5 Tips to Spring Clean Your Business
We typically think of spring as the time of the year when we swap out our dreary winter wardrobes for a fresh new look, get that new haircut to prepare for a fabulous get-away vacation, or give our homes that thorough “big cleaning” in anticipation of the new season, but there are also some ways in which we can spring clean our businesses as well.
Here are the 5 tips:
- First things first: declutter your desk. Personally, I know that when I have too much paperwork and projects cluttering my desk, I can’t seem to achieve anything. It feels like everything is pending and there’s no end in sight. It generates a feeling of claustrophobia that takes over until I can clean up and organize. Take some time to organize your documents and file away important paperwork. This means not only your physical desk, but your computer desktops as well. Organize your files, relabel them and create a system that best works for your business, whether that be by account, project, or chronologically. It’s important to quickly find what you need to maximize your time.
- Restock your office supplies, whether it be paper, toner, binders and look for some practical yet fun new accessories that will make your work day fun as well. I always keep a motivational notepad at my side for those random ideas that come at a moment’s notice or those to do lists that start to creep up on me. I’ve also invested in nice lighting and air pods for my zoom meetings. Maybe it’s a new shelving unit or a caddy to hold all those loose paperclips, binder clips, pens and such. How about a new water bottle to remind you to keep hydrated throughout the day?
- Next, as a business owner you should determine where your best returns on investment are. You have a limited amount of precious hours in each work day and it’s a good time to determine what processes are stealing away valuable time that would be better used somewhere else. This could be in you managing administrative tasks that could be best delegated to an assistant or intern. Maybe you spent a lot of time and energy in creating a presentation for a client that can be slightly edited and re-purposed to garner new business? Get creative with your resources.
- When it comes to clients, maybe you have a few that continuously suck time from you without a healthy return. Knowing when enough is enough can be challenging as no one wants to say no to potential business, but you can politely tell these clients that you value a partnership relationship where there is a healthy give and take to provide the resources they require as long as it leads to final results that generate what you need for a healthy, and successful business. If they can’t find a way to make this happen, then maybe you’re just not meant to be working with them at this moment in time. Make sure to never leave things on a sour note as, more often than not, there are ironic twists in life; you might run into the same people later and the doorways to opportunity open again.
- Lastly, re-evaluate your business goals. Are you on track to comp your business goals from the previous year? Even better, are you moving ahead of them? Where do you stand with your overall goals and what adjustments do you need to make or exceed them. If you don’t have a plan for what you need to achieve, you’re just running in circles. You should have specific goals that can be measurable. You want to know what the results of those goals will be, whether it’s increased revenue, customer growth, consumer engagement, company improvements, increased staffing, etc.
The transition from winter to spring provides inspiration for us all to spring clean our businesses, whether it’s the big things or just the little annoyances that can prevent us from further success. Take this opportunity to throw open the windows and get some fresh air circulating.
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