Operating Your Startup Business

Clean Up Your Business Part 2

Written by Jay Shapiro for Gaebler Ventures

Stale business relationships and a cluttered and dusty workspace can hinder your businesses progress. While it can seem daunting thinking about cleaning up your act, doing so is always beneficial.

Are you in business relationships that no longer serve a purpose? It may be that you and your associate/s are now on different pages and no longer represent a valuable or good fit together.

Freshen up or Throw Out Stale Business Relationships -

Times change, so too do people. Businesses evolve too. Be honest about this and be objective. Look at:

• Friends
• Business associates
• Business partners
• Joint venture and/or affiliate relationships
• Clients (yep! You even have to look at clients)
• Team members.

If a relationship isn't working you have probably already instinctively picked up on this. When you are cleaning up your act and your business it's the time to take action.

You can either change the format of the relationship or end the relationship. Ineffectual contacts can eat up a lot of time and be a drain on a company's resources.

2. Difficult conversations. Have you been putting off what you see as difficult conversations? It's time to face up to things.

Perhaps someone owes you money. Maybe they failed to live up to some promise or other? This can directly relate to the above concerning bad business relationships. It might be that an associate or team member behaved in a way you don't appreciate. Clear the air. Most of the time the difficult conversation ends up being far less difficult in reality than it was when you were playing it out hypothetically in your mind. Blow all the cobwebs away and make an effort to address the issues and start afresh. Whatever the outcome, having those conversations will help and then everyone can move on.

Kick Bad Business Habits by Replacing Them with Good Ones

1. We all have bad habits, but once we recognize them we can do something to rectify the situation. Are you habitually doing things that don't work for the business or fling to do things you know would, simply because you are stuck in a rut or maybe even afraid to chance tactics. Set yourself target each week. If you've been failing to get your newsletter out on time then give yourself a slapped wrist an endeavor to do this. Are you wasting time on activities that don't progress your business. Then make a note to self that tells you to stop doing this and put your energies into things that will be beneficial. It's far easier to kick bad habits if you replace them with good ones.

Cleaning up your business isn't exactly fun but once you get going you will very quickly feel the advantages that even a little shake up can bring.

So its time to de-Jenga the office, give the member of staff who spends all day making personal calls the big goodbye, take your clutter box to the charity shop and aim to restart with a fresh approach, a more manageable work space and ultimately, a more successful and well-run business.

Jay Shapiro is a freelance writer based in the UK. Jay has a particular interest in the emotive aspects of the entrepreneur's character. "Alongside the nuts and bolts of business, the character of the person is often the ingredient responsible for success."

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