Spring cleaning is good for business. Here’s how:

1. It clears your plate when you have a clean workspace. You clear up mental bandwidth for new projects, more referral source activity, more creative marketing approaches, and everything else that requires mental space.
2. It impresses clients. They see a nice, organized, neat office, and they assume you know what you’re doing. That may or may not be a correct assumption, but they mostly associate neat people with being smart, capable, and competent. That means they’re more likely to hire you.
3. It makes you more efficient. You free up gobs of time when you can locate what you need. How long did it take to locate that client file or pertinent article? How much energy did it take for you to assemble all the information that was scattered about to create the bill for that client? Having everything in its place helps you get things done.
4. It makes you feel better. There’s something about small victories that promotes bigger victories. Getting things cleaned up and organized feels like a victory. Winning results in more winning.
5. It builds trust with your team. There’s something about your team members having an organized work area that convinces you that they’re doing good work. When you believe they’re doing things right, you see more of what they’re doing right. You’re more encouraging and less critical. Part of what helps them succeed is your belief that they’re going to succeed.

This is the time to clean up, throw out, and get organized.

As a starting point, I’d encourage you to consider some big changes. Go paperless. We did it 20 years ago and haven’t looked back. It’s the most important thing you can do to clean up your space.

I’d also get rid of the library if you still have physical volumes. We did that years ago by moving most of our books over to the digital versions and scanning the rest.

Of course, these are big projects. They require some thought and organization, so they won’t be your starting point—this year.

For now, take on the small projects. Get everyone involved. This is a team sport. Every member of your staff should contribute and assist.

Your Eight-Step Action Plan

Here’s what I’d encourage you to do right now:

1. Designate a space for the junk.

Set aside a conference room or other space for the temporary storage of whatever you find. Put the things you collect right on top of things so they’re very visible. This is a temporary holding area for sorting, organizing, and disposal. Stock this area with some giant trash bags. This room needs to be spotless when we’re finished.

2. Start with the visible.

Go through the open areas and pick up whatever doesn’t belong. It’s not uncommon for me to wander into a lawyer’s office and see client materials piled in client view in all sorts of odd places. That’s insane. Clients see that and assume you’ll treat their information casually as well (and they’re right). Make it go away by moving it to the junk space.

3. Look in the hidden spaces.

Then dig in to the closets, cabinets, and desk drawers. There’s always a ton of paper, old publications, and other junk in these places. Time to pile it up on a conference room table and toss it, scan it, and/or file it. Make it go away.

4. Ditch the gadgets.

When you go through the hidden spaces, you’re going to find old technology that’s being saved for no good reason. Move it to the junk area and then dispose of it. Either put it in the trash or take it to the proper disposal facility. Some of the technology may be simple (extra staplers, hole punchers, etc.), and some of it may be complicated (old laptop, keyboards, etc.). There’s no reason to save this stuff. Ditch it now. It’s time.

5. Completely clear out the kitchen.

Kitchen areas are scary. Make everything go away at least once this year. No one is EVER going to use that four-year-old ketchup bottle. Toss it. Clean the whole place out entirely. Start over: it’s disgusting.

6. Redo the office supplies.

Go through the supplies and look for anything that you’ve had for more than 90 days. If it hasn’t been used in 90 days, it’s time for it to go. Maybe someone else has a use for those hole reinforcers or whatever crap you’re saving. Give it away. Get rid of it. Be gone, crap. Get that office supply area organized.

7. Spruce up the furniture.

Get someone independent (the dude down the hall maybe?) to come look at your furniture and decide what can stay and what needs to go. We get used to seeing it every day, and we don’t realize how bad it looks as it gets old and battered. It’s probably time to toss a few things and replace them. At a minimum, it’s time to bring in a furniture repair/refinisher to clean things up. We just had our guy in our office for three days, and our team is still high on the fumes.

8. Save the digital cleanup for winter.

You should periodically prune, organize, and archive your digital storage. That’s best saved for winter when you’re stuck inside. Don’t waste your spring on reorganizing your data. It can wait.

It’s time to put some of that spring energy to work cleaning things up. Get serious about getting organized, straightened up, and cleaned out, and the next thing you know, you’ll be impressing clients who can’t wait to pay your fee.