3 Steps to "Marie Kondo" Your Coaching Business! | By Ruby McGuire

Bird Tweeting - Do You Have a Tidy Business?

If you watch Netflix, you may have noticed that Marie Kondo, a Japanese Decluttering Expert, has a new 'hit' show called "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo". She previously wrote a best-selling book called "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up".

But your home isn't the only thing that needs decluttering. What about your business? Well, inspired by Marie Kondo, I thought I'd share 3 tips, plus some great questions and actions you can take to declutter your coaching business.

Here are my Top 3 Tips to Declutter your business - Marie Kondo Style:

1. Does What You're Doing 'Spark Joy'?

One of the key questions that Marie Kondo uses to help people decide what to keep and what to let go of is, "Does this (item) spark joy?" And you can also apply this to your business.

Check the list below to discover if there are some things you need to get rid of in your business:

  • When you think about the clients you work with, do they spark joy? If not, why not? Are they draining your energy? Do they pay you on time? Think about what needs to be changed to attract your dreamie clients.
  • Do your daily tasks spark joy? If not, think about what you can outsource/drop/swap them.
  • Do the apps/systems/tools you use spark joy? If not, think about alternatives that will support you.
  • Do the people you surround yourself with spark joy? If not, think about uplevelling your support circle. To help, you could also review who you spend your time with.
  • Do the hours of work you do spark joy? If not, what would be your ideal working hours? Plan them in and make the decision to stick to them.
  • Does your place of work spark joy? If not, consider what you could change to make it better.

Action: Review areas of your business to find out what sparks joy, and let go/change anything that doesn't. Marie also recommends pausing before getting rid of things and "thanking" each item you let go of for what it has brought into your life.

2. Are You Offering Too Much?

As coaches we're really good at wanting to offer the world to everyone. Our dreamie clients have a problem - so we create solutions. The challenge with this is you can end up with so many solutions/packages that it's confusing to your potential dream clients.

Hands up, I'm so guilty of this one. At the time of writing I'm reviewing my site again and taking down more offerings to simplify and declutter.

Consider your offerings, and ask yourself the following 5 questions:

  1. Do these offerings "spark joy"?
  2. Do your clients still need support with this particular area?
  3. Are there other ways that you could offer this service?
  4. When you're on calls are you offering more than 2-3 services? If so, it's likely you're confusing people.
  5. Is it time to update some of the services you're offering on your website? eg. updating your online programme content to embrace new trends or include new things you've learned and now use as part of your coaching practice?

Action: Spend some time going through your offerings and packages. First, be sure they 'spark joy'. Then question yourself - would a more select group of offerings be more effective and easier for you - and your clients - to keep up with?

3. Is Your Mind Cluttered?

If your head is anything like mine, it's a pretty cluttered place. I think my one driving goal in my business should be to declutter my head, because it's constantly full of new and developing ideas. I'm like the graphic on Pinterest that shows your head having 1000+ browsers open on your computer!

Here are 4 Things to Consider and Help Declutter your Mind:

  1. Choose 3 main goals that are really important for you to work on (check out my article 5 Surprisingly Effective Steps to Set Your Goals - in 90 Mins or Less for how to do that). Ideally these goals should "spark joy" for you, but sometimes we have to do things we don't enjoy, so if this is the case, focus on whether the goal result or outcome will "spark joy" for you.
  2. Get super focused on those 3 goals (I know you know this, you're a coach, but sometimes we spend so much time helping our clients that we forget to create great goals for ourselves). Then do whatever it takes to keep focused on those goals. TIP: I personally use the 'Pomodoro Technique'- where you set a timer for 25-minutes and focus only on that one task.
  3. Make informed decisions. When you're really clear on what your top 3 goals are, you'll find it much easier to say no to bright shiny objects that try to distract you. This includes 'great opportunities' too, because you should always check in and be sure they meet your overall objectives for your business.
  4. Consider the limiting beliefs you carry around with you. What about the 'mindset monkeys' that we allow to dictate how our day plays out? What could you let go of here? If you know that there are 'mind' things holding you back, get some help to clear them. Your business and clients will thank you for it.


  1. Choose 3 main goals to focus on that are really important for your business, and where the results will "spark joy" for you.
  2. Write a list of all of the project ideas you have. Get them down on paper - and out of your head! Then, put a date against them for when you will review. This tells your brain that you've noted it and will come back to it at some point in the future, helping your brain let go of this mind-clutter.
  3. Get some support to clear your limiting beliefs, tell your mindset monkeys where to go, and become unstoppable!


So there you have it, 3 top tips to help you declutter your business. I was going to share some more tips with you, but decided to declutter this article instead  and KISS - Keep It Simple Sweetie!

Here's a quick recap:

  1. Ask if what you're doing 'Sparks Joy'. If it's a 'maybe/maybe not' type answer, then something needs to change.
  2. Are you offering too much? Check your offerings and if you're confused by how much you offer, it's likely your potential dreamie clients will be too.
  3. Is your mind cluttered? Declutter your mind, get those ideas out of your head - and clear out your mindset monkeys.
If you like this, then you'll love Ruby's Rock Your Visibility Programme which is specifically designed to give you that boost of self-belief and skills to overcome all the challenging mindset monkeys that are holding you back. No more being worried about what people will think about your content and posts. Lose that feeling you're being judged and let go of the need to compare yourself to others in your field – because ROCK YOUR VISIBILITY puts the tools in your hands to simply be yourself on social media.



If you liked this article on Decluttering from Ruby, you may also like:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.