If you are cleaning your house in the spring, the goal is to get rid of the old stuff and rearrange the rest so that it is easier for you to access it. The spring cleaning of your company has the same goal. You want to throw away things that you are not using so that it is easier for you to access things that you need to work with. Just like the spring cleaning of your house, when you clean up your business in the spring, everything is fresher-starting with your perspective! Here are four steps that every business owner should follow.
action Your Workspace First
Throw away all the papers that are stacked on your desk and on the shelves, but are not needed for work. If you did this for your spring cleaning, make a commitment to do it at the end of each week-to start the working week on Monday without clutter. Then clean your paper files. A study found that 90% of the papers that people put on files are never removed! Of course, keep the files that you need to keep as lawful or tax documents. But keep in mind that cleaning the folders that you don’t need will make room for the folders that you need to keep.
Segment your customer list
Review your customer database and segment it by categories. Prioritize customers based on the total they spend with you, how often you hire them, how likely they are to give you deals and repeated referrals, or other criteria that make sense for your business.
By setting up these customer categories, you can treat each of these categories more effectively. This is important because customers are your source of income today and in the future—through repeat business and referrals.
Set up your work habits
Have you fallen into business habits that you need to change? Now it’s time to replace every negative habit with a positive one. For example, if you are used to working at a messy desk, decide to read each reality check of paper, put it down or throw it away as soon as it appears. This should be easy now that you’ve done your spring cleaning and cleaned up your workspace.
Refocus Your Goals
Now it’s time to tidy up the list of goals that you set for yourself at the starting of the year, in the spring. Take a look at the activities you have done so far in 2024 and ask yourself if this changes one of the goals you want to achieve by the end of the year. You may want to focus your efforts on the areas that generate the most revenue, or on the type of work that you are most satisfied with. Think about what you did to get to where you are and what mindset you need to take you to the end. You will not only have new goals, but also a new attitude that will help you achieve them.
