How to declutter your small business operations

How do you streamline in business?

Streamlining in business is a bit different from cleaning out the closets in your home. The goal of evaluating different areas of your operations is to apply the principles of decluttering to run your business more efficiently and remove friction points that cause stress throughout your workday.

The basic rules of decluttering vary by method, but there is one overarching principle. Instead of deciding what to get rid of, decide what it is you want to keep.

Through this lens, you can decide what systems, practices, and tools are working well—and where you need to reevaluate. Maybe your payroll system creates more headaches than it solves. Or maybe your logo no longer represents the brand you’ve grown into. Every part of your business is on the table, from how you organize your stock room to the uniforms your employees wear. Throughout this process, take a step back and ask, “How does this help me get my job done?”

5 Steps to Decluttering Your Business

Ready to dive in? Start with these five steps to clean up your operations and find pleasure in running your business.

1. Create a process.

Start organizing by… getting organized. Begin by deciding on the goals and priorities for your overhaul. Identify the areas of your business you feel can be improved and set the order in which you are going to approach each challenge. Think about your biggest pain points in a typical business day. If you’re a retailer, you might consider your inventory management, floorplan, staff scheduling, and payroll, as well as your e-commerce site.

2. Visualize the endpoint.

What does success look like at the end of this process? Possible goals might include: less time spent on payroll, an easier way to communicate with employees, or better inventory management. A salon owner, for instance, may look at her original vision for the business and recognize that she’s spending too much time managing appointments, and not enough time getting to know her clients. Her original vision for opening the space involved creating a community where stylists and their customers could socialize, exchange beauty tips, and destress during appointments. Instead, she’s spending too much time sending appointment reminders, scheduling her staff, and billing.

Reverse engineer how to achieve your goal before getting your hands dirty with the work of actual change. Do your research—the solution could be as simple as adding Time Clock by Homebase to your Clover POS. Or, it could be more involved, like changing your store hours or launching a loyalty program. Put every solution on the table before taking action.

3. Dive deeper into your business.

Whatever you do, be as thorough as possible. If you’re going to evaluate your payroll, evaluate every single aspect of your payroll before moving on to something else. This includes—reporting, accounting, hourly scheduling, taxes, and anything else connected with your payroll system. The biggest danger in starting this kind of overhaul is doing 85% of a task and then stopping. It can leave businesses in a lurch, customers stranded without their desired products, and employees confused. Seeing your tasks through is crucial to the success of this process.

4. Do you still love it?

Take stock of your emotional connection to certain areas of your business. Reflect on why you started this venture in the first place. Most small businesses are a labor of love: tap back into that feeling to fuel your motivation and continue to serve your customers well. As you streamline, try to do so with positivity. It may mean you end partnerships with certain vendors; if that’s the case, do so with gratitude, thanking each vendor for growing with you.

5. Tidy by category.

Declutter experts recommend you tidy by category: clothing, paper, or kitchenware, for example. In your business, this applies to specific business practices. Payroll and reporting is a good place to start, as finances tend to be a common source of stress and profit-loss. Scheduling is also a good one, as few business owners find pleasure in organizing staff schedules.

Let’s say a doctor’s office is trying to reduce the long waiting time patients face when visiting a clinic. The office manager might add new communications and scheduling tools to make it easy to bring in doctors who are on call. Or, they might dive into appointment analytics to see how long, on average, a patient spends with their caregiver. Clover’s reporting and analytics tools can offer deeper insight into where time is lost throughout the day, and how to make it easier to schedule more efficiently.

A clothing store might be having trouble managing their inventory. The store owner could look at their store layout to see if it’s easy for customers to find what they’re looking for. They might dive into their ordering schedule to see if they’re ordering too frequently or in the wrong quantity. Or, it might take re-organizing the stockroom to make it easier for employees to keep inventory moving and meet customer demand. Go through every step in the process to find ways of improving the sales process, create upsell opportunities, and reduce waste.

Summary

Decluttering your business is a great way to get focused and drive better business results. It allows you to reconnect with the passion that inspired you to start this venture in the first place. Plus, the process of streamlining helps ensure you continue to grow sustainably for years to come. The goal is to find joy in your business: as the cliche goes, do something you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.

Decluttering is a practice that can—and should—be iterative. If you can’t get all of it done at once, not to worry. Revisit what inspired you to start the process later, and make adjustments to keep your business running like a well-oiled machine. Happy decluttering!

How can we help?

If you want to learn more about how Clover can help you accept payments, run your business and sell more, please contact your Clover Business Consultant. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. 

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This information is intended solely for informational purposes and should not be interpreted as legal, financial, or tax advice. Readers are strongly advised to consult with their attorneys, financial advisors, or tax professionals to obtain guidance tailored to their specific circumstances.