A Stock Take On Stuff By Lisa Conway

How much stuff do you have? how many pens? pot plants? Cups, glasses? make up brushes? extra stock out the back? towels? cleaning rags? excess toilet paper ( well the toilet paper,” covid currency” might be important ) ,having said that, I bet you have way more than you need of most things, most people do.

Oprah put it beautifully when she said it’s a disease of the climate we are all living in and that it’s called Stuffitis!!.it’s what has happened to us over the last 100 years, where we are all collecting more and more STUFF.

Not only is it cluttering our homes its cluttering our salons too and its slowing efficiency down.

Think about this, when you are looking up a client, in your salon, you can only remember her first name, you type the word Sarah into your salon software and up comes Sarah after Sarah!!, it wastes time right , the clock is ticking while you scan over them all, next type in the name Zara, exactly, quick as a flash you find what you are looking for.

Less is more when it comes to so many things in Business. How often have you been looking for something in your back room and you find things you forgot you even had?

The thing with having excess “Stuff “in your life is what it is doing to you financially.

It can sometimes be the reason you feel like you are earning more every year, yet you don’t seem to have much to show for it?

I watched a program on becoming a minimalist and thought ‘That’s it “ that is why I am not making the progress I feel I should be. Money in ,money out

You can buy a pair of shoes for $60 or $260, and both of them might get worn to death or hardly worn at all.

In 2022 I have decided to make some serious steps towards, a minimalist lifestyle change. For an entire year I will seriously think about everything I own . I am going to ask myself; does it bring me joy? Can I do without it? And if I really do need to have it.

Slowly I will remove at least one item a week for an entire year.

Items from my wardrobe, the kitchen, and every room in my home. I have only been doing this for a month and already I feel mentally lighter and my bank account is slowly changing for the good. Fascinating. Opportunity shops are full to the brim, there is one near me that has I would say well over 50 pair of size ten denim shorts!!! Have you noticed that there are so many Opp shops now? I think that people don’t feel quite as bad if they gift what they don’t want to a Opp shop rather than it they binned it. It’s still land fill and if we keep buying the factories keep producing and nothing changes including your bank account.

I am determined to stop making impulse decisions, put some boundaries in place to slow myself down and even better stop myself from bringing things into the house that I will only occasionally use. I would also suggest that you get across your money. Make the time to do your personal and your business break even. It is an eye-opening exercise that will get you to understand what is really going on with having way more than you need.

Spend some time to be across what comes into your business and what goes out of your business. I am serious when I say this change and clarity will change your life.

Another place you might want to consider is your salon or clinics lunchroom. Often filled with excess stock, broken equipment, and a whole lot of other clutter. This doesn’t make the space feel special. More focus on making this time out space pleasant would be my suggestion. Show the team how much you value them. Start by removing the physical clutter and it will help you and your team with the mental clutter too.

If it hasn’t been used in 12 months, I’d be making the decision to move it on. Facebook market place is a great way to find another home.

Think about managing without it, then manage without it. Once you have cleared out the clutter think about how this new space might look if it had a choice. What if you had cupboards that were clearly marked as to what you might find inside. Imagine the back room being as inviting as any part of the business. What emotion do you want the lunchroom to have? What would you love to feel when you step out the back?

Why is to that the salon clients get the great space, and the salon team don’t. In my books both are equally important. These are some of the things that flash across me when I enter a back room that is cluttered. The first thing that springs to mind is “poor time management skills’ the second is “ a procrastinator”

This clutter slows you down, looking for something takes more time than it should because you are never sure of what you do and do not own. Often you have many places that you shove things, that means that you will need to waste time looking in other other 4 places you stash things. The shed, the boot of your car and so on. I know the story all too well.

It is time to put a stop to it, because it is taking up your valuable time.

Everyone is gifted the same amount of time every day and time is the only unrenewable recourse. You won’t ever get today again EVER.

Feeling in control gives you piece of mind. For most people the thought of tackling it is too big, this means they never start. I think just break it up into a box a week, or a box a day. A room a week or a room a day. The trick is to “get over your self chatter and just make a start” get a friend to help. Everyone has at least one reasonable friend who will be happy to help you out.

Live in the now , not in the ‘ one day I will’ Stop that, its hanging over your brain making it very difficult for you to get good clear messages from the universe.”

In the words of Arnold the terminator …………”you can do it “ and you certainly can.

For more salon wisdom, email me at lisa@zingcoach.com.au, visit my website, find my video tips on YouTube or read my books, all available in paperback , eBook, and Audio www.thezingproject.com.au