Does Your Business Need Some Spring Cleaning?

When Gail posted “Clearing the Clutter and Making Space for What’s Next,” it got me thinking.

You can read her post here:

Clearing the Clutter and Making Space for What’s Next

Gail was talking about clearing clutter, and somewhere along the way my mind wandered over to business.

Maybe some of our businesses need what Granny Clampett would have called a good spring cleaning.

We spend a lot of time talking about what we should add to a business. More content. Another tool. Another plugin. Another social platform. Another affiliate program. Another project we are going to get to when we can.

Which rarely happens.

But what about the things we already have?

Businesses Accumulate Things

I do not think most of us deliberately clutter up a business.

It happens a little at a time.

A plugin gets installed because we need it for something. A new project sounds like a good idea. We start using another tool. We create another page or another category. We sign up for something because it looks useful.

When we add things to our website(s) or business(es), it usually makes sense.

The problem is that businesses and technology change, and we have to change with them.

What we are trying to accomplish may change, or the tools we use may change, or the reason we needed them in the first place may change, making the tool no longer useful.

Everything we have and do not use anymore is clutter.

Could it be useful again? Maybe.

But that does not mean it stays where it is. It might need to be put somewhere else to be used or evaluated later.

Spring Cleaning Does Not Mean Throwing Everything Away

Spring cleaning does not mean dragging everything to the curb.

Some things still belong exactly where they are.

Other things may need to be updated, repaired, combined with something else, or moved somewhere that makes more sense.

A good idea may still be a good idea, but if I am not going to get to it anytime soon, maybe it needs to be put on the shelf until I can actually use it properly.

Then there are the things that simply do not serve a purpose anymore.

Those may need to go.

That does not mean the original decision was bad. It may have made perfect sense when it was made.

Things change.

The point is to look at what we have now and decide what still belongs.

Clutter Still Costs Something

We will probably notice a paid subscription because money leaves the bank or shows up on a credit card bill.

But what about free subscriptions we do not remember, or do not have time to get to?

They add clutter somewhere.

Also, what about other things that are not important but still steal attention, focus, and time from our work, family and friends, and chores such as yard work or little repairs to the home?

They may even take time away from our own self-care.

Not everything that costs us something comes with a price tag.

The Website May Be a Good Place to Start

When it comes to our websites, we need to consider not only whether we have the plugins we need, but also whether we have any we do not need.

A similar question deals with old content.

Does it need archiving, deleting, updating, or redirecting instead of ignoring it?

How many articles do I have that cover the same basic subject and could be combined into a stronger article?

Have I created pages that no longer serve a purpose?

This is the same question as for content: archive, delete, update, or redirect?

Have I used something in the building of my website, such as a plugin or custom code, that can be done in a better way by the theme or platform?

Have I taken care of old offers or links that are no longer used?

All of these can be cleaned up in some way.

Then Look Beyond the Website

Once you have your website(s) cleaned up, look at the rest of the business.

Clutter can collect there too.

Maybe there is software you no longer use, a subscription you forgot about, an affiliate program that no longer fits, a social account you do not have time to maintain, or a project that has been sitting unfinished for far too long.

And yes, task lists.

I know something about those.

The point is not that everything unfinished or unused should be thrown away. Some of it may still have value.

But it needs a decision.

Does it stay where it is? Does it need to be moved somewhere else? Does it need to wait? Or is it time to get rid of it?

A Couple of Questions

Two questions came out of this for me.

Is this still improving the business, or am I now overbuilding it?

And:

If I removed this, would the business actually be worse off?

That second one may be uncomfortable.

But if I cannot explain what something is doing for the business, I probably need to look at it a little harder.

Maybe Granny Was Right

We talk about growth so much that it is easy to start thinking growth always means adding something.

Sometimes it does.

But other times it might mean fixing something.

Or combining things that never needed to be separated in the first place.

Putting a good idea on the shelf until it can be used properly might be the thing to do.

But there are times when something just needs to be gone.

Maybe Granny Clampett had the right idea.

Every so often, the business may need a mop, a bucket, and a little spring cleaning.

JD