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Purging So You Can Grow

Guest post by: Barbara Weltman

Article Overview: The New Year brings an opportunity to get rid of things that are holding you back from success. This will give you time, space, and other resources to help you grow. Here are some key areas in which to clean house and create space for new opportunities.

Purging So You Can Grow

The New Year brings an opportunity to get rid of things that are holding you back from success. This will give you time, space, and other resources to help you grow. Here are some key areas in which to clean house and create space for new opportunities.

Cleaning files

Are your file cabinets bulging? Are your e-mail files out of control? With January designated by the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) as Get Organized Month, now is the time to look things over and get rid of unneeded communications and papers. According to statistics posted by NAPO, the Small Business Administration estimates that 80% of filed papers are never referenced again, and The Wall Street Journal estimates that the average U.S. executive wastes six weeks each year searching for important documents lost in clutter.

Obviously, some papers, such as employment records, customer communications, and receipts for tax purposes, must be retained. But articles, clippings, and other papers may be taking up space and wasting your time when you need to locate something important. Some of this paperwork can be scanned into your computer or stored in files offsite so you don't have clutter around you.

Caution: Do not delete e-mail that you are required to save for business reasons. Generally, this includes anything related to customers, employees, pending lawsuits, government regulations, and other topics outlined in your e-mail policy and procedures. You can, however, sort e-mail into designated files or use special storage applications to make it easier to navigate your electronic correspondence.

If you need professional help with organizing, find assistance through NAPO.

Firing customers

Remember the old 80-20 rule that says you get 80% of your revenue from 20% of your customers. Even in this economy, now may be a good time to cut loose the customers (probably from that 80% pool) giving you trouble. You may also want to jettison those who no longer fit your business. Key targets for purging include customers who:

• Take up more of your time than their revenue justifies (they aren't profitable for you).
• Are tardy in paying their invoices.
• Are no longer in your target market; you've outgrown them or changed your business model.
  
  Be sure to handle the "firing" in an appropriate manner so you don't create disgruntled customers who might bad-mouth your business. Consider a polite communication to the effect that you can't properly service them and wish them well, or simply refuse to accept their future business.

Refining your offering

You may be carrying products or offering services that no longer make sense -- they aren't profitable or no longer fit within your business model. Take a long and hard look at what you are selling and consider streamlining your offerings. Consider:

• What it costs you to offer a particular product and service to determine whether it continues to be cost effective. A service, for example, may not be costing you money to offer it, but it may be taking up time that could be devoted to a more profitable service.
• How the product fits within your overall marketing efforts. It has been suggested, for example, that the success of the iPhone results in part from the fact that there is only one model, which makes the product more recognizable. Research in Motion, the company behind BlackBerry smartphones, offers a number of models. While BlackBerry is still a recognizable brand, the number of options could dilute consumer attention on any one in particular. In recent months, BlackBerrys have outsold iPhones, but there's only one iPhone, which is what keeps Apple's product iconic.

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Article Tags: business, growth, organizing, product, purging, small business



Related Forum Posts
Re: My 3 best business books - 1. Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill 2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey 3. Permission Marketing - Seth Godin Think and Grow Rich seems more powerful each time I read it or dip into it. The 7 Habits not only offers some very effective ways to organize your life (which I have yet to master!), but also some great quotations and thought provoking statements including this by Nazi concentration camp survivor, Viktor Frankl: [i:2naxzsom]Between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose.[/i:2naxzsom] Seth Godin's Permission Marketing is a good read for anybody seeking to understand how to approach doing business on the Internet in the right way with regard to winning people's trust.
Re: My 3 best business books - It seems that Napoleon Hill works help a lot of business men. He had done a really good job. I bought Think and Grow Rich many times.
Think and Grow Rich - Hi Moira, What a great post! I completely agree with it and it really is too easy to underestimate those 3 points but once we learn to use them the sky is the limit. I am currently reading Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill. Have you read that book?
Re: 2010 - Big goals or scaled back? - I'm not in his league but I'm with Trent on this one. I have just pulled Think And Grow Rich off my shelf for this quotation: ** [i:3najfws9]The "depression" was a blessing in disguise. It reduced the whole world to a new starting point that gives every one a new opportunity. [/i:3najfws9]
Re: Are you going to watch the Social Network? - I think it would be great to see this guy's story. Even though movies tend to exaggerate, I love reading about and watching the stories of entrepreneurs. The underlying principle is always the same - successful businesses always start with an idea. Even if you inherit a business, it originated with someone's idea. That's why I love Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich."


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