Spring is here. The weather is warming up. For many, that means it’s time to clean house, get rid of the clutter, and make room for what’s to come. Carrying that spring cleaning ritual into your business is also a good idea for many reasons.

And I don’t just mean tidying up the office. For a business, spring cleaning can go a lot deeper. Here are five ways to give your business the spring cleaning it needs:

1. Review Your Clients

Without clients, a business would not survive. But are all the responsibilities of running a business distracting you from really nurturing and taking care of your clients as best you can? Many companies acquire clients and then cruise along on autopilot. Don’t fall into that trap.

Spring is a great time to touch base with your clients, past, present, and potential. Check in with your current clients to make sure everything is going well. Reach out to previous clients to see if they need your services again. Make a list of potential clients and try to secure some new business. You don’t need a specific reason to reach out to people; just stopping in to see how they’re doing can work really well.

2. Set Some New Goals

Springtime is about getting rid of the old, but it’s also a great time to think about what’s yet to come. Every business needs a clear vision of where it wants to be next month, in six months, next year, and even five years from now.

Set some new goals for your business. What do you ultimately want to accomplish? What kind of projects do you want to take on? Are there any industry awards you want to go after? Are there things you can do to streamline your processes? How can you create residual income streams? Once you have your goals in place, the next thing to do is create the plan to turn those goals into a reality.

3. Clean Out the Clutter

It wouldn’t be spring cleaning without getting rid of the clutter. Most businesses unnecessarily hold on to old files for years. To be true to spring cleaning traditions, it’s time to end this behavior once and for all. Set a time limit: At a certain point after a project’s completion — maybe five years later or so — trash any files related to the project. If you absolutely need them, see if you can store old files in the cloud, where they’re not cluttering up physical desks or computer desktops. Not only is this good business practice, but it’s a motivation tool that helps free up room for new accounts and projects. When you see all the free space, you’ll start thinking harder about bringing in new accounts.

4. Clean Up Your Expenses

The main goal behind any business is to make money. Most business owners spend money on unnecessary software, programs, services, and other items they rarely or never use. Spring is a great time to clean all this up and put some money back into your pocket.

Go through your bank statements and credit card bills to see what you are being charged for each month. If there are items you no longer need, cancel them and put the extra money back into your business toward something that will bring growth. It’s also a good time of year to review your tax returns and the overall financials of your business. Carve out some time to meet with your financial professional; you might be amazed how much money they could help save your company.

5. Cut Down on Office Space

If there’s one thing the past year has taught us, it’s that traditional office space isn’t as necessary as you might have thought. Remote work was already catching on in the pre-pandemic world, and even once COVID is fully under control, the trend is likely here to stay.

With more and more employees working remotely, do you really need to spend all that money on rent? Do you really need multiple locations around the country? You can save your business thousands of dollars each year by eliminating or at least cutting back on all that office space.

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Spring cleaning isn’t just for your home anymore. Bringing this annual ritual into your business helps you keep things running like a well-oiled machine, frees up space, and sets your sights on new things to come.

The other important reason to spring-clean your business is that it can have a positive effect on your mindset. You’ll be refreshed, more energized,  and ready to take your business to a wholly new level.