ultimately where do I want to be spending my time and energy as I'm growing my company and what do I really want, what fits in with my family's needs. So sometimes we need to make those difficult decisions.

The other thing that I wanted to mention too, when it comes to considering non -ideal clients, I also want to acknowledge that this is revenue generating for you. And so there is going to be a temporary loss of that revenue when you do offload these clients. Now, one thing that I wanted to, I guess, kind of forewarn or acknowledge here is that...

This client example that I just gave you this person was she she became a large client of mine and so I would say that she was probably 50 % of my business at that point and I caution you to anytime that I work with a client on strategy in their business, I do caution them and I would caution you as well be mindful of allowing any one particular client to

or maybe depending on the type of business that you're in, vendor to be more than 50 % of your overall clientele. And just be aware of the risks that if for some reason that client's business takes a downturn or if ultimately you are not wanting to provide that type of a service for the long term, it can be harder to build up that significant portion of your business, which will be gone. So I like to have a diversified clientele.

if you will, in terms of revenue coming in. So just wanted to mention that when we talk about non -ideal clients. Okay, the third thing, which may be draining your time and energy, are non -ideal team members. And I don't want to spend a lot of time going down this rabbit hole because we've certainly had coworkers from maybe our corporate days that we can think of here or ...

you know, horror stories that we've heard our friends tell about hiring the wrong person to do this or that. But I do want to acknowledge that sometimes there are team members that we work with who are good, but they're not great. Or maybe to put it in another way, they're doing OK. Maybe there are certain things that they're good at, but there are certain things that they're not good at. And when you take a look at where your business is, is

growing towards. And again, looking at that alignment piece of it, there may be people that are no longer fit to work with you over time as your business continues to evolve. So I wanted to also offer a client story here where I was doing some strategy work with one of our clients. I won't reveal what her exact industry was, but she was in a business services industry.

and she had hired a relative of hers who was recently downsized from her company. She was a couple of years out from retirement. So it was kind of like that that couple of years stage of her life where she was like, what do I want to be doing? Does it make sense for me to go out and look for a full time job? I'm looking for something part time. And so ultimately, my client decided, hey, I'll hire you a few hours a week to do X, Y or Z for my business. And the challenge was, is that this person,

was really good in a very small area of my client's business, but not so great at everything else. And she found herself not having enough work for this team member in this particular area of her expertise, but she struggled to hand off other things to her. And so it got to a point where this person was extremely overpaid to do a small amount of work.

in comparison to really what my client needed. And so she was able to work through and ultimately have some pretty honest conversations with her family member in a loving and caring and compassionate way. But they realized that they were just weren't a fit to work with one another. You know, my client's business really wasn't something that, you know, her relative was passionate about. And she felt like she was helping. They both ultimately felt like they were helping each other out.

But they decided at the end of the day to agree that it just wasn't a fit. So certainly when we're talking about discontinuing or transitioning relationships, these things can be very, very difficult. But there's also a way to do them in a way that feels good where both parties are being served to the very best that we possibly can. Okay. Step, or I should say item number four that might be draining your time or energy.

unnecessary or unproductive meetings. Now this can cover a whole variety of things, but I wanted to especially speak to groups that may no longer be a fit for you. So for example, maybe you have been in a mastermind group for several years and you found that it was very, very helpful for you in growing your business to the point that it's at now. But maybe you are looking around the room and you're finding,

I have the largest business or maybe my business structure is very different from others in the room where maybe that room is no longer quite the right fit for you and where you're headed in the future. Same thing could be said about networking groups. Maybe you've been a part of a referral group for many, many years. You know everybody in the group really well. You're steadily getting referrals, but you're at a point where

you're looking for something different. Maybe you want to meet a new group of people and join a different networking group. Certainly these are some things to consider. Other unnecessary unproductive meetings could be excessive team meetings where maybe there are better ways for you and your team to communicate where we don't necessarily have to all gather in real time, whether it be in person or on Zoom or something similar to that.

So consider those things, again, just to recap, what is draining your time and energy? Are there products or services that you're offering? Are there non -ideal clients that you're trying to serve? Are there non -ideal team members that you're trying to make that working relationship work? Are there unnecessary or unproductive meetings that you just don't need to be committed to anymore? Couple of thoughts here when we're also considering what's draining our time and energy. There's something that I like to call,

the caller ID gut check. And this could also translate for email or what have you. But when you look at your phone and somebody's name pops up or somebody pops up in your email, what is your gut reaction? Is it, so -and -so is calling or, so -and -so has a question for me? Or is it, not again? Or what do they want now? Or I'm just gonna let that go to voicemail or I'll deal with that later.

That's definitely a warning sign that this person might not be best aligned for you at this point in where you're at. Another thing is, is that when we're talking about maybe some things that are draining your time and energy, it might not necessarily automatically mean that you need to discontinue a relationship or discontinue a service that you've been offering, but maybe it's an indication.

that some boundaries need some clarification or reinforcement. Maybe that would be a step towards making the decision, is this something that can work or is this something that just can't work? So I wanted to mention that as well. So action steps here. Again, take a deep breath because your gut just answered these questions or maybe some seeds have been planted. Well, you know what?

As much as I love serving this type of a client, maybe you're serving a client in a particular industry, but when I look at my opportunities, I'm really excited about this thing over here, I don't know that I can adequately continue supporting that type of clientele in the future. Just start looking at where are we headed, what feels aligned, and maybe what might not be aligned for you in the future. But when we go back to your sorted to -do list, take a look at that.

and see if there are things on that to -do list that just really don't feel aligned for you anymore. Maybe it's discontinuing your membership in that particular group or attending that certain meeting, starting with low -hanging fruit on that list. Also consider your current offerings, your products, your services. Are there things that maybe it's as simple as removing those offers from your website and removing them from your marketing materials?

and not offering those anymore. Maybe it's not necessarily no longer serving clients in that area who are already purchasing those products or services from you, but maybe it's not taking on new business in that area. Maybe that's a good place to start there. Again, look at your clientele. Maybe there are certain clients that you know that you are not able to serve them in the capacity that they need, or maybe you're just not enjoying the type of work that you're doing for them.

Again, take a look at that. Take a look at your team members. Looking at where you're headed in your business, in your growth journey, are these people going to be in the right seats on the bus for that? And maybe there are some changes that need to be made there. Again, looking at your commitments, what's no longer a line for you? And I can tell you that there are ways to gracefully transition these things in a way that serves all parties well.

So certainly when we're talking about, especially releasing clients or team members, there's a runway period that we can use for transition. Certainly we're not talking about pushing somebody out the door and shutting it behind them. We can offer to help clients be matched with service providers who would best meet their needs. Or maybe we can make product recommendations or maybe there are other retailers or...

resources for them to utilize instead, that's an even better fit. Team members, maybe we're willing to provide them with a recommendation or introduce them to others that we know who may be in need of their particular area of expertise. There are ways that we can work together with other people to make this transition easier. Now, the last thing I want to leave you with here, as I mentioned, when I...

released that client of mine who was a quite significant part of my business. Yes, temporarily that loss of income was, it was a punch to the gut. I'm not going to lie, but it's always been surprising to me at how quickly new business comes in. It's almost like there's a vacuum created where it's like there's a blank space in the business. What's going to fill that?

I know it can be hard to believe and certainly wherever you're at in your entrepreneurial journey, you could probably vouch for this as well. The right opportunities show up at the right time. The right people show up, the right things show up. Maybe you get a call from somebody out of the blue who's looking for the type of product or service you offer. I've always had the right thing show up. I've never had...

periods of time where I'm like, gosh, what was I thinking where for the long term, short term, it can certainly feel painful, but in the long term where I'm like, gosh, I really wish I would have kept that account because I'm really struggling financially, that hasn't happened for me. I think when you make the space and you're very clear on what you want,

what you're looking for and certainly looking back at step number one, what are your highest priorities in terms of growing your business in a way that's authentic and aligned for you? These things really come together quickly and are able to fill that gap. So with all of that being said, another deep breath. Then the next episodes, we're going to talk about the remaining steps of the Make Space for More framework, which include things like automation,

and reducing the overall manual work that needs to be done in your business, simplifying things to make them easier, looking at building and scaling your team along with you along the way, and then looking at how do we continue to grow and evolve. We're going to talk about all of that in future episodes because I realize that when we look at our sorted to -do list, there are still more things that need to be done with, quote unquote, everything else that's on that list.

If you do not want to miss another episode and continue on this journey with us in terms of growing and scaling your business and following this framework, I encourage you to follow, subscribe to the Make Space for More podcast because we will be back with simple tips to continue to grow and scale your business, building systems, building team in order to really maximize your time but also dramatically increase your revenue.

Thanks so much for joining me today and I will see you again in the next episode.