Do you love to do Spring Cleaning? I do! I know that’s a bit strange but dusting out the cobwebs in my house after a long winter is extremely satisfying. Before you jump to any conclusions, I’m not a terrible housekeeper. But even when you keep up with the cleaning and maintenance, things tend to get more and more disorganized.
The same is true for your small business. Business systems tend toward chaos but with a little course correction occasionally they can be brought back on track. So, get out your business broom and dustpan and take a look at these 5 easy steps you can take to get spic and span!
- Update your Standard Operating Procedures
You’ve done a great job of writing procedures for all of your key business processes. You might have written them recently (this was a great way to spend some of that extra pandemic free time) or several years ago.
They were accurate when you wrote them but are they still? Your business evolves and changes over time and so should your procedures.
Take some time to read through them. Discard the ones that are no longer relevant to your business and update the ones that are. Once this is done, if possible, have someone else read them to check that they make sense.
- Tidy Up Your Website
When is the last time you went to your own website? You assume everything is humming along tickety-boo but are you sure? Take a few minutes to surf your own site. Are the prices up to date? Are the service offerings still all offered? Do all of your links work, including the social media links?
And finally, is it fresh? Things about your business and the way you present your brand tend to change over time. It helps to take a look at the overall feel and see if it’s still in alignment with who you are.
- Dust off your business plan
Nearly every entrepreneur has one, a business plan tucked away in a corner somewhere gathering dust. You wrote it for a reason. It’s chock full of all the details that you strategized to bring your business to life. It was never meant to be a one-time deal but rather a living document that you could use as a guide as your business developed.
Go get it out of that back drawer, pour yourself a glass of wine and give it a read. One of three things will happen; a) The business you envisioned doesn’t look anything like the business you created, b) The plan looks very close to the actual or c) The actual has exceeded the plan. If the two don’t look anything alike perhaps you need to get back to basics to create more of what you envisioned. Or perhaps you’re happy with the detour and then it’s full steam ahead. If the plan and actual look alike or if the actual has exceeded the plan then congratulations, pat yourself on the back!
- Organize Your Inbox and Desktop
At any one point my husband has dozens of unopened emails and thousands of opened emails in his inbox. I don’t know about you but this drives me crazy. Yes, I know I should worry about my own email management and not about my husband’s will-nilly organization system but it’s hard. I also realize that this is the norm for most people.
We are literally bombarded with emails to the point where it’s easy to get behind. No judgement here, just an opportunity. Take some time to set up folders for emails that you’ve opened and dealt with. And while you’re at it, hit the unsubscribe button on the worst offenders so they’ll stop coming entirely (or at least slow down). This will de-clutter your actual inbox and make you more motivated to keep up with them.
- Declutter your Office
And finally do some actual physical decluttering of your work space. I don’t believe anyone functions well in a dirty, cluttered work space. Do yourself and your mental health a favor and organize to the point where the only thing you have out and on your desk at any one point is the thing you’re working on or immediately going to work on.
I guarantee if you do these 5 Spring Cleaning things you and your business will feel like a million bucks! And once you’re done with these you can tackle the garage you’ve been meaning to clean out!
Other great pet business articles you might like:
Getting Back to Business – Post Pandemic Marketing
https://www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog/post-pandemic-marketing/
Preparing to go Back to Work
https://www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog/going-back-to-work/
About Eliza?
Eliza is the owner of two successful pet related businesses; Preferred Pet Partners, a pet sitting and dog walking company, and The Pet Business Coach, offering coaching and resources to aspiring or current pet related business entrepreneurs. She maintains two awesome blogs. One for pet parents https://preferredpetpartners.com/blog/ and one for pet business owners https://thepetbusinesscoach.dog/blog-page/. Eliza also supports various animal rescue and shelter organizations. Eliza and her husband have three furry family members. Visit her websites: www.preferredpetpartners.com or www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog.
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