Thriving Stylist Podcast - Episode #403

Clean Up Your Business & Life In 30 Days

Host: Britt Seva
Date: September 15, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Britt Seva offers a practical and personal 30-day challenge designed to help stylists and salon owners declutter, get organized, and regain control in both their personal lives and businesses. Drawing from her own journey through a turbulent period, Britt shares actionable steps, mindset shifts, and organizational tactics that can bring balance and renewed joy to a stylist’s career and life. The challenge is broken down into manageable, daily exercises to reduce chaos and boost productivity, with a downloadable PDF checklist for listeners who want to follow along.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Normalization of Chaos & Overwhelm

• Britt opens up about enduring a challenging four-year period and the impact it had on her mental and business health. She reflects on hustle culture and its unsustainable expectations, particularly for working moms and entrepreneurs.
• Quote:

  “I think that we're living in a time where we have really, like, overhyped... chaos. And we're like, hustle culture and work harder and sleep less and do more and be everything.”
  — Britt Seva [03:22]

2. Why Organization and Accountability Matter

• Britt emphasizes that business growth now requires real marketing and business strategies, not just skills or referrals.
• She introduces the 30-day challenge, stressing progress over perfection, the importance of self-accountability, and tips to make the journey enjoyable (e.g., using attractive office supplies for dopamine boosts).

3. The 30-Day Challenge: Step-by-Step Breakdown

Each step is a challenge aiming to create clarity, reduce clutter, and foster a healthier mindset:

Challenge 1: Clean Out Your Car

• Remove everything unnecessary—even from the trunk, under seats, and compartments.
• Optional: Assemble a “goody bag” with daily essentials for peace of mind.
• Quote:

  “If you don’t have three minutes... to pull something together, it’s a moment of pause to think about why.”
  — Britt Seva [12:30]

Challenge 2: Deep Clean Your Station

• Remove all items, sanitize thoroughly, and organize only what’s needed for daily use.
• An organized station enhances client perceptions and trust.

Challenge 3: Purge Old Journals & Workbooks

• Consolidate or digitize notes that are essential, discard the rest to eliminate mental clutter.

Challenge 4: Organize Phone Photos (Past Year Only)

• Delete unnecessary photos and create organized folders to reduce digital clutter.

Challenge 5: Refine Your Social Media Following

• Unfollow at least 10% of your accounts; curating your feed can refresh your inspiration and improve your experience.
• Mute accounts if unfollowing feels too harsh.

Challenge 6: Clean Out Your Closet

• Let go of at least 15% of unworn items.
• One in, one out rule for new purchases to keep things streamlined.

Challenge 7: Find a Social Media Muse

• Identify a figure or business with a model similar to your own for practical, relatable inspiration (not just lofty aspirations).

Challenge 8: Website Update Checklist

• Audit your business website for outdated content, broken links, and needed updates—just create the list for now, don’t fix yet.

Challenge 9: Three Weekly Wins

• Choose three new habits or goals for professional or personal progress and commit to them weekly.
• Examples: post on social media three times a week, pack a lunch every day, dress your best twice weekly.

Challenge 10: Clean Out Your Desk

• Thoroughly organize your workspace, investing in storage if needed.

Challenge 11: Review Handbook/Operations Manual

• As a leader, review your handbook or manual for outdated content—note required updates for future action.

Challenge 12: 12/12/12 Break Room Cleanse

• Find 12 items to throw out, 12 to return to their place, and 12 to create homes/systems for.
• Adapt this for your suite or workspace regardless of business size.

Challenge 13: Dispensary Deep Clean & Retail Inventory

• Deep clean the dispensary and conduct a detailed inventory of retail products.
• Compare physical counts to your records for better inventory management.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On redefining expectations:

  “What if life was better? What if it was easier? What if I didn’t have mom guilt? What if I didn’t have work guilt? ... What would that look like if it didn’t also include overwhelm?”
  — Britt Seva [07:52]

• On progress over perfection:

  “This entire exercise... is about making progress forward, not doing everything perfectly. As a recovering perfectionist myself, that’s a hard one.”
  — Britt Seva [10:40]

• On using office supplies as motivation:

  “There’s neuroscience that shows doing things like that releases dopamine, and dopamine does make us feel good.”
  — Britt Seva [11:44]

• On the power of little changes:

  “You will feel so productive, so much more organized... you’ll be amazed how much lighter you feel, how much more energized and how proud you feel of yourself.”
  — Britt Seva [54:11]

Important Segment Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------------|-------------| | Britt describes feeling overwhelmed & normalization | 02:42–04:30 | | Setting challenge expectations & rules | 10:12–13:10 | | Challenge 1: Clean Out Your Car | 13:25–15:45 | | Challenge 5: Social Media Following | 27:22–32:13 | | Challenge 7: Social Media Muse | 37:35–40:52 | | Challenge 9: Three Weekly Wins | 44:17–48:11 | | Dispensary/Inventory Cleans & Challenge Wrap-Up | 51:15–54:26 |

Resources

• Downloadable Challenge Checklist PDF:
  Visit thrivingstylist.com/organize for a free, detailed guide and tracker.

Final Words & Call to Action

Britt encourages listeners to commit to the challenge, emphasizing that real, sustainable change comes from small, consistent actions. She invites feedback, stories, and future topic requests through Instagram and podcast reviews.

“So much love—happy business building and I’ll see you on the next one.”
— Britt Seva [54:26]