Here’s the morning health check I do each day on my business. It takes no more than 30 minutes, but I find it’s essential to help me stay on top of all those things that can get out of hand if left to mount up.

Messages

• Check email. Sort them according to the Inbox Zero principle: Do, Delegate, Defer, Delete.

You can read more about this in “5 Business Tools That Help Me Manage My Business” in my new book.

• Check social media business accounts for activity that might need my attention. There won’t be any messages because I use the message autoresponder tools they supply. This means anyone who tries to message my businesses over social media is directed to the contact forms on my website

• Check news and social media for stories that might impact my business. Sometimes it’s information, other times inspiration. It can sometimes inform the work on the blog

Meetings

• Check my business calendar to see what meetings I have AND more importantly what space I have to complete tasks. In fact it’s even better to do this the night before, then you have no nasty surprises next day.

• Check my personal calendar to make sure I don’t miss any important family events such as child-care, school events or other things that could clash with my day

Money

• Check the bank to see what payments have come in from clients. If any are late, I send a statement to the client as a gentle reminder. If they have paid, I thank them

Check to see if there are any people who need paying and make sure I pay them

• Check the billing software to see what turnover has happened this month. I like to try and hit my income target by the 10th day of each month. This way I know whether I need to find more work or I can relax

Members

• Check in on my businesses to see if there are things that I need to highlight with my team to fix. In retail they call this “walking the floor”.

• Check in with team members to discuss any needs for the day. Let them know if I’m going to be unavailable due to meetings or work that needs my attention

Marketing

• Attend to any regular tasks such as sending out newsletters or other business-generating activities

What about you?

When was the last time you gave your business a health check? Have you considered doing it daily to make sure you keep everything under control?