There are two optimal times in the year for resetting your small business. The first is when you create business goals and New Year’s resolutions at the beginning of the year. The second is at the start of spring.
The atmosphere has revitalized energy as the season transitions from winter to spring. The enthusiasm and anticipation that had faded during the long winter have returned.
The warm spring breeze brings a sense of novelty, rejuvenation, and hopefulness. Regrettably, this sensation is temporary, as the weather will soon become warmer, and people will start to grumble about the heat. Seasonal allergies will flare up, and the reinvigorated energy and sense of potential will start to wane.
This is the perfect time to utilize the enthusiasm of spring fever and channel that energy into your business. You can accomplish things that may have seemed impossible just a month ago. Take advantage of this moment and perform a spring cleaning of your business to implement significant changes that can improve your trajectory for the rest of the year.
If you need help determining where to begin, here are five innovative ideas to spring-clean your small business and attain a refreshed perspective, a better plan, and renewed motivation.
Refresh Your Marketing Activities
Revitalize your marketing strategies by exploring new possibilities this spring. Marketing is a fast way to infuse fresh energy into your business. You can try out many different marketing activities, and it often takes trial and error to develop an effective marketing mix.
Choose one new marketing activity to test out this spring, evaluate the outcomes, and decide if it’s worth including in your marketing plan.
Declutter Your Workspace
It is imperative to tidy up your workspace in a literal sense. Inspect your desk and other surfaces in your office that tend to accumulate clutter, such as a stack of papers and files in the corner that you’ve trained yourself to overlook.
Now is the time to declutter and meticulously review each document, file, piece of paper, and piece of mail accumulated over the past few months or years and either find a proper place for it or dispose of it.
Once your physical workspace is organized, it’s also time to organize your computer. Begin by filing or deleting extraneous files on your desktop.
Then, update your computer’s operating system, software, and virus protection to make sure it is up-to-date and running at its best. Depending on how you handle your email, now is also a good time to clean up your inbox and set up rules for sorting and filtering messages.
Clean Up Your Cash Flow
Do you clearly understand the amount of money that enters and leaves your small business every day? Maintaining a healthy cash flow is essential to meeting all your financial obligations on time and ensuring that you have enough cash when needed.
Even if you have a bookkeeper and an accountant who manage your books, you still need to know your financial position as a small business owner.
Since business taxes are due in the spring, it is an ideal time to sit down with your financial experts and examine your cash flow closely. It is also a great opportunity to identify the steps you can take on a regular basis to enhance your cash flow and refine your small business budget (or create one if you don’t already have one).
Freshen Up Your Business Goals
Goals are essential to the success of any business. If you have yet to pay attention to your business goals since the start of the year, spring is an ideal time to evaluate your progress and identify areas where you need to improve.
If you have failed to meet your goals, determine what steps you need to take to get back on track. Ensure that your business goals meet the SMART criteria—additionally, schedule check-ins for your goals every two and three months to stay on track.
Dust Off Your Business Plan
A business plan that’s been forgotten in a file cabinet won’t be of any use to you. The best business plans are those that are regularly updated and used as working documents to help you move closer to achieving your goals.
Spring is an ideal time to review your plan and compare your current position to where you expected it to be when you started your business.
If you don’t have a business plan or if your current plan no longer aligns with your business as it is now, try a simple business plan exercise, or use some business plan tools to streamline the process.
To make the most of the spring season, try some or all of these activities to refresh and reset your business for the rest of the year. You’ll be amazed at how these simple business practices can help you find renewed motivation and a clear sense of direction for your small business.