Jun 4, 2014

6 Ways To Spring Clean Your Small Business (Better Late Than Never)

It’s exactly like regular spring cleaning except it involves way less elbow grease and a lot more professional evaluating. Okay, so it’s nothing like regular spring cleaning (thank god.)

Update your website and social media

Just go through and take stock of what your online presence is like. Is there some copy on your site that could be rewritten to sound better or more accurately reflect slight shifts in your target market, or what kinds of services your focusing on now? Is your brand being represented as effectively as possible? Now is a good time to tighten things up and fix up all the little details that, although they don’t take a lot of effort, make a big impact.

Staff shuffling

Okay, we’re not saying you should go around firing everyone (unless that’s genuinely what you need, but even then, we suggest staggering the firings and replacing people one at a time.) But it’s smart to take a minute to reflect on what needs your company has, which roles are being filled well, which ones could possibly be better executed, which ones are no longer as crucial per changes in how your company operates, and which new needs might necessitate redistribution of staff responsibilities or role definitions, or might require hiring one or two new people entirely.

Dust off your business plan

Often, small business owners think that just because their company is changed and adapted as necessary, that their original business plan isn’t useful anymore. In reality, you should just spend some time revisiting it once a year, updating it to keep pace with the rest of your company. Going back to the basic foundation your built your small business on will always be beneficial.

Consider long-term goals

While you’re looking at your business plan, think about your long-term goals, both for the company and for your own working life. You might find that your expectations, needs, and ambitions are different than they once were. Maybe your concept of how your business should evolve has changed, or your perception of how the company will look down the road. It’s totally okay for your goals to change – but you have to be aware of that. If you determine that the overarching aspirations are the same, check in on your progress towards achieving them. What could you be doing more of? Are you gearing as many parts of your day – and your business practices – into moving in that direction, into feeding those goals?

Organize your emails

You talk about doing this all the time. Just do it. Clear a whole afternoon (or a weekend. Ugh.), pound some caffeine, and go nuts. And if the whole thing is simply too overwhelming, or your know that your brain just isn’t naturally that strong at implementing complex organizational systems, hire someone to do it for you. It’s a relatively minor expense that will improve your work zone feng shui and make your entire communications methods feel infinitely more manageable.

Clean your office. Literally.

I mean, you might as well. No one has vacuumed behind the printer in years.