Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋

Happy Wednesday. Got a question for ya. If you run a solo or small business, what's your biggest challenge right now?
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I'm working on some new resources and want to make sure they're aligned with what people need!
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(And because I focus on tools/automation - that's the data I'm collecting.)

1) Reflection:

Yesterday was the Lunar New Year. One of my friends has lived in China for the past five years, and she told me about a tradition of decluttering/cleaning ahead of the new year. Ironically, I had spent the weekend furiously cleaning and organizing one of my closets.

I'm not the type of person who could clean my whole house in a weekend. Instead, I've tried to think about ways I could tackle different areas in a manageable way.

2) Product

I made a list of different areas in the house that could use a good decluttering or cleaning. The cabinet in our bathroom. The kitchen junk drawer (we all have one!). Pretty much every closet in the house.

I put my list into Todoist [affiliate link*]. If I have a pocket of time on the weekend, I look at the list and pick an area to work on. Maybe by the end of the year, I'll have completed everything on my list!

3) Tip

I saw this list of 7 Things to Get Rid of Today from The Financial Diet. (It was on their Instagram feed, I took a screenshot, don't have a direct link, sorry).

Some I don't agree with. Like getting rid of people in your phone that you've never called and don't have a last name for. It's not like we run out of space for contacts in our phones, so why take the time to do this? Same with deleting screenshots from your phone. Not worth the effort, unless space is an issue.

But a few I found useful:

• Clothes that used to fit, but now just make you feel terrible about yourself.
• Books you will never read (unless you're a book collector like me, in which case keep those books).
• People on your social media you don't recognize and don't even remember following.
• All of the mostly-used cosmetics in your drawer that expired three or four years ago.

Want more ideas?

→ I've got a bit of a domain-buying habit, and here's how I keep track of my domains in Airtable.

→ How AI is reshaping the labor market.

→ Thinking about starting your own business? Here are 7 truths about being a solopreneur.

That's it for this issue of Tinkering! See you again in two weeks.

Cheers,
Anna

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