10 Essential End of Year Purges for Speakers, Authors and Business Owners (A Checklist)

You may be getting ready for holiday guests (maybe they've already arrived!!) or packing bags for a trip of your own. Maybe you're already experiencing the chaos of last minute Christmas shopping or are fulfilling your wish for a laid back, uneventful closeout to the year.

Whatever your traditions, hopes and expectations for the end of the month, today is Tuesday, December 20. There are 13 days until January 2, 2023. It's the perfect time to start closing off the past year and get ready for the new.?

Here is a 10-part checklist I've used for almost 20 years and have recommended to numerous clients. Focus on one each day while still taking days off for the holidays of your choice and you'll still be ready to go come January. Procrastinate and you'll have to double-up or triple-up tasks, which may become overbearing to the point where you won't get any of the checklist marked off.

One of your best defenses over the possible coming speakerpocalypse I wrote about last week is to have all of your business tools sharp as razors! This checklist will help.

[Note: If you take action with any of these suggestions, you are doing so upon your own free will and Marty Dickinson and Here Next Year, LLC, assume no liability whatsoever.]

#1 Email

Purging your email is at the top of the checklist because it's still one of the (if not THE) most vital part of your business. Love it or hate it, we all check our email within the first hour or two of getting out of bed every morning. Email is still the primary communication tool for one-to-one or one-to-many. Here are three primary email purges for you to consider.

A) Your email distribution list(s) - If you send broadcast emails to your followers and connections, check your reports for bounced or nonexistent email addresses and remove them from your list. Consider sending a series of emails to your entire list and purging those that do not open any emails from you. Personally, I don't have a lot of faith in any 3rd party email sender. So, if I see a subscriber goes a long time without opening a distributed email from me, I'll send a personalized email through my Gmail account to ask if they've been receiving the emails and want to continue.

B) Your email accounts - Check on your storage limits for your email account(s). Be sure to empty your trash bin and emails clogging up your Promotions and Social tabs (in Gmail) as these eat up storage fast. Many email providers do not allow you to access your email account once your allotted email storage has been exceeded. So, this is an important one to watch.

C) Email distributions YOU opt-ed in to receive - If you haven't opened an email during the past three months from a newsletter or opt-in series you subscribed to, you're probably not going to ever read them. Consider unsubscribing and purging those emails from your inbox.

#2. Domain Names

December is a great time to take inventory of all of your domain names. Of course, you want to look at the renewal date for your primary website domain name and make sure that's all scheduled for auto-renew or at least be reminded of what month you need to manually renew it.?I shouldn't have to say this, but assure all of your domain names are registered in YOUR name and not your web site designer's name or the name of your virtual assistant.

Review your forwarded domain names as well. Are there any you are not using any longer? If so, either remove them or set them up to be sold instead of continuing to pay for them.

I've found numerous clients over the years to be paying in excess of $100 a year for domain names they haven't used in a decade. This is just an unnecessary waste of money and easy to fix.

[Note: If you see an unusual increase in domain name renewal prices, I strongly urge you to consider moving your domain names to my personal domain name reseller account (since 2003). I call it Best Domain Place and I have hundreds of clients and connections who have enjoyed consistent pricing and safety from domain name hijacking, without all the hidden pricing tricks of the big registrars. Transferring is free when you pay for at least one year additional for the domain name, which you would have to pay anyway. So, it's really a wash.]

#3. Social Media

LinkedIn and Facebook have at least two things in common: connections and groups. These are two areas to monitor and purge.

A) Connections - It's a bit of a morbid thought as we come up to such a joyous holiday, but people do eventually die. And, unfortunately, profiles of the deceased and their connections are still present on LinkedIn and Facebook until a family member proves the account needs to be removed. Scan through your connections and disengage from anyone you know who has passed, unless of course, you have another reason for keeping the connection alive. Your choice completely.

While you're scanning through your connections, consider disconnecting from anyone else you feel might be worthy of removal. Clients you've fired, former employees, former friends and estranged relatives, odd names of people you have no idea how or why they're connected to you...these are all possible opportunities to clean up your connections.

B) Groups - Hopefully you are a member of my Speakers Speak Group on Facebook and Professional Speakers Speak and Sell Services on LinkedIn. I am extremely proud of all of our members for making both groups relevant and beneficial to each other. Groups on social media that are not contributing to your knowledge or business should be removed from your membership and Groups list (displayed on the left column).

#4. Phone

Your cell phone is like having a third hand. It goes with you wherever you go. Why let it get cluttered? Here are three ways to purge your phone contents:

A) Contacts - One of the easier action items on this checklist is to purge old phone contacts. I realized on a plane flight a few weeks ago that I still had 70+ contacts on my phone for when I coached my daughter's softball team two years ago! A few of the parents became long-term friends but the majority I'll never associate with again. So, bam! Removed.

B) Notes - I love the notes feature of the cell phone. Some notes I've kept for years and just keep adding to and others I have no idea what they are. Go through your notes and remove those that do not make sense or are outdated.

C) Text Messages - Figure out for yourself how far back you need to keep your text messages. For me, anything before one year ago serves no purpose. Most cell phones have a way to delete text messages priory to a certain date while retaining current messages so that you can refer back to them. Here's an example for iPhones >>

#5. Your Website

Your website is the heart of everything you do for your business. It's the only real estate on the internet that you truly own. Protect it, keep it current and secure. Here is a shortened series of steps that I'll elaborate on in a later issue. Your hosting company or developer can help you with this if you don't know how (or contact me if you don't have a helper.)

A) Backup your website's files and database.?

B) Upgrade/update your website's WordPress version and theme (Careful with this one and consult your developer before you do anything!!).

C) Update your plugins and remove unused ones.

D) Purge fake comments and comment requests. Most website owners don't allow comments anymore.

E) Remove old blog posts with outdated information or update the posts with current facts.

F) Scan your website for malicious code. Sometimes you don't know your own website has been infected. Several free web-based scanners exist.

#6. Computer

There are far too many purge items for a computer to list here. But, if you only had a short amount of time to pick the most important, these would be my recommendation.?

A) Backup your main computer's hard drive and system files. Hopefully you already have a process in place that backs-up your computer routinely and automatically.

B) Run an external virus and malware check for your main computer. Many free web-based virus checkers exist. Just search for them on Google.?

C) Remove your Temp files.

D) Remove your history and cache files from your browser.

E) Review your "downloads" folder and transfer images, photos and videos that need to be kept to an external hard drive and remove them from your downloads folder. Delete unused or unneeded files from the Downloads folder.

F) Remove programs or apps not being used.

G) Empty your Trash folder.?

#7. Books

This one is simple. Out with the old and in with the new. Whether you have a bookshelf full of unread books, or a Kindle Reader maxed out with downloaded ebooks from Amazon, go through them all and make room for new books!?

If you are the author of a self-published or published book, take inventory of your promotional status. Is your Amazon book description still adequate or do your reader reviews suggest you might want to make some changes? Have you taken screenshots of all of your reviews in case Amazon randomly decides to remove any of them? Yes, this happens! Renew your commitment to promoting your book. I wrote and extensive article about this a few weeks ago, which you can read here >>

#8. Memberships

This one is a bit more involved. Carefully consider everything you are paying for in money and time to belong to or receive. Here is a short list of things you might be investing in. Purge those that are just not working for you and keep the ones that are producing.

• Professional clubs
• Referral groups
• Software maintenance programs
• Speaking opportunity contact lists and databases
• Volunteer activities

#9. People

This one might be the most difficult to implement on the checklist, but it has to be considered for your sanity as well as your assurance of a prosperous 2023.?

Who are those toxic people in your life that are holding you back or keeping you down? Every time you mention to those people that you're a professional speaker (or moving in that direction), for example, they make you feel like a loser and that no audience would even have an interest listening to you! Purge those people from your thoughts, communications and schedules.

You cannot reason with people who are envious of you. And, believe me, anyone who tries to knock you down when you're building your business is just that...envious and jealous! They only wish they had the guts to do what you're doing! They are always the ones who are stuck at a sucky job or have no job at all. For some speakers, this checklist item should be the first on the list.

#10. Your Desk and Work Area

Last, have a look around your work area at your home or office. What can be purged and what can be stored more efficiently??

I love giant sticky notes. You know, they're about 3' high and have sticky on the back so you can hang them on your wall. My office/virtual studio walls are full of them. Today, I realized eight of them were so old that none of what I had written on them was relevant anymore. That's about a 12' x 12' space on my wall that is now empty and ready for...yes...more sticky notes!?

What parts of your office are cluttered with old items you could be using more productively over the next year? Have a look around. Consider your work flow. Is your camera pointing in the direction of your room to provide the best lighting when you're on Zoom? Would moving your desk to the other side of the room give you a burst of inspiration for being in your office more? Could adding plants, pictures or a new coat of paint supply more energy to your work space?

You will probably spend more than half of your working hours in your home or work office. Take some time to make any changes that will make you more comfortable and excited to spend time there.

CHARGE FORWARD!

None of these suggestions are worth the space they're taking up in the cyberverse unless you're willing to take action. But, taking just any 'ol action isn't enough anymore. You need to pick one item on this checklist at a time, position yourself for success and CHARGE after it like a lion chases after its dinner! Charge forward today and get ready for an action packed 2023!

Marty Dickinson works with speakers who want to put the courses and coaching they've paid for...to work...so that they can speak on as many stages as they want, impact as many lives as they can, and make the income they deserve. He is the #1 Amazon Best Selling Author of Lions Always Win: How to Spot What You Want in Your Speaking Business and Life...and Get it Too. Now available on Amazon here >>