Spring Cleaning for Your Small Business

Spring cleaning isn’t just for your home but a good idea to spring clean for your business.  It also isn’t cleaning in the standard meaning of the word… but sure, feel free to dust your desk, clean out your keyboard, wipe down the furniture, dust the monitors and the like!  But what I am talking about is organizing your business or almost like an annual review. Let’s dive into what I really mean and how you can spring clean your business.

Review your business plan

IF you have a business plan, when was the last time you even took a look at it? I mean I don’t know about you but the goals for my business have changed a few times in the last 8 years that I have been in business.  So if I have made changes and my goals have changed, maybe it’s time to review the plan, update the goals and see what else has changed. If your goals have changed, has your target market? If your target market has changed, then does your messaging need to change too?

If you don’t have a business plan, maybe consider getting one. If you don’t know where to start search your favorite search engine with “business plan free”. I just did it and quickly found that Microsoft offers free templates right in Word. If you have Word, go to File, New and look for templates and search for business plan then review the ones they have there. It’s pretty cool and it’s free – well, with your Office Product purchase so might as well use it!

Review paid subscriptions or organizations

Hopefully you review what services, fees, subscriptions and the like you pay for each year, maybe right around tax time? This is a great time to assess:

• Do I still need and use that subscription?
• Or if you paid fees to an organization, did it serve you?
• If you paid for advertisements in a magazine and you ran it for a year, did it provide it’s ROI you were hoping for?
• Do you have a paid service that allows for X number of widgets and you aren’t using them all, do they have a plan you can downgrade to, to save money?

Surely some of these are still beneficial and you may need them, but maybe there are some that are costing you money and you aren’t using them. It’s time to cut them loose. This frees you up some time and money that maybe you can put elsewhere.

Spring time is tax time

Nobody likes taxes but as my tax professional would say, the more money I pay means that I am making more money, well.. that’s mostly true, as long as the government isn’t increasing the taxes on small business owners (the backbone of business) or the middle class.  But anyways, you are likely preparing your paperwork for your taxes and reviewing what you are paying out so this is a good time to make sure your books are in good order, as well. Hopefully you review your books at least monthly or quarterly? It would be so much easier than trying to find out what you did 11 months ago.  Like travel fees or mileage, it’s easier if you can stay on top of these.

Review your marketing

This also goes along with reviewing your business plan but more of an extension of it. Review what has been working for your business, what hasn’t, what you can add, what you need to remove or do less of, what you love and what you just don’t like doing.  Then make changes as appropriate.

Review your Google Analytics, see what pages, blogs, landing pages, offers, products, services got the most traffic. While you are at it, see which social media or affiliations & organizations referred the most traffic to your site.  If you don’t have Google Analytics set up on your site, you are in luck – this is a DIY easy to follow way to set it up.

Networking

Do you need to cut back on networking events that just aren’t producing leads or quality relationships? Maybe it’s time to find other places to build relationships. Heck, with all the pandemic stuff, there are tons of networking groups online and sure, there will be some riff-raff but find at least one person you can build a relationship with. This will help build your business and your network!

Processes

Do you do something on a regular basis that you can create an automation for, or a process for, or heck, maybe even outsource?  Spend your time working on your business where it makes you the most money. Your time is money.  Put processes in place to streamline what you do and make your work life easier!

Trends

Maybe review what your industry is doing right now.  Again, the pandemic caused a lot of businesses to shift to do other things, other offerings, take more offerings online, etc.  There is no need to recreate the wheel, just see what other folks are doing and if you can tap into that, then… roll with it!   Don’t forget to check out your competitors to see what they have added or removed or how they shifted.

Website update

So, with any of these, if you have made changes, does your website reflect the new business plan, the new messaging, the new products or services? Might also be a great idea to make sure your website is skimmable (easy to read/follow) and clean!  If you need some help updating your website, making it pretty or just adding more content to change your message, contact me as I can help.

Digital update (social media+)

While you are updating your website, you might as well take a look at all of your social media.  Does your profile need updating? Does your about section need to be updated? What about your services? Has anything else changed that you should update on your social media?

Don’t forget your Google Maps should your main contact info change.  And your email signature – gosh I hope you have one of these! If not, a good time to create one – be sure to add your website link and all social links. If you have an opt-in, this is a good place to tie that in.

Declutter & clean out

You knew this was coming, but it needs to be said – folks.. you need to clean up your desk! File those papers away or TOSS them. Clean out that email! Seriously! Unsubscribe from email lists you are subscribed to that aren’t serving you (other than mine of course, because they are valuable! lol). Extra emails that you don’t look at just waste your time and are cluttering your email inbox. And when your email is cluttered with stuff that isn’t serving you, it is hiding the important stuff you need to see, like potential or current clients!  You don’t want to tick off your clients, do you, or lose a client even before they signed on with you?

Organize

While you are decluttering and cleaning, why not create a system of organization so you don’t have to do this decluttering process again as it will already be clean, all the time. How are your digital folders? Can you find what you need when you need it? Maybe create a better online filing system to help with those things. Similarly for your paper files, if you need to keep those. Make your job easier!

Back-up & plan B

Lastly, it can’t hurt to be sure you have your computer back-up set up and running. If you don’t have a system for creating back-ups of your digital files and the like, then you are opening up yourself and business to potential loss and down time.  What happens if…. your office flooded (ask me how I know?!).. or if your office catches on fire… if there is a tornado that runs through your business… or just if the power goes out? Do you have a Plan B?  Do you have your files backed up? Could you work at another location until the office is back up and running? You are doing yourself and your business a disservice if you don’t have a plan.

Bottom Line

Any time is a great time to do some business spring cleaning, but the important thing is… be sure to do it.  Your business will thank you, well, if it were human! Review, plan, organize!

• review your books and what you pay for
• see where you can cut corners, unless you like blowing money
• organize your physical space
• clean up your digital space & organize
• create processes for better time management
• review your business plan
• determine what needs to be updated, added changed
• then take these changes to your social, your website, your email signature & etc
• have a back-up plan
• review your marketing
• then make changes where needed

Hopefully this has been helpful!  Comment below with your favorite tip, what you loathe doing the most or another tip to share with others.

Let me know how I can help you and your business grow!

~Kristen

Kristen Day

CEO/Founder of A Visual Business

Kristen is a small business owner and thus dedicated to other small business owners by helping them improve their online presence with search engine optimization, social media marketing, email marketing and pay per click advertising all of which are necessary 'evils' in the digital marketing sphere but enables small business owners the opportunity to compete with larger companies. When not in the digital arena, you can find her riding her Honda VTX1300 or drinking a margarita.