Talking Cents

Spring clean out for your small business

Spring is just around the corner and thankfully the days are slowly starting to lengthen and warm up. The old expression of having a “spring clean” is a great way of clearing out the clutter from your home to create space for the more active lifestyle that naturally come from the warmer weather. Many small business owners would do well to apply the same principles to their own small business. Of course for small businesses this does not necessarily need to be done in spring, just select a period when your business activity is lower than usual so you have time to invest in de-cluttering your small business before your peak trading season hits.

So now you’re asking how do I de-clutter a small business and what does this mean for me?

For some small business owners this may simply constitute a physical clean out of a warehouse, retail space or a pile of old computers and parts that many offices seem to accumulate. Clearing out rubbish is a great way of saving space and creating a better more organised working environment. It can also allow you to sort out obsolete stock to free up room for new product lines and create clarity in how well your stock ordering and management systems have been working.

Other small businesses may see this as an opportunity to de-clutter their own minds.

Starting out a small business on your own often sees time-poor entrepreneur’s keeping their entire business in their head. This is never ideal and a spring clean for such people may involve documenting as many systems and procedures as possible. Doing so will certainly free up the entrepreneur’s mind to see their business from a “whole of business” perspective, rather than trying to micro-manage every minor process of the business. It also gives your employees the freedom to take greater control over their own roles within the documented systems and policies.

The third and final type of business owner that should be doing a spring clean is the one that’s struggling to make ends meet. Review long term debtors and either get them to pay up or write off the debts, meet with suppliers to review prices and payment terms to your benefit, actually get rid of ongoing customers that you know are costing you money due to scope creep or non-payment and finally review all other expenses such as insurance policies and telephone contracts for a better deal.

We have no doubt that applying just one or two of the above practices to your business will result in a clearer mind for you as the small business owner and a stronger base for future business growth.

Happy Spring cleaning to all the hard working small business owners out there!