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4 Easy Ways to Pack Like a Minimalist
What many packing guides leave out is the fundamental advice to pack with intention. That is, pack based on what you’ll need for the specific trip you’re taking—and ignore those just-in-case items that call to you from your closet but you never end up wearing.
And I get it—it’s easy to throw in a few more pairs of shoes or an extra jacket if you have the suitcase space. But what that does is add to the time you’ll have to spend styling your outfit of the day, when you could be spending that time actually enjoying your day.
Here are four easy steps to take to pack for your next trip like a minimalist.
1. Make a packing list
Before you start tearing your closet apart, sit down and list out what you have planned during your upcoming trip. Fancy dinner with a friend? Morning workout before a conference? Getting clear on your plans and goals will help streamline what you need to bring with you.
Then, make a list of:
- What you’ll need to wear for planned activities
- What you’ll need to dress appropriately for the climate
- What you’ll need to adhere to a dress code or local etiquette
Supplemental reading: How to Pack a Week’s Worth of Clothing in Your Carry-On
2. Create a capsule wardrobe
For those who are unfamiliar, a capsule wardrobe is generally composed of a few essentials that can then be mixed and matched with other (seasonal) clothing items.
To create a capsule wardrobe for an upcoming trip, start by pulling mostly neutral items from your closet. Depending on the length of your trip, you might be able to get away with taking one staple item each—i.e., one pair of pants, one blazer, one pair of shoes—and mixing and matching those neutral staples with various tops and accessories each day.
Creating a capsule wardrobe also helps take the mystery out of what to wear on your trips going forward. Knowing your staples will reduce planning and packing time, and make styling your outfits on the go easy—freeing up your time to focus on what’s most important: spending quality time with your family and friends, taking time for yourself, or preparing for a client meeting (should you be traveling for business).
3. Maximize your suitcase space
Now, to get packing. First, rolling is the new folding—not only does rolling maximize your carry-on space, it also reduces wrinkles by keeping clothes in place. Pack your largest wardrobe items first, bearing in mind what items you may not need until the end of your trip, as those should go in first.
After you’ve packed your capsule wardrobe in your suitcase, place any smaller items into any open pockets of space, such as shoes (a great place to store socks!) and so on. This also serves to add an extra layer of protection for fragile items.
Also, keep your chargers, extra headphones, and any other wires rolled up and placed in a spare sunglasses case. This way, they’re easy to access and small enough to transfer from your suitcase to a purse or backpack once you’re back on the ground.
Finally, be sure to put anything that you need to easily access on top—or better yet, in your personal item—so you don’t have to rummage around mid-flight (if you packed a carry-on bag) or once you reach your destination (if you checked your bag).
Read more: 5 Tips for Packing Toiletries
4. Plan to wash the essentials for maximum re-wearability
So you’ve pared down your wardrobe to the bare essentials—well done! But, you’re going on a two-week trip, and you know you’re going to need to wash (in order to re-wear) some items, like leggings or undergarments.
That’s where a bit of laundry detergent comes in. Pack a travel-size detergent in your suitcase. Then, you can easily hand wash any of the essentials you feel need a little TLC during your trip.
Tip: No laundry detergent? No problem? Leverage TripIt’s Nearby Places feature to locate a convenience store near you to pick up what you need.
Planning to need to wash more than a couple items or booking a longer stay? Look for a vacation rental that offers a washer and dryer in-unit. Many hotels offer laundering services, as well (though the prices aren’t as nice as doing it yourself).
The post 4 Easy Ways to Pack Like a Minimalist appeared first on TripIt Blog.
How to Create Your Content Marketing Strategy
A clear content marketing strategy will help you produce faster, better content with less guessing and less stress.
I know you’re a busy business owner, but hear me out: When you take some time to think about what you want to be known for, who your ideal customers are, and how you can serve them with your content (and ultimately your services), your content will DO THE WORK FOR YOU.
Which means more sales, more money, and more time. Here’s how to start:
WRITE DOWN YOUR BUSINESS GOALS
Goals can include awareness, lead generation, relationship building, or showing your expertise.
FOCUS ON THE TRANSFORMATION
Consider how you address your customer’s pain points and the transformation they experience after your solution. This pain point-solution-transformation sequence should be the foundation of your content.
CREATE CONTENT THEMES BASED ON YOUR GOALS
Think of 3-5 topics you want to be known for that you can talk about in your content. For instance, I talk about marketing, style, entrepreneurship, and mindset.
DO YOUR RESEARCH
Use tools like Wordtracker, Display Purposes, and BuzzSumo to determine the most relevant hashtags, keywords, and posting topics.
CREATE A CONTENT CALENDAR
Create a calendar based on your content themes. Plan when you’ll post, what you’ll post, and which platforms you’ll use. The more you figure out up front, the more consistent and effective your content will be.
With the right strategy in place, your content will do the work FOR you.
If you want your content marketing to contribute to the growth of your business and your bottom line, your strategy should be to lead your followers and readers down your sales funnel so they’re primed to buy from YOU, saving you time and energy.
Looking for more ways to streamline your content marketing, get clear on your process and save time?
Streamlining your content marketing is a breeze with my free Ultimate Content Creation Checklist! Download it now for an easy to follow, step-by-step process. Click here.
How to break your goals down into routines
Setting goals is easy. Achieving them, well… that’s another story.
For a lot of entrepreneurs, goal setting is the easy part. It’s taking the actions that get you to your goals that can be a challenge. So here’s a tip:
DEVELOP ROUTINES THAT SUPPORT YOUR GOALS.
Let’s break it down:
If your goal is a steady stream of client work, you need to make consistently selling part of your routine.
If your goal is getting up earlier, you need to make going to bed earlier part of your routine.
If your goal is to master a new skill, you need to make learning and practicing that skill part of your routine.
Quick story:
At the beginning of the year, I decided to create a food prep routine to support my goal of eating at least one serving of fruits and vegetables with each meal. I decided Sunday evening would be THEE time.
But that first Sunday rolled around and y’all, I did NOT feel like chopping kale. I was already on the couch, I’d finished my weekly planning, and getting off my butt to do Yet Another Thing was just…tew much.
So I decided to trick myself: I added food prep to to the end of my grocery pickup routine.
It worked! Adding to a current, already established habit was much easier: the necessary tools were out, I was already in the kitchen, and it felt like a natural flow from one task to the next.
Doing something 80% of the time instead of 0% of the time is a TRIUMPH.
A few tips for developing new routines:
1. START SMALL
Set aside 5-10 minutes at the beginning. Your goal is to establish the habit of starting The Thing, not necessarily finishing it. All you need to focus on at first is showing up.
2. BEGIN WITH THE BASICS
Take time to figure out how to set things up, which tools to use, and the best way for YOU to do things. Be patient with yourself the way you’d be patient with anyone learning something new.
3. ADD TO A CURRENT ROUTINE
You can gradually add more steps to a current routine if there’s a natural flow from one task to the next. Atomic Habits calls this “habit-stacking”.
The more easily your new routine fits into your current lifestyle, the easier it will be to stick to. See story above.
4. TAKE YOUR GOALS SERIOUSLY
For me that means putting things on my calendar; for you it may mean hiring a coach, taking a course, or working with an accountability partner.
5. DON’T EXPECT PERFECTION
You WILL mess up or miss a day (or five). That’s OK, life happens. Don’t give up completely because you missed a day/session/meeting. I like to shoot for 80% completion—hey, a C is a passing grade. Doing something 80% of the time vs. 0% of the time is a TRIUMPH.
Once you master creating routines to help you achieve your goals, you’ll easily make progress on anything you want to do.
If you need help figuring out which routines will help you reach your goals and how to break them down into small, actionable pieces you’ll actually DO, contact me and I’ll help you get the ball rolling.
Need help taking that first step?
Then you need a PowerUP Session! We’ll clarify your audience, create a clear vision for your content that aligns with your business goals, and take ACTION to kickstart your marketing plan. Learn more.
Project Spotlight: #OTRisOnline Digital Holiday Promotion
When the pandemic pulled up, small businesses were hit hard.
But I had an idea.
I especially enjoy working with entrepreneurs and Creators, so the OTR Chamber of Commerce is one of my favorite clients.
The OTRCC has always led the charge to promote and support neighborhood businesses, but with Covid-19 cases surging just in time for the 2020 holiday season and people gravitating towards online shopping, they needed to try something new that made it easier for folks to buy local.
After conducting research on the retail industry and analyzing results from a survey of local businesses, I proposed a promotion highlighting local e-commerce as part of a larger campaign.
#OTRisOnline combined curation, storytelling, and influencer marketing in a focused Instagram campaign that made it convenient and fun to shop local.
I created shoppable links to Instagram posts using linkin.bio and worked with TetherCincy photographers Kevin J. Watkins and James Bates to quickly create images of 30+ local merchants!
Services for this project included:
Merchant Logistics
Influencer Management
Product Curation
Graphic Design
Photography (via Tether)
Social Media Management
My experience in Media Analysis, Editorial Styling, Graphic Design, Photo Shoot Production, Copywriting, and Project Management all played a role in making this promotion a success.
As a result, the #OTRisOnline campaign played a key role in promoting local e-commerce and directly drove sales to neighborhood businesses!
If you or your business are interested in creating magazine-style content that sells FOR you, send me a message or set up a chat—I’d love to help!
Need help taking that first step?
Then you need a PowerUP Session! That’s how I help you clarify your audience, create a clear vision for your content that aligns with your business goals, and take ACTION to get your sales going. Learn more.