​5 quick ways to spring clean your business

The days are getting longer, the air is feeling warmer and colours are blooming in our gardens – yep, it finally feels as though Spring is here! Okay, maybe not with a vengeance, but the signs are starting to appear.
 
I mostly know it’s that time of year however, because I am getting an overwhelming urge to purge my house. The clutter, the dust, the piles of paper littering every surface. Clothes I’ve not worn for years, boots lying redundant. What I need is a right proper good old sort out. Yep – you guessed it, a Spring Clean is due.
 
Around this time of year, some of us feel the same about our businesses. My last blog post was about feeling overwhelmed, and sometimes the cure to overcoming your overwhelm is to organise and sort out.  Now is a really good time to look objectively at your business as a whole, and try to figure out what needs to stay and what needs to go. Even if you don’t have much time, you can achieve a positive change. So, these are a few quick ideas to put in place that may help with that spring cleaning….

Freshen up your shop

This may be something as simple as changing the wording on your product descriptions, or you may want to go into more detail by improving your photography. Look at what products are working for you - can you remove some of those that haven’t sold in a while, or you’ve been looking for an excuse to stop making? You are in control of your shop, and so do make sure you still have a passion for what you produce. Those best sellers? Put them at the top of the page. Maybe introduce a new colour range, or a different sizing structure. How about a different type of personalisation? Take a good look at your shop as a whole and see if there is anything you can see which doesn’t fit in.​​
​

Shake up your bio

This applies to your ‘About’ page on your website, or your biographies on your social media platforms. Make sure they are cohesive throughout, and say exactly what you want to say. Are there any links that are out of date? Update them. Any descriptions that sound clunky, or are no longer relevant? Have a little tidy up. Make sure you are able to direct people to shows or events that you are doing this year, rather than linking them to last years! Keep everything up to date; nice and clean and tidy!
​

Change your profile pic

Just like your biographies, your profile pictures may also be overdue an update. Whether you use a photograph of yourself, or your business logo, make sure it is recent, relevant and great quality. Do this on all your social channels as well as your website – but also in any external sites that link back to your website. It’s also worth giving yourself a little google then checking through the images to see if there are any that need updating on your linked sites.
​

order some new business cards or flyers

For all those shows that you are doing during the spring and summer months, you will need some up-to-date cards and flyers. It will feel like a lovely bit of retail therapy, as well as the excitement of the new smell of stationery when it arrives – and who doesn’t love that?!
​

tidy up your studio

With the sun shining through the windows, it is starting to highlight all the grubby fingerprints and the dust – so why not give yourself an afternoon to have a sort out and a tidy up? Is your packing area as effective as it could be? Are your ribbons out of reach? Do your bobbins need winding? How about that bin – is it well overdue for an empty? Take a little bit of time, put on some music and blow those cobwebs away! You’ll feel SO much better afterwards!!

 
These are very quick and easy ways to give your business a little spring clean, but of course there is so much more you could do if you want to invest some time and money. Maybe this is exactly the right time for you to look at a re-brand? You may be seriously considering moving into new premises? Or do you really want to start your mailing list? (after talking about it for years!)
 
Whatever you decide to do, remember to make it achievable – the last thing you need right now is to add to that never ending list of jobs. The purpose of a spring clean is to make your life easier, not more overwhelming. Maybe just take ten minutes tomorrow just to have a look at your About page, to make sure you are completely happy with it. Then leave it at that. If that’s all you can manage right now then that’s fine. But if it was me, I’d whack on a bit of disco, empty that bin and get that hoover out!
​

The CBN Team x