It’s great to spring-clean your home. You clear out the old and re-organize what’s left. It’s also great for your business, and for the same reasons—spring-cleaning gives you new energy and makes everything feel fresh again. Here’s how to give your business that fresh, new perspective.
Spring-Clean Your Workspace. Clean out all the unnecessary papers that piled up in recent weeks, eliminating all nonessential daily items. It’s a good idea to do this at the end of every week, so you can start each Monday with a clean workspace. Then declutter your files, starting with your physical ones. A study found that 90% of the papers people file away are never looked at again! However, do file away all essential documents that are important to keep as records. Of course, cleaning out the nonessential items makes room for new items you need to keep. Don’t forget your digital workspaces. Spring-clean your computer, smartphone, tablet, databases, and email and social media networks. Delete files from desktops and home screens, organize document files and folders, clear out email inboxes, and unsubscribe from emails you no longer need. The whole point is to make sure you can easily get to the key files you access every day.
Spring-Clean Your Work Habits. This is a great time to make positive changes in your business habits. The simplest approach is to focus on turning one negative habit into a positive one. Perhaps it’s the habit of keeping a messy desk. Resolve to read, file, or discard every piece of paper that crosses your desk. Or you could resolve to stop procrastinating and start taking immediate action on your to-do list. Changing these habits will up your productivity and performance, and make your business way more efficient.
Spring-Clean Your Client List. This means organize it. Clients are the core of the business you’re doing today. It’s also way easier, and cheaper, to get repeat business in the future from existing clients, than to go out and find new ones. Clients are also great sources of referrals—and those referrals are already predisposed to give you their business. Think about segmenting your client database into categories to make it more efficient. Creating client groups based on how much money they spend, how often they use you, or how big their potential is for future revenue. This can help you market to each category more effectively.
Spring-Clean Your Goals. Finally, look at the last few months of business and see if that changes your vision of where you want to be at the end of the year. Focus your efforts on where you see the greatest reward and where the work is most satisfying. Think about all you’ve done to get to where you are and what mindset you’ll need to take you the rest of the way. That will also spring-clean your attitude!
