December 19, 2023 • 18 mins
Are you feeling overwhelmed by the digital chaos cluttering your business? It may be time to clean up!
In this episode, we explore the critical elements of digital cleanup, how it can fuel your creativity, save precious time, and most importantly, ramp up your earnings. From managing passwords to organizing your emails, we explain the importance of routine digital cleaning and how it not only de-clutters your digital space but refreshes your mind and sparks fresh ideas.
Tune in and feel the relief of a cleaner, more productive workspace!
Mentioned Resources:
Password Advice – Episode 5: How to Protect your WordPress Site
In a part of this episode, I explain how to make your passwords not only long, but also hard for computer to guess!
The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than others do in 12 Months*
For those interested in new ways to organize your work life and increase your productivity, this is a great book to check out!
* This link contains an affiliate link. If you make a purchase, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
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Simply to go ecommercemadeeasypodcast.com/facebook/ and answer the membership questions so we know you are a real, warm-hearted, online business owner.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Did you know that a digital cleanup can be crucial
to your business success?
It may sound like a waste oftime at first, or even a little
boring, but a digital cleanupcan really increase productivity
tenfold or more.
When you're more productive,you generate more revenue in
your business.
So what are some key areas thatyou should do a digital cleanup
(00:22):
and how often should you dothem to maximize your success?
What is for this week's episode?
To find out some surprisinglysimple tasks to do.
Welcome to the eCommerce MadeEasy podcast.
I'm your host, kiri Saunders.
When we started this business,all I had was a couch, a laptop
and a nine-month-old my maingoal To help others.
(00:43):
Now, with over 20 years in theeCommerce building industry and
even more than that in webdevelopment, I have seen a lot.
I love breaking down the hardtech and the easily
understandable bits to helpothers be successful in their
online business.
Whether you're a seasonedeCommerce veteran or just
starting out, you've come to theright place.
So sit back, relax and let'sdive into the world of eCommerce
(01:03):
together.
Welcome back to this week'sepisode of the eCommerce Made
Easy podcast.
I'm your host, kiri Saunders.
It's the end of the year as I'mrecording this, but a digital
cleanup could happen anytime ofthe year, but why should we care
when we're always too busy asentrepreneurs and business
owners?
Or at least it sure seems likethat right On the service level,
(01:25):
it seems like it could be awaste of time, but really it's
not.
Digital cleanup helps us inmany ways.
It increases our productivity,it increases our creativity, it
saves us time, which in the endsaves us money.
It also reduces our mental loadwhen things are more organized,
(01:45):
and we're happier when thingsare more organized, obviously
because things are easier tofind and we're not frustrating
looking for what we need.
So when you wrap all thesetogether, then it also increases
your revenue.
Think about it.
Think about how all theselittle steps can really combine
together and really tin fold andreally increase your revenue.
(02:06):
So digital cleanup shouldhappen at least once a year.
However, if you're a big fan ofthe 12-week yearbook, like I am
, then you may want to considerdoing it in your 13th week.
We will link to that book inthis week's episode for a quick
reference to it.
So that could be once a quarter.
Then, if you do it like a12-week year, where you have a
(02:27):
13th week where you're planningand prepping and getting ready
for your next 12-week year.
So you not only would have aneasier time cleaning up if you
do it more often like this, butyou'd also read the benefits of
regularly cleaning up yourdigital devices.
But then, like I said, if youonly feel like you can fit it in
once a year, please don'tstress yourself out.
At least do it once a year.
You're going to feel so muchbetter when you get it done, and
(02:50):
then maybe consider doing itonce a quarter, like you moved
with the 12-week year.
So then, what are some areas ofour digital business world that
we should look at when we'redoing a digital cleanup?
First off, I'd like torecommend changing your
passwords.
With how many places we log inany more as business owners,
(03:12):
there are a ton of passwordsthat we have.
I recommend using a digitalpassword store so that you
aren't using the same passwordover and over again in multiple
places, and I've talked aboutthis before in some previous
episodes of the e-commerce madeeasy podcast, and so then you
might want to change yourpasswords.
You wouldn't have to change allyour passwords every quarter,
(03:35):
especially if you're doing itevery quarter like I'm
suggesting, but I wouldrecommend at least changing your
very important, most importantones, like your bank passwords
and the ones that are reallygetting you into those systems
that you really need to keepthem secure, and I would do the
other ones at least yearly.
Now we're going to link in ourshow notes to the episode where
(03:57):
I talked about password securityand how to really create a good
password too, because even ifwe were to change our passwords
regularly, if we make them toosimple and too short in length,
it's really not going to help ustoo much with security.
We need to make sure we havegood, strong passwords when we
do it, which is another reason Irecommend a digital password
(04:19):
store, so that you're notremembering these long,
complicated passwords.
But I do have a trick in thatother episode on how to create
memorable but long, securepasswords.
So make sure you check that outon the show notes after we're
done with this episode.
Okay, so the next thing I wantus to do is look at business
subscriptions.
Really, look down, look at allyour business subscriptions that
(04:40):
you have.
Make a list, if you don'talready have it, of all your
business subscriptions.
Now, this could be your emailservice provider.
It could be your hostingprovider.
It could be software that'spaid for yearly or maybe every
month.
So really make a good list ofthis and then I want you to look
at which ones do you stillregularly use, which ones don't
(05:03):
you ever use anymore, which onesdon't you need?
This is a great way to savemoney whenever you get rid of
those subscriptions that you areautomatically paying for that
you realize you don't reallyneed anymore, or you could even
go so far as to do a pricecomparison.
Sometimes it makes sense toswitch software if it's cheaper
(05:23):
and you get more features, andit's not hard to do.
I wouldn't recommend switchingyour email service provider
around lightly, for example,that one I would not recommend
switching unless you have areally good reason.
There are really good reasonssometimes to switch email
service providers, but that cancause email deliverability
issues, which I don't want to gointo too much of a tangent.
(05:44):
But I just want to make sureyou're aware that you do need to
be cautious if you areswitching softwares for some
reason.
So really put down the pros andcons there, but make sure you
keep up running the list of yoursubscriptions and, as you go
throughout the year, once you'vemade this list once, add to it
as you create a new subscription.
This is something we're workingon in our business right now,
(06:05):
because we had all of ourbusiness credit cards expire in
the same month, december of 2023.
So we had to redo all of ourcredit cards and all of our
subscriptions and we didn't havea list of them.
So that took us a lot more timeto figure out where we needed
to update the credit cards witha new number and a new
(06:27):
expiration date and a new CVV,because we didn't already have a
list.
So we would have already savedourselves some time if we had
kept this list.
So, not only a yearly list, but, you know, keeping it ongoing,
all right.
So next we want to clean up ourcomputer desktop.
I can't I can think of so manycustomers and friends and family
members that I'll go and lookat their computer whether it's
(06:49):
on a screen share, remote screenshare or something and their
desktop is a mess.
I mean, there is stuffeverywhere.
How do you even find thingslike that right?
So make sure that you arecleaning up your desktop.
I know a lot of people willsave things.
So a desktop is something quickto do and I have a little tip
at the end of this littlesection on how to Make that even
(07:10):
easier.
But you want to go through yourdesktop, organize your stuff
into folders, delete anyunnecessary files.
Now here's my little tip on whatI do on my computers.
I have a folder on my desktopcalled the delete me folder.
What I put in it is anythingand everything that's temporary
Things I've downloaded off theinternet that I know I'll
(07:31):
probably only use once.
I know I won't need to referback to them, unless it's an
extreme case.
In worst case I could just goget it again Temporary files.
So when customers send me likeWord documents and things like
that that I might just need tolook at once, I don't really
need to save them into their ownfolder.
I'll put them in the delete meinstalls, installs for programs.
(07:52):
I put them all in the delete mefolder.
So what that does for me iswhen I want to do a digital
cleanup, I know I can deleteeverything in that folder and
not worry about it.
I know everything I put in thatfolder is not at a loss if I've
deleted it.
So I have me a delete me folderon my desktop.
I prefer to use that ratherthan the downloads folder.
(08:15):
I'm not quite sure why somepeople do it in the downloads
folder, but you know some peoplestore their good stuff in the
downloads folder too.
So think about how your brainworks and what would work best
for you.
But let's make sure we'recleaning up our desktop and
that's one of the tricks that Ido and then, conversely, let's
clean up your desk.
I know that's not a digitaldevice, but it's around us.
(08:36):
When we're working on digitaldevices, you want to make sure
it is not cluttered.
It's going to increase yourproductivity.
If it's not and I'm actuallybad at this too, especially my
work desk I do tend to have thema bit cluttered.
I do have it as an organizedclutter.
So find the right balance anddon't stress about it too much,
because I do find my little bitof an organized clutter works
(08:59):
better for me.
But there are times I willcompletely clean it up and go
through things and make surethat I just don't have something
hanging on my desk that Ireally don't need anymore, and
you might find some things onyour desk when you do that and I
know I have before that maybeshould be turned into something
digital, maybe then needs to bescanned.
Maybe you don't need a paperversion of it anymore and then,
(09:21):
when you're organizing your desk, put anything you need daily
within arms reach.
This is a tip I found out manyyears ago.
But you want anything that youregularly want A pen, your
notepad, that you take notes on,your planner, things like that
within arms reach so you don'thave to do anything but reach
out and grab it.
And then, if there's anythingthat you use maybe weekly, maybe
(09:46):
have that, maybe a chair rollaway, or so Wouldn't necessarily
have to be within arms reach ifthere's not enough room, make
it about a chair rolls away andthen anything you use, maybe
monthly, you could maybe go upand get it.
You know, maybe you put itsomewhere even farther away from
you, but the key is to putthings you need daily right
there in your arms ring.
Think about how many secondsyou're going to save by having
(10:08):
something right there when youneed it, right, alright.
So next we're going to go backto our computer and actually our
phone here.
This is something you can do onboth devices.
So I want you to first reviewwhat programs haven't you used
in a whole year?
Do you still need them?
If not, uninstall them.
One is going to clean up yourdevice.
It's going to potentially makeit run faster because you don't
(10:31):
have extra things running on itand, honestly, it could be a bit
more secure, because then youhave last applications that need
to be updated to keep secure.
So there's no reason to keepprograms and applications that
you haven't used, especially ifyou haven't used them in over a
year and you know you're notgoing to ever use them probably.
And what about the applicationsthat you use most often on your
(10:54):
phone or your computer?
So you want to be similar toyour desktop, where we're
talking about our actualphysical desk top or desk, not
the computer desktop.
Sorry if that was confusing,but you want to have anything
that is an application on yourcomputer or on your phone that
you use daily be on your homescreen on your phone, or pen to
(11:15):
your taskbar if it's on yourcomputer.
That way you can get your emailquickly.
You can get to your socialaccounts if you do a lot of
social media marketing, you canget to those applications that
you need right away, super fastand super quick.
And then, conversely the thingsthat you don't use very often,
maybe organize those intofolders, or so I have on my
(11:38):
phone like a subfolder for games.
I don't really play games thatmuch on my phone, but I put them
all in a folder.
That way when I do want to playgames it's on like the second
or third screen on my phone, butthey're all together and I know
where they are and I don't needthem daily because I, like I
said, I regularly play games onmy phone.
So you could do the similarthing to your computer.
(11:58):
You know, maybe there's someapplications that you use once a
month or every couple weeks.
You know, tuck that somewhereit's easy to get to but like,
not immediately accessiblebecause you don't use it that
often and we don't need it to bementally in our way digitally
and you know, kind of cluttersour mind, right?
And then, finally, we want tolook at our own emails.
(12:19):
You want to archive them and ordelete them.
So what do I mean by that?
So sometimes we're out of aseason of our life.
Me, for example, my youngest isabout to start college next
year and I'm going to have allthe kids in college.
So I don't need that emailfolder from when they were in
(12:41):
elementary school anymore.
There's no reason that I wouldever need to reference any of
those old emails right and whenhe's out of high school, I'm not
going to need any of the old,say, marching band emails or
things like that that I mighthave wanted to refer to before.
Similar things can happen inyour business.
You might be out of a differentseason, you may have pivoted
(13:03):
your business and maybe youdon't ever need those old emails
.
So if you think you might needthem, I would recommend you
archive them, which puts them ina special place, kind of out of
sight, out of mind, unless youreally need them, or delete them
if you're really sure you neverwill need them.
Some people like to archivetheir emails every year and put
them in the previous year'sfolder.
I personally don't like to dothat because I'm always
(13:26):
searching for old emails andsometimes I go back many years
and I kind of want it in oneplace so I can search.
But that is a good way toorganize, depending upon how you
work and who you work with andthings like that.
Thank you, look at some systemsthere and see what works for
you.
And another thing that you cando is sometimes it's a great
(13:46):
idea to really think about howyou organize your email itself.
The getting things done.
David Allen likes to talk abouthaving an inbox at zero.
For me personally, that's veryhard to do.
I get hundreds of emails everyday and I would, and I have even
trimmed them down, I filteredthem, I've done all the things,
(14:07):
but I still get a lot of emailsevery day and I'm constantly
trying to whittle them down andget less emails.
But for me, getting an inbox atzero is actually very hard.
But what I have done is createdsystems so that I don't lose
those important emails most ofthe time.
There are some times I do makemistakes.
(14:27):
I would get all busy or urgentthings.
But really look at your emailsystems.
Is it working for you?
If it's not, do some googling.
I have found some really coolmethods for email sorting.
One's where you put things intoseparate folders depending on
what you need to do with them.
So reply folder, a later folder, a maybe someday folder, things
(14:49):
like that.
So if your email is reallybogging you down, do some quick
searching on Google or Bing oryour favorite search engine and
really look at some emailorganization methods out there
and evaluate them, see ifthey're for you.
Sometimes I've had to change myemail organization system just
because it used to work for me,but now things have changed in
(15:09):
my life and it doesn't work forme anymore.
An email can be one of thosetime sinks and really something
that we need to be digitallyorganizing even more often than
quarterly, probably at leastweekly at minimum.
So this is really a good time,when you do do this digital
review, to really step back andassess how are you managing your
(15:30):
email and does it really workfor you, because it can save you
so much time and create yourrevenue in your business if
we're efficient in something asmundane as the email.
Right, okay, so let's recap.
So, while digital cleanup maysound boring and potentially a
waste of time, it can reallyincrease productivity, which, in
the end, increases revenue,because we have things where
(15:53):
they need to be and we're lesscluttered, and which means our
mind is more clear, we can bemore creative and we can be more
productive.
So we talked about changing ourpasswords regularly, whether
that's once a year or once aquarter.
You really need to look at yourown business processes and what
works for you, but I recommendat minimum once a year.
And then you want to reviewyour business subscriptions make
(16:15):
sure you aren't paying forthings you don't need anymore.
Clean up your computer desktop.
If you're one of those peoplethat likes it and there's no
shame in it One of those peoplethat likes to have a bunch of
stuff on your computer desktop,make sure you're cleaning that
up regularly.
Also, clean up your desk aroundyou.
Like I said again, it reallyhelps your productivity and your
creativity if you're notlooking at a cluttered area.
(16:37):
And your applications on yourcomputer and your phone.
Make sure you're deleting anyold ones you don't use anymore.
It helps your device, it helpsyou mentally not seeing that
application and think when wasthe last time I used it, or it
takes you back to a memory thatit's not really necessary.
You just need to be keepinggoing with your life right.
And then email cleanup.
Make sure you're keeping thatas tight as you can find the
(17:00):
right balance for you, but itcan really help reduce overwhelm
and increase your productivity.
All right, so that's it for thisweek's episode of the eCommerce
Made Easy podcast.
If you're listening to us onour YouTube channel, be sure to
hit that subscribe button, andif you're listening on our
podcast, be sure to hit thesubscribe button there as well,
(17:21):
so you don't miss out when werelease new episodes and, as
always, we appreciate yourfeedback.
Drop us an email to podcast atbcsengineeringcom with any
suggestions or questions thatyou want us to answer on this
podcast.
Again, that is podcast atbcsengineeringcom.
(17:43):
We would love to hear from youand we will see you next week.
Did you know that a digital cleanup can be crucial
to your business success?
It may sound like a waste oftime at first, or even a little
boring, but a digital cleanupcan really increase productivity
tenfold or more.
When you're more productive,you generate more revenue in
your business.
So what are some key areas thatyou should do a digital cleanup
(00:22):
and how often should you dothem to maximize your success?
What is for this week's episode?
To find out some surprisinglysimple tasks to do.
Welcome to the eCommerce MadeEasy podcast.
I'm your host, kiri Saunders.
When we started this business,all I had was a couch, a laptop
and a nine-month-old my maingoal To help others.
(00:43):
Now, with over 20 years in theeCommerce building industry and
even more than that in webdevelopment, I have seen a lot.
I love breaking down the hardtech and the easily
understandable bits to helpothers be successful in their
online business.
Whether you're a seasonedeCommerce veteran or just
starting out, you've come to theright place.
So sit back, relax and let'sdive into the world of eCommerce
(01:03):
together.
Welcome back to this week'sepisode of the eCommerce Made
Easy podcast.
I'm your host, kiri Saunders.
It's the end of the year as I'mrecording this, but a digital
cleanup could happen anytime ofthe year, but why should we care
when we're always too busy asentrepreneurs and business
owners?
Or at least it sure seems likethat right On the service level,
(01:25):
it seems like it could be awaste of time, but really it's
not.
Digital cleanup helps us inmany ways.
It increases our productivity,it increases our creativity, it
saves us time, which in the endsaves us money.
It also reduces our mental loadwhen things are more organized,
(01:45):
and we're happier when thingsare more organized, obviously
because things are easier tofind and we're not frustrating
looking for what we need.
So when you wrap all thesetogether, then it also increases
your revenue.
Think about it.
Think about how all theselittle steps can really combine
together and really tin fold andreally increase your revenue.
(02:06):
So digital cleanup shouldhappen at least once a year.
However, if you're a big fan ofthe 12-week yearbook, like I am
, then you may want to considerdoing it in your 13th week.
We will link to that book inthis week's episode for a quick
reference to it.
So that could be once a quarter.
Then, if you do it like a12-week year, where you have a
(02:27):
13th week where you're planningand prepping and getting ready
for your next 12-week year.
So you not only would have aneasier time cleaning up if you
do it more often like this, butyou'd also read the benefits of
regularly cleaning up yourdigital devices.
But then, like I said, if youonly feel like you can fit it in
once a year, please don'tstress yourself out.
At least do it once a year.
You're going to feel so muchbetter when you get it done, and
(02:50):
then maybe consider doing itonce a quarter, like you moved
with the 12-week year.
So then, what are some areas ofour digital business world that
we should look at when we'redoing a digital cleanup?
First off, I'd like torecommend changing your
passwords.
With how many places we log inany more as business owners,
(03:12):
there are a ton of passwordsthat we have.
I recommend using a digitalpassword store so that you
aren't using the same passwordover and over again in multiple
places, and I've talked aboutthis before in some previous
episodes of the e-commerce madeeasy podcast, and so then you
might want to change yourpasswords.
You wouldn't have to change allyour passwords every quarter,
(03:35):
especially if you're doing itevery quarter like I'm
suggesting, but I wouldrecommend at least changing your
very important, most importantones, like your bank passwords
and the ones that are reallygetting you into those systems
that you really need to keepthem secure, and I would do the
other ones at least yearly.
Now we're going to link in ourshow notes to the episode where
(03:57):
I talked about password securityand how to really create a good
password too, because even ifwe were to change our passwords
regularly, if we make them toosimple and too short in length,
it's really not going to help ustoo much with security.
We need to make sure we havegood, strong passwords when we
do it, which is another reason Irecommend a digital password
(04:19):
store, so that you're notremembering these long,
complicated passwords.
But I do have a trick in thatother episode on how to create
memorable but long, securepasswords.
So make sure you check that outon the show notes after we're
done with this episode.
Okay, so the next thing I wantus to do is look at business
subscriptions.
Really, look down, look at allyour business subscriptions that
(04:40):
you have.
Make a list, if you don'talready have it, of all your
business subscriptions.
Now, this could be your emailservice provider.
It could be your hostingprovider.
It could be software that'spaid for yearly or maybe every
month.
So really make a good list ofthis and then I want you to look
at which ones do you stillregularly use, which ones don't
(05:03):
you ever use anymore, which onesdon't you need?
This is a great way to savemoney whenever you get rid of
those subscriptions that you areautomatically paying for that
you realize you don't reallyneed anymore, or you could even
go so far as to do a pricecomparison.
Sometimes it makes sense toswitch software if it's cheaper
(05:23):
and you get more features, andit's not hard to do.
I wouldn't recommend switchingyour email service provider
around lightly, for example,that one I would not recommend
switching unless you have areally good reason.
There are really good reasonssometimes to switch email
service providers, but that cancause email deliverability
issues, which I don't want to gointo too much of a tangent.
(05:44):
But I just want to make sureyou're aware that you do need to
be cautious if you areswitching softwares for some
reason.
So really put down the pros andcons there, but make sure you
keep up running the list of yoursubscriptions and, as you go
throughout the year, once you'vemade this list once, add to it
as you create a new subscription.
This is something we're workingon in our business right now,
(06:05):
because we had all of ourbusiness credit cards expire in
the same month, december of 2023.
So we had to redo all of ourcredit cards and all of our
subscriptions and we didn't havea list of them.
So that took us a lot more timeto figure out where we needed
to update the credit cards witha new number and a new
(06:27):
expiration date and a new CVV,because we didn't already have a
list.
So we would have already savedourselves some time if we had
kept this list.
So, not only a yearly list, but, you know, keeping it ongoing,
all right.
So next we want to clean up ourcomputer desktop.
I can't I can think of so manycustomers and friends and family
members that I'll go and lookat their computer whether it's
(06:49):
on a screen share, remote screenshare or something and their
desktop is a mess.
I mean, there is stuffeverywhere.
How do you even find thingslike that right?
So make sure that you arecleaning up your desktop.
I know a lot of people willsave things.
So a desktop is something quickto do and I have a little tip
at the end of this littlesection on how to Make that even
(07:10):
easier.
But you want to go through yourdesktop, organize your stuff
into folders, delete anyunnecessary files.
Now here's my little tip on whatI do on my computers.
I have a folder on my desktopcalled the delete me folder.
What I put in it is anythingand everything that's temporary
Things I've downloaded off theinternet that I know I'll
(07:31):
probably only use once.
I know I won't need to referback to them, unless it's an
extreme case.
In worst case I could just goget it again Temporary files.
So when customers send me likeWord documents and things like
that that I might just need tolook at once, I don't really
need to save them into their ownfolder.
I'll put them in the delete meinstalls, installs for programs.
(07:52):
I put them all in the delete mefolder.
So what that does for me iswhen I want to do a digital
cleanup, I know I can deleteeverything in that folder and
not worry about it.
I know everything I put in thatfolder is not at a loss if I've
deleted it.
So I have me a delete me folderon my desktop.
I prefer to use that ratherthan the downloads folder.
(08:15):
I'm not quite sure why somepeople do it in the downloads
folder, but you know some peoplestore their good stuff in the
downloads folder too.
So think about how your brainworks and what would work best
for you.
But let's make sure we'recleaning up our desktop and
that's one of the tricks that Ido and then, conversely, let's
clean up your desk.
I know that's not a digitaldevice, but it's around us.
(08:36):
When we're working on digitaldevices, you want to make sure
it is not cluttered.
It's going to increase yourproductivity.
If it's not and I'm actuallybad at this too, especially my
work desk I do tend to have thema bit cluttered.
I do have it as an organizedclutter.
So find the right balance anddon't stress about it too much,
because I do find my little bitof an organized clutter works
(08:59):
better for me.
But there are times I willcompletely clean it up and go
through things and make surethat I just don't have something
hanging on my desk that Ireally don't need anymore, and
you might find some things onyour desk when you do that and I
know I have before that maybeshould be turned into something
digital, maybe then needs to bescanned.
Maybe you don't need a paperversion of it anymore and then,
(09:21):
when you're organizing your desk, put anything you need daily
within arms reach.
This is a tip I found out manyyears ago.
But you want anything that youregularly want A pen, your
notepad, that you take notes on,your planner, things like that
within arms reach so you don'thave to do anything but reach
out and grab it.
And then, if there's anythingthat you use maybe weekly, maybe
(09:46):
have that, maybe a chair rollaway, or so Wouldn't necessarily
have to be within arms reach ifthere's not enough room, make
it about a chair rolls away andthen anything you use, maybe
monthly, you could maybe go upand get it.
You know, maybe you put itsomewhere even farther away from
you, but the key is to putthings you need daily right
there in your arms ring.
Think about how many secondsyou're going to save by having
(10:08):
something right there when youneed it, right, alright.
So next we're going to go backto our computer and actually our
phone here.
This is something you can do onboth devices.
So I want you to first reviewwhat programs haven't you used
in a whole year?
Do you still need them?
If not, uninstall them.
One is going to clean up yourdevice.
It's going to potentially makeit run faster because you don't
(10:31):
have extra things running on itand, honestly, it could be a bit
more secure, because then youhave last applications that need
to be updated to keep secure.
So there's no reason to keepprograms and applications that
you haven't used, especially ifyou haven't used them in over a
year and you know you're notgoing to ever use them probably.
And what about the applicationsthat you use most often on your
(10:54):
phone or your computer?
So you want to be similar toyour desktop, where we're
talking about our actualphysical desk top or desk, not
the computer desktop.
Sorry if that was confusing,but you want to have anything
that is an application on yourcomputer or on your phone that
you use daily be on your homescreen on your phone, or pen to
(11:15):
your taskbar if it's on yourcomputer.
That way you can get your emailquickly.
You can get to your socialaccounts if you do a lot of
social media marketing, you canget to those applications that
you need right away, super fastand super quick.
And then, conversely the thingsthat you don't use very often,
maybe organize those intofolders, or so I have on my
(11:38):
phone like a subfolder for games.
I don't really play games thatmuch on my phone, but I put them
all in a folder.
That way when I do want to playgames it's on like the second
or third screen on my phone, butthey're all together and I know
where they are and I don't needthem daily because I, like I
said, I regularly play games onmy phone.
So you could do the similarthing to your computer.
(11:58):
You know, maybe there's someapplications that you use once a
month or every couple weeks.
You know, tuck that somewhereit's easy to get to but like,
not immediately accessiblebecause you don't use it that
often and we don't need it to bementally in our way digitally
and you know, kind of cluttersour mind, right?
And then, finally, we want tolook at our own emails.
(12:19):
You want to archive them and ordelete them.
So what do I mean by that?
So sometimes we're out of aseason of our life.
Me, for example, my youngest isabout to start college next
year and I'm going to have allthe kids in college.
So I don't need that emailfolder from when they were in
(12:41):
elementary school anymore.
There's no reason that I wouldever need to reference any of
those old emails right and whenhe's out of high school, I'm not
going to need any of the old,say, marching band emails or
things like that that I mighthave wanted to refer to before.
Similar things can happen inyour business.
You might be out of a differentseason, you may have pivoted
(13:03):
your business and maybe youdon't ever need those old emails
.
So if you think you might needthem, I would recommend you
archive them, which puts them ina special place, kind of out of
sight, out of mind, unless youreally need them, or delete them
if you're really sure you neverwill need them.
Some people like to archivetheir emails every year and put
them in the previous year'sfolder.
I personally don't like to dothat because I'm always
(13:26):
searching for old emails andsometimes I go back many years
and I kind of want it in oneplace so I can search.
But that is a good way toorganize, depending upon how you
work and who you work with andthings like that.
Thank you, look at some systemsthere and see what works for
you.
And another thing that you cando is sometimes it's a great
(13:46):
idea to really think about howyou organize your email itself.
The getting things done.
David Allen likes to talk abouthaving an inbox at zero.
For me personally, that's veryhard to do.
I get hundreds of emails everyday and I would, and I have even
trimmed them down, I filteredthem, I've done all the things,
(14:07):
but I still get a lot of emailsevery day and I'm constantly
trying to whittle them down andget less emails.
But for me, getting an inbox atzero is actually very hard.
But what I have done is createdsystems so that I don't lose
those important emails most ofthe time.
There are some times I do makemistakes.
(14:27):
I would get all busy or urgentthings.
But really look at your emailsystems.
Is it working for you?
If it's not, do some googling.
I have found some really coolmethods for email sorting.
One's where you put things intoseparate folders depending on
what you need to do with them.
So reply folder, a later folder, a maybe someday folder, things
(14:49):
like that.
So if your email is reallybogging you down, do some quick
searching on Google or Bing oryour favorite search engine and
really look at some emailorganization methods out there
and evaluate them, see ifthey're for you.
Sometimes I've had to change myemail organization system just
because it used to work for me,but now things have changed in
(15:09):
my life and it doesn't work forme anymore.
An email can be one of thosetime sinks and really something
that we need to be digitallyorganizing even more often than
quarterly, probably at leastweekly at minimum.
So this is really a good time,when you do do this digital
review, to really step back andassess how are you managing your
(15:30):
email and does it really workfor you, because it can save you
so much time and create yourrevenue in your business if
we're efficient in something asmundane as the email.
Right, okay, so let's recap.
So, while digital cleanup maysound boring and potentially a
waste of time, it can reallyincrease productivity, which, in
the end, increases revenue,because we have things where
(15:53):
they need to be and we're lesscluttered, and which means our
mind is more clear, we can bemore creative and we can be more
productive.
So we talked about changing ourpasswords regularly, whether
that's once a year or once aquarter.
You really need to look at yourown business processes and what
works for you, but I recommendat minimum once a year.
And then you want to reviewyour business subscriptions make
(16:15):
sure you aren't paying forthings you don't need anymore.
Clean up your computer desktop.
If you're one of those peoplethat likes it and there's no
shame in it One of those peoplethat likes to have a bunch of
stuff on your computer desktop,make sure you're cleaning that
up regularly.
Also, clean up your desk aroundyou.
Like I said again, it reallyhelps your productivity and your
creativity if you're notlooking at a cluttered area.
(16:37):
And your applications on yourcomputer and your phone.
Make sure you're deleting anyold ones you don't use anymore.
It helps your device, it helpsyou mentally not seeing that
application and think when wasthe last time I used it, or it
takes you back to a memory thatit's not really necessary.
You just need to be keepinggoing with your life right.
And then email cleanup.
Make sure you're keeping thatas tight as you can find the
(17:00):
right balance for you, but itcan really help reduce overwhelm
and increase your productivity.
All right, so that's it for thisweek's episode of the eCommerce
Made Easy podcast.
If you're listening to us onour YouTube channel, be sure to
hit that subscribe button, andif you're listening on our
podcast, be sure to hit thesubscribe button there as well,
(17:21):
so you don't miss out when werelease new episodes and, as
always, we appreciate yourfeedback.
Drop us an email to podcast atbcsengineeringcom with any
suggestions or questions thatyou want us to answer on this
podcast.
Again, that is podcast atbcsengineeringcom.
(17:43):
We would love to hear from youand we will see you next week.
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