Taking Inventory Within Your Business | Keep. Donate. Trash.

Have you ever passed by an overflowing bin or a too-full junk drawer and thought to yourself, it’s time.

It’s time for the Keep. Donate. Trash. Process.

The what process, you ask?

Storytime, friends!

This past Sunday as I was helping Ellie hang up her clothes, I noticed her toy bins in her closet were starting to overflow and her artwork pile had gotten large enough.

I asked if she wanted to go through her stuff and (thankfully) she agreed.

We started with her school papers and simply made three piles - Keep. Donate. Trash.

We moved to her barbie bin, then to her treasures bin, and then to her clothes that were hanging up.

She found stuff she “couldn’t find anywhere”, parted with stuff she didn't play with, and had a small pile to pass along to other kiddos. Big wins over here and we both agreed it just felt so much better!

I had to pass by my office when carrying her things out to the garage and thought about how this Keep. Donate. Trash. Process is a need to do within our businesses.

Not only the actual stuff in our office (I see you, you little pile of papers on the left corner of my desk) - but even our services and/or products that we offer.

The stuff in our offices seems like the easy part. It could consist of old tech stuff, a printed workbook from a masterclass you signed up for 8 months and still haven’t watched, or swag items you got from that event you went to 4 months ago.

When looking at products/services, it might be a bit harder. But, as we wind down 2021 and start looking towards 2022 it’s important to take a look at both, what you currently offer and do within your business vs. what you’d actually like to offer and do within your business.

What does that look like?

Keep: keep doing the tasks you’re doing and offering the products/services you offer!
Donate: hiring out some tasks you no longer wish to do within your business or referring out services you no longer want to offer to another business owner and receiving a referral fee.
Trash: simply don’t offer a certain product or service anymore (yes, you can actually do this!)

For some, this may be super easy to do, and for others, it may be super difficult to do. Take it one step at a time and that may help to not feel so overwhelmed.

What would it look like if you did the Keep. Donate. Trash. Process within your business?

Does it sound like a relief or scare you a bit?!