Clean Out the Business Clutter

A methodical review of the past year is an important step in keeping your business fresh and moving forward. Each year your business takes on new customers, offers different products and services, and occasionally tweaks prices. It's important to analyze all changes and determine which ones made your business more competitive and which ones held you back, both in terms of time and money.

Marketing dollars can eat up a large portion of a company's budget. Last year's allocation of funds may not apply this year due to changes within your business. Where you advertise and how much you spend will change as your business model changes. Startups tend to hit marketing hard, which requires a large budget. If you're introducing a new product or service, you may need additional funds for promotion in the early stages. Also, if your competition has changed, so may your target advertising.

Technology is changing much faster than we can keep up. Your business model should remain current with these changes. Technology can improve the services you offer to customers, but it can also reduce the value of your services if customers use technology to reduce their dependence on your company.

The U.S. Postal Service is an example of a business that had to restructure its business model because of technology. Only a few years ago, people were dependent on the post office to deliver letters and bills. Now we use e-mail and send payments electronically. Staying on top of trends and industry standards is imperative to staying ahead of the game. Knowing when to scale back services and when to add new ones is the key to business success.

Changes in employee needs also fluctuate with changes in business activities. When you started your business, you probably wore many hats. But as a business grows, the time comes to hire a contractor or employee or to outsource some duties. Here are a few questions you should ask yourself when assessing your business model:

• Looking back at 2007, were your current contractors or employees productive, overworked or underworked?
• Do you have duties that could be combined in one employee because of improved technology or work changes?
• In 2008, will you be implementing new training programs that may increase productivity or add a marketable skill to bring in more business?

Show Me the Money
Ask yourself how you made your money this past year. By breaking down each area of your business, you can assess where you earned the most and what generated your biggest expenses. What was your ROI for each area of your business? If a top-selling product also generated outsized expenses, you have to decide whether to continue to carry it in the coming year. Should you expand or decrease your services and, if you do one or the other, how will this impact your resources?

Evaluating your competition should also be a key consideration in your business model. Competitors may be adding different services, changing their prices and enhancing their products and services. Do you need to make modifications to remain competitive?

Analyzing your business model can be a painful process because you're looking at issues you may not want to face, such as eliminating a product that introduced you to the marketplace or spending more on marketing to generate more income. But revisiting your business model can also be a refreshing process and energize you and your business for the coming year.