Winter Clean Up

One of the cycles in horticulture and agriculture, as well as gardening in general, is the ‘winter clean up’. 

While things are dormant and not growing, the time is taken to shape plants and trees ideally for the coming spring. It is also a time that the water blasters come out, the tools are maintained and repaired, or discarded and replaced. The accrued rubbish that has collected is sifted through and things that can be reused are cleaned up, or it is off to the dump. Heavier treatments for pests and diseases come out at this time of the year, get rid of infections that can plague valuable crops come spring. 

I think that it is somewhat unreasonable of trainers (and business owners) to expect sales volume to stay the same at all times of the year. I distinctly recall being told that real estate maintains constant sales all the time and that there is no excuse for a poor performing winter. The crappy winter sales volume was all my fault. 

We receive economic data, and REINZ stats that are seasonally adjusted. We can be pretty confident that there is a real seasonal difference. Time to put that lie behind me. Not that I won’t continue to strive for a strong and steady winter of course. 

But with a two-week school holiday around the corner, and the darkest, coldest time of the year, I think that it is reasonable to expect a slow down in proceedings. I know that there are a lot of holidays being booked to warmer climates, and winter skiing trips as well. 

It pays to use some of this time for a bit of a clean up. There will be some aspects of your business that no longer are needed. Sharpen the chainsaw and whip them out. There are some areas that need a less severe tidy up. Just the secateurs. 

You might find unneeded subscriptions, processes that are defunct, you might spot some people that need to be moved around as your business has developed and changed since the last review you made. 

To extend the metaphor, you might even find in the clean up some discarded ideas that suddenly resonate with you. You might see the seasons before have created a small bud that can branch into a whole new branch to your business. 

Just like a clean up in the orchard, or in the garden, having a tidy up in our business makes room for future growth, allowing us to see potential for the future.