9 Tips to Spring Clean your Business

It’s time to spring clean your business by reviewing your goals for the future. Consider what impact it has on your budget and financial results.

Spring is in the air; the early flowering trees are putting on their beautiful display and the days are getting longer and warmer. In the natural world, spring is a time of new beginnings, deciduous trees come to life with green shoots and many animals give birth to their young.

Growing up in Canada, spring was a special time when the snow melted, the temperature climbed above freezing and it was time to get the bicycle out again. Spring felt like a release. both a release from winter and from school, even though I loved school. It meant freedom was around the corner, long summer days, bike riding on the prairies, and exploring the world around where we lived.

It was a truly magical time.

Whilst as an accountant I tend to work in financial years and quarters, I still do whatever I can to recapture that sense of freedom when spring rolls around. 

Whether you’re into spring cleaning your home or not, it’s a great time to spring clean your business.

Let me explain how to spring clean your business with these 9 easy steps.

1. TAKE TIME TO TAKE STOCK OF WHERE YOU ARE NOW

Put time aside in your calendar to sit down quietly and consider what you have already achieved. Write down a list of all your achievements, big ones, little ones, business ones, personal ones, financial ones, everything. 

I know for me, I’m so busy doing the work that I lose track of what I’ve done, and it’s only when I create this list that I see just how much I’ve achieved in the past year and years.

2. CONSIDER WHERE YOU WANT TO BE AT THE END OF THE FINANCIAL YEAR, TWO YEARS AND FIVE YEARS FROM NOW

Now that you’ve seen how far you’ve come, take a moment to remind yourself of why you started in business and what your goals were from the get-go. Then, think about what you want to achieve in the current financial year, in two years and five years. Write this down too with as much detail as you can including how you’re going to feel when you’re there. Again, include achievements that are big, small, business, personal and financial.

3. WHAT ARE YOU DOING THAT YOU COULD DISCARD 

Next think about what you do and identify what you could eliminate or delegate or automate. It never ceases to amaze me how tasks that I thought I’d delegated somehow land back on my plate, how I find new tasks that weren’t on my list a year ago, that have crept onto my plate that I don’t need to be doing and can either stop doing completely, or delegate or automate. I don’t know about you, but for me, I seem to attract admin tasks like bees around a honey pot no matter how hard I try to offload them.

4. WHAT COSTS CAN YOU ELIMINATE

Taking into consideration any changes you’ve identified in the previous step; do they eliminate or reduce any of your costs? Also review your profit and loss statement and go through each expense and see whether there are any expenses you can eliminate.

5. WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO DIFFERENTLY

Going back to your dreams and plans for the future, identify what you need to do differently. This may include the need for training, coaching, more advertising, getting a bookkeeper and so on. 

6. WHAT ADDITIONAL COSTS WILL YOU NEED

Having identified what you need to do differently, now work out how much each item will cost. Consider when those changes will take effect. It may be that you’re going to increase your advertising budget when you have a new product or service ready for marketing.

7. REVIEW YOUR REVENUE GOALS

Whilst you may have identified your revenue goals when thinking about the future, go back to what you had identified and consider whether your goals are realistic and the timing of when you would reasonably expect to achieve them.

8. UPDATE YOUR BUDGET

Hopefully, you already have a budget loaded into your accounting system as this makes it easy to update the figures based on this review. If not, then I highly recommend creating a budget for the year. I’ve found the majority of clients I’ve worked with achieve their goals when they are realistic and included in the budget and reviewed each month.

9. LOOK TO THE FUTURE, STOP LOOKING BACK OVER YOUR SHOULDER

Financial reports are historical reports and whilst they give a good starting point, it’s always best to be looking to the future, to be striving to achieve your goals and focused on your dream and plans for the business.

So, with spring in the air, take the time to spring clean your business and take the feeling of freedom that spring brings into your business.

Originally published on www.smallville.com.au