As we’re putting this issue together it’s January and I’m moving into a new office. Nothing major; I’m just moving into the office next door. We’re reorganizing where the NAILS team fits (and sits) in the bigger picture of our company. And while I have been dragging my feet, kicking and screaming, for the two months I’ve known about the move (you should see my cluttered office), it’s actually been kind of cathartic.

I emptied every drawer, filing cabinet, and shelf, and sifted through so many boxes of nail products that I actually had to break the project up over several days. I filled a whole recycling barrel with old beauty magazines. I tossed old menus and coupons. I sorted through trade show notes from back in 2001. I found some good ideas and funny thoughts jotted in the margins and kept those, but I purged a major amount of paperwork. And as I sit here on my last day in this office that has been my home away from home for the last five years, I’m feeling invigorated. Tomorrow I’ll be in a new office and it will be a fresh start — a spring cleaning, if you will, in the middle of the winter.

I am sure many of you can relate to my confession here. How long have you been in your salon? When was the last time you cleaned out your desk or manicure table drawers, your storage room, your client files? I urge you all to do a little spring cleaning of your own — even if it’s not quite spring yet. If you have products that have been there forever and you know you’re never going to use them, drop them off at the local cosmetology school. Those half-empty, separating bottles of nail polish are not offering your clients more choices; they’re making YOU look disheveled. And if you think you’re saving money by using the last drop in that old bottle of monomer, ask yourself: Is this going to end up costing me more when my client returns with a set of yellowing nails?

Have the posters on your walls been changed this decade? Your clients stare at the same artwork on the walls and the same photos at your station every time they’re in your salon, so why don’t you use that space to surprise and delight them (or spur them to try something new!)? Take a moment to refresh the art on your walls and change up the photos at your manicure station (if you still have baby photos of your college-age kids, get new ones).

A purge of your client files could turn into your next marketing target. Why not send a direct mail piece to everyone you haven’t seen in the last six months or a year? Sometimes all it takes to reactivate a client is a little reminder that they matter to you.

There’s something to be said about clearing a path for a fresh start — no matter how big or how small your purge. It might be exactly what you need to jumpstart your salon and get back some business the recession took away. It sure helped me clear the cobwebs (literally and figuratively). Now I’m excited about the coming year. Hopefully it will do the same for you!

(A few shots above of my new office…so nice to be in a new space.)

— Hannah