’Tis The Season

Small business normalcy amid the holidaze

Ah, the holidays. A time for turkey, tinsel, and travel. Not to mention gift buying, gift wrapping, and (sigh) gift returning. Oh, and some wonderfully ugly, light-up holiday sweaters.

But, hey – you still have a small business to run. Let’s face it, maintaining a sense of normalcy during the holidays is always tricky. Everything collides at this time of year: Holiday obligations, client inaccessibility (many people will be taking unused 2020 vacation days), and even dentist appointments squeezed in before you face a new year’s deductible(!) all conspire to steal your productivity.

And this year, that balancing act promises to be especially difficult, given COVID-19. Everyone’s holiday plans will be complicated by the coronavirus. The anxiety level will only be higher this year, and the time crunch may only get worse.

What’s a small business owner to do?

Strategies that can help

Well, take a deep breath – and keep reading. Here are some handy tips that can help you run your small business during the holidays, without turning into a Scrooge.

• Keep your routine – or try to. Continue starting your workday at the same time. (That may mean saying no to that “one last eggnog” at the White Elephant party the night before.) Try to keep room in your schedule for sufficient sleep and exercise, too. Both will help you maintain a healthy perspective during the holidays.

• Look for efficiencies. This is a good time to organize and streamline your business, so you maximize productivity. (For example? 17hats email templates let you reclaim the time lost to retyping the same emails.) Look for efficiencies beyond work too. Buying a gift during the week? Don’t drive across town and fight for parking if it’s something you can buy online.

• Make a plan. Much of the anxiety that we feel when everything starts to happen at once stems from feeling out of control. You can combat that by putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and making a plan. Decide what you’ll do, in what order. Find still more efficiency by combining related tasks into discrete blocks of time. Learn more about this time-saving approach. 

• Reset expectations. Tell your clients early on that some things may simply take longer during the holidays. They should understand – everyone is dealing with the same mail delays, limited hours due to COVID-19, and end-of-year vacation days. On that same note: Family, friends, and even your kids need to remember that you’ll do your best during the holidays, but you still have a business to run. 

• Rethink how you do business. There’s no better time than now to outsource tasks that someone else can do for you. (Learn more here.) And take full advantage of 17hats. For instance, make sure you’re using Client Portal – a secure, one-stop hub for clients – which cuts down on time-sucking phone interruptions. And Online Scheduling streamlines booking appointments, saving you days of back-and-forth with clients. (Catch a free workshop here.)

Of course, there’s more to life than business. If you can maintain your sanity during the holidays, you’ll feel more in control at work and enjoy the season more to boot. Here are a few ideas for staying in good cheer during the holidays:

• Acknowledge that this year is different. It’s OK to feel frustrated, or to yearn for the relative simplicity of holidays past. Just make the best of things this year, celebrate the small victories (Zoomsgiving, anyone?), and don’t be afraid to reach out. Touching base with a close friend or family member can often help.

• Preserve your inner “ho, ho, ho” by saying “no, no, no.” Give yourself permission to say no, especially during the holidays. You can’t attend every holiday event, and you can’t complete every project before New Year’s. That’s OK. Clients – and yes, your kids too – need to respect your boundaries.

• As Elsa said in Frozen – let it go. Don’t take on unnecessary stress this year. Your sister-in-law will like that new sweater – or she won’t. Your cake will be a hit at the potluck dinner – or it won’t. Either way, it’s fine. Maybe this year, time won’t allow for you to send out holiday cards like in years past. That’s perfectly OK. As the title to the famous self-help book goes: Don’t sweat the small stuff – and it’s all small stuff.

• Recognize what’s out of your control. Even in the best of years, circumstances beyond your control can play havoc with your holiday plans. (You could be reading this at the airport while waiting out a frustrating weather delay, for example.) Sometimes the best you can do is acknowledge that it’s out of your hands. You may not be able to change the circumstance – but you can control how you react to it.

• Be realistic. You may have harbored hopes to reinvent your business by year’s end, but, well – 2020 had other plans. Remember, you’re not alone. Many, many people saw their grand plans for 2020 thwarted. Give yourself a break. You rolled with the punches this year, and you’ll do your best to end the year strong this holiday season. That’s all you can ask of yourself.

Remember, there’s always next year. If projects and deadlines are piling up, prioritize your tasks, tackle those that you can over November and December, and slate the rest for 2021. 

The fact is, after a crazy 2020, the new year represents a welcome “do-over” for many of us. 

Here’s hoping that your holidays will be fun and restful – so that January 2, 2021, finds you re-energized and full of optimism for the coming year!