Speaker 1: 0:01

So you want to launch a subscription box and don't know where to start? Girl, you are in the right place. I'm Julie Ball and I'm Renee Gonzalez, your host here at Subscription Box Basics, a podcast for new and aspiring subscription box entrepreneurs wanting to avoid overwhelm. So grab a coffee, some pen and paper and let's have some fun. Welcome to Subscription Box Basics, the podcast. My name is Renee Gonzalez and I am one of your Subscription Box coaches here at Subscription Box Basics, and today, in today's episode, we are going to talk about spring cleaning your business.

Speaker 1: 0:43

It is the start of quarter two of 2024, if you are listening to this live. So we are done with the start of the year. You're already done with a quarter. Some of that excitement and inspiration to make this the best year yet that you had, maybe beginning of January, is starting to possibly wear off a little bit. So I am here to chat with you a little bit, revive your enthusiasm about your business and about the rest of 2024 and help give you some quick little tips that will get you back on track and moving forward to make quarter two and quarter three and quarter four successful for yourself and for your business.

Speaker 1: 1:33

So we're going to dive in today and talk about five little tasks that you can do to help spring clean your business. And starting with number one is to clean your workspace, and some people have offices that are dedicated to their subscription box business. You may have a warehouse, you may have a corner in a room. You might whip out all of your subscription box stuff and put it on your dining room when it's packing time. Whatever your situation is, it is time to assess it and see if it is one could use a little spring cleaning. And two, if it's optimizing you and helping you when it comes time to pack or sit down and focus on your subscription box business, or if it making you take a step backwards, if you have to look for stuff every time, if you go to take pictures and you're taking pictures of your box but you can't find your tripod to put your phone on. Every time I'm speaking to myself, my tripod always is missing. I'm like where did I put it? It's time to clean and have a dedicated spot for those things, those things that you're always misplacing, those things that take those extra minutes or hours to re-find or re-introduce those systems.

Speaker 1: 3:05

Take this week, since you're listening to this right now make it a priority to take some time to get yourself cleaned wherever you are working, because I know again, speaking for myself personally when my office is clean, when my desk is clean, when my laptop desktop is clean. I just spent a couple minutes before I was recording this, moving files into their correct folders and moving things into the trash that I didn't need cluttering my desktop of my laptop. When those things are clear, it's easier for your mind to be clear and really focus on the things that you need to be using brainpower for. So number one of our spring cleaning your business is to take some time this week and to organize your workspace, whatever that workspace looks like. Number two is to, again along the line of organizing, organize your box inventory, and this is a two-part because we're already talking about cleaning your workspace. So physically clean your inventory and organize your inventory, but also start to get a little creative with excess inventory. But also start to get a little creative with excess inventory, and I know here at Subscription Box Basics we have a workshop that can help you get rid of excess inventory that is available for purchase. You can listen to past episodes here at Subscription Box Basics because we've talked on this topic before.

Speaker 1: 4:46

But you're moving into summer and typically for subscription box businesses, summer we call it a summer slump. Summer tends to slow down for most niches. So if you are moving into that summer slump, you need to get a little creative, and a lot of the times what that could look like is making bundles of your excess inventory or putting that excess inventory on sale, using some of those things as a bonus gift for new subscribers. Find ways to get creative. So I want you to organize your excess inventory and your future inventory too, and really make your physical workspace again easier to work with. But organize it also in the way of how can I get creative? And if I have excess past inventory, what can I do to move that when my subscription sales and new subscribers might be starting to slow down, moving into transitioning between quarter two and quarter three, so that summer slump that you may have heard people talk about, how can you get creative so that doesn't affect your business revenue? So I want you to number one, organize your workspace and clean your workspace. Number two, start getting creative and organize your inventory both present, future and past inventory and start to figure out how you can move some of that past inventory so it brings you revenue when your business, new subscribers start to dip a little bit going into the summer.

Speaker 1: 6:25

And number three for spring cleaning your business is to update your website, and this seems like an obvious one and it seems like something that you may have already been doing, especially in the subscription box business. If you have a monthly box, you do have to go in there monthly and make changes. But I want you to deep dive further into your website. Are there new testimonies from subscribers that you can put up that may refresh your website? Are there pictures that are a little outdated and maybe you can put some past boxes that are a little more recent in there? Are there things that may not apply anymore? Or maybe make sure and double check is your shipping all correct? Are numbers for your inventory that are in your one-time shop? Are those up to date? Really deep dive into your website. We suggest doing this often, but definitely at the start of every quarter.

Speaker 1: 7:34

Really take a deep dive and see like, what else can I do to kind of freshen this up? And then I said website, but also look at your social media channels. I know a lot of the times, specifically on Instagram or Facebook. If you have links that are there in your profile. It may be things that you're linking to that are no longer relevant, so you may have an outdated lead magnet there that still has the link or the links on top, but it's really not something you reference a lot in your posts. It's important to look at your profiles and really make sure that your pictures and your copy there are also up to date. So we're rapid firing these, like I do a lot in my solo episodes, but I really want to give you action steps that you can listen to real quick and then move forward and take action and help move your business forward. So make sure that while you are spring cleaning your business, you take the time and look at your website and make sure that is up to date as well, and then, after you do that, I want you to look at your calendar, and I already talked a little bit about this. We, if you are listening to the slides, we are at the start of quarter two.

Speaker 1: 8:57

Typically, when summer approaches, most subscription box businesses go into a little slump. Your subscribers are busy with all the things. Maybe they're vacationing. If they have a family, maybe their kids are off for summer. The summer just looks different, no matter where you are in your stage in life. It just looks a little different. So sometimes people pause or cancel their subscriptions and you need to think of ways to make sure that doesn't affect your back end on your business and affect your revenue that is coming in. So how can you get creative? There are things you cannot avoid, like them becoming busy and possibly making those changes, but you can entice them to stick around and you can really up your customer experience from right now moving forward. Maybe add in an incentive right now, before they start to feel.

Speaker 1: 9:56

I know I'm a mom of two girls. They are ending fifth grade, my daughter is going to no longer be in elementary school and then I have an eighth grader who is transitioning into high school. So already April 1st hit and I literally I text one of my friends we, my girls, do swim as one of their sports and I was like man, like thought, thought I was excited for swim but just remembered how hectic spring gets and it already. You're, you're so grateful for all the things you're doing, no matter what stage in life you're at. But it does start to pick up and you kind of realize these things, and I'm telling you this story because if you have subscribers who are parents right now spring, the end of the school year, the start of summer that time is really, really busy for them. So how can you as a box business owner, kind of alleviate those things and maybe use that for your marketing and for your messaging when reaching out to them or enticing them? Maybe now's the time to run a promotion, for if they're a month-to-month subscriber and they upgrade to three months, maybe you throw in that extra gift or you give a little discount or you do something to get them to commit now, before they start getting super, super busy to commit to stay with you through summer.

Speaker 1: 11:18

So look at your calendar, see what things that you can do to on the business side, do promotions and really help again keep your income steady or rising. But also, what can you do just with the type of subscribers and people that you have that are customers in your business? What can you do to make their life easier and what might be on their calendar that, if you speak to, that you can help relate to them and make them wanna stay around through forever, but at least through the summer slump. So take a look at your calendar when you are spring cleaning your business and really start to figure out ways to plan promotionally, but also to up your customer service game as well. And then my last tip for spring cleaning your business, and while you have your calendars out already and you're listening to this, I want you to schedule some self-care, because as entrepreneurs, as business owners, we always tend to go, go, go and sometimes it is super important, always it is super important to take care of yourself, but to plan something for yourself.

Speaker 1: 12:35

So my number five spring cleaning to do is to plan something that is a self-care item for yourself. That can look like going to a pedicure or getting a massage, some sort of self-care treatment, or it can look as scheduling a walk or going for a hike. It doesn't have to cost money, but it has to be a mental reset for you and time just for you that is away from your business, away from your family or partners, whatever else you have going on, and really just focusing on you. I know Julie and I have talked about this a lot too, and when we are together but we're outside of working on our business. So a lot of the times we'll pick a setting that is, we both enjoy the beach, so we'll plan to go somewhere that's sunny, that is tropical and I'm not saying book a vacation. I know not everyone is capable of doing it. If you are can swing it, absolutely do it. But if you take yourself and you put yourself outside of your business, outside of your workspace and that could be as simple as going for a walk I feel like that is really when my creative brain starts going and as simple as going for a walk. You feel rejuvenized and ready to get new ideas. Pivot and look outside of your business, from your four walls of your normal workspace, and you can see a little broader and really just be refreshed. Even if that creative spirit doesn't come to you on a walk or while getting a pedicure, you're still able to relax and then go back into your workspace ready to get after it again. So while you're looking at your calendar to do number five, do some sort of self-care, something for yourself. So I'm going to go through these five one more time.

Speaker 1: 14:37

To recap Spring cleaning for your business. These are all must-dos. I want you to follow up with us at our Instagram dms at subscriptionboxbasics. Let me know that you did all these to do's. Let me know if you have any questions. Number one clean your workspace. Number two organize your inventory past, present and future and get creative with that inventory. How can you start to move it? Number three update your website and don't forget about your social media pages too. Look at your profiles. Get rid of outdated copy or photos and replace it with something a little more current. Number four take a look at your calendar. Get organized in your calendar from a business side of it and also a personal side of it, but then start to get a little creative and look at where you can do promotions that are relevant to your customers and then think of their calendar and how can you make their life a little easier when their calendar starts to pick up into the busy months of summer.

Speaker 1: 15:47

And then, number five schedule some self-care for yourself. Again, that could be as simple as going for a walk. A little more of upgrade. I like to do spa, spa, self-care days. Or, if you're feeling crazy and it's been a while since you've gone on a little vacation, this is your permission to book a vacation too, because if you take time to prioritize your self-care and yourself, you will then go back into working on your business and working on your box even more fresh and ready. So even if you're taking time away from what you feel like is work time, it's going to come and make you even more productive when you are working. So I hope this episode was helpful. It's short, it's sweet, but I want you to go, take action and then see us next week on a next episode of Subscription Box Basics. Bye, oh, okay.