Spring Cleaning
Spring is on its way. That means spring cleaning, and not only for homes. Have you scrubbed all the old 2009 yuck out of your business yet?
Sometimes a business needs polishing or calibration, just as a piece of precision equipment might need periodic readjustment to remain in perfect working order. Have you allowed some slack into the mechanism? Have small inefficiencies conspired to create large problems over time? Allow me to suggest a few areas to check for signs of dust:
Time management. Do you have a firm grip on your schedule? Are you focusing on the daily activities that actually earn you money, or are you passively reacting to every emergency that decides to have its way with you? Stop and examine your calendar like a surgeon examining an X-ray. What items cutting or grafting to make your schedule perform for you the way it should?
Money management. As you can imagine, this relates directly to time management, but it also requires attention on its own. Has your business expanded beyond the capacity of your current money management plan? Have tiny extra expenditures here and there drained money from your budget in ways you never noticed? Now’s the time to pay attention. It may also be time to see where your business needs deeper investment before it can grow properly. Are you marketing yourself effectively? Do you need more staff or another location?
Strategy management. Sometimes a business requires a major shift in its target market, processes, or strategies. In my own business, for instance, I’ve decided to shift my primary focus to working directly with marketing companies instead of business owners. To that end, I’ve had to develop some new marketing incentives and strategies, such as a Preferred Vendors program that will offer special rates to marketing agencies, web firms and other “frequent flyers” that use my services on a regular monthly basis. Has your business evolved in a way that requires a new approach?
You may not be fond of cleanup chores — most of us aren’t — but I bet you appreciate a clean house.
