6 Ways to Prepare Your Business For the Holidays
Whatever you celebrate at this time of year, or whether you don’t celebrate anything at all, the reality is many businesses shut down for at least a few days, some for more. For most business owners, whether you are a solopreneur, a small business owner, or the head of a larger company, the challenge becomes allowing yourself time to relax and recharge from a whole year of operations so you can turn around and do it all again next year.
Because we have become so much more connected and mobile with the regular introduction of new technologies and digital tools, it can be tempting to remain as connected as our tools allow. To avoid burnout and give your brain time to reset, you need to get into the habit of taking a few days to unplug as much as possible.
Here are six things to consider that will allow you to take a break before tackling 2016:
Turn on your “out of office” message: If you will be checking email every-so-often, you can let people know you might get back to them, or just leave it as is and if they get a response, it’s like a surprise! You are helping to set expectations for the turnaround time of your communications.
People are still social: Just because you are taking a few days off doesn’t mean your audience will be unplugging completely. Social media is a 24/7 channel that should maintain a certain consistency. There are a number of tools on the market that will allow you to continue to put out great content even if you aren’t sitting at your computer. Automation tools like Hootsuite, and Buffer are built so you can schedule your content to go out at certain times. I would caution you to not just “set it and forget it,” which means that you should still check in to engage and make sure everything is running smoothly. Make good use of apps on your phone so you can check in without having to drag out your computer (which usually leads to “just doing one more thing”).
Think topically: If you are in holiday mode, chances are your audience is also in holiday mode. I know what you’re thinking – “I don’t want to talk about Christmas/holidays for the whole month of December!” No one is saying you have to, just think about things like talking about New Year’s resolutions and 2016 planning. Talk about vacation. Talk about those precious few days off work. Talk about how to make it through the holidays when you have to work but no one else is. Make it interesting for your audience. That means finding ways to engage with them even if you are working through “holiday brain.”
Empower your team: If you are leaving someone in charge while you are gone, make sure they know the lay of the land and you have made it clear that they have the power to make decisions, otherwise you might be getting a phone call at least once per day. This should be part of a longer term development plan for your team. You will find your employees will respond more positively to you if they feel as though you trust them. If you will be gone for a lengthy period of time, set up a check in call. Setting up a call every day is a bit much, but once per week is sufficient.
Create a crisis plan: This is a lot less serious than it sounds. There is nothing wrong with anticipating what could go wrong. We do it with overall business strategy, so why not create a “crisis” plan for when you go on vacation. That way, even if something goes awry you will have a solution to draw on rather than having to think on the fly when your brain is in relax mode. This is helpful wither you are a solopreneur having to deal with things if you are away, and it is helpful if you have someone running things while you are gone because they know how you would deal with any situation.
Make rules, don’t break them: Just because you have a smart phone and other devices that keep you connected doesn’t mean it has to be attached to your hip. Decide how many times you will check in per day, assign times, and keep your phone out of sight at all other times. If it is in front of you, you will check it.
