The holiday season is in full swing and with that comes the craziest, busiest, most expensive time of the year. It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle, but immediately after the holidays is the start of a new year. If 2019 is going to be your year (it is, we can feel it!) then you need to have your shit together so you can crush all the goals and do all the things boss babe style. Making sure you have a plan for your business during and after the holidays will ensure that you’ll have time to enjoy the season, and not run around frantically like one of Santa’s elves on Christmas Eve. This week we are sharing some tips and tricks to help you prepare your biz for the holidays.

 

In almost every area of business, you will experience a lull in January after all the busyness of the holiday season has melted away. Everyone has spent most of their money, and 2019 may not even be on their radar yet. This means less work, less dollars, less awesomeness. To combat the dreaded January lull, PREBOOK and schedule as many clients, services or sessions for January and February as you can, in order to keep your calendar full and your business boomin!

One way to reinforce this is to give yourself time off during the holidays, and not book anything during that time. I repeat, DO NOT schedule any clients or services during your time off. You deserve this time lady boss! It is our first instinct to cram as much work as possible and squeeze everything in. Now it’s your turn to drink some rum & eggnog, and let your brain take a break from business. This means that your clients need to make appointments before or after your vacay. If they are last minute bookers, they will be the ones filling up your January calendar. 

 

If you do plan on taking a vacay after the holidays, make sure to let your clients know that you will be slower to respond to emails, and messages. Although you may be less engaged in your inbox, you can still make sure that you are posting regularly to your social feed. A great way to do this is to schedule your social media posts. If you are not scheduling your posts yet, now is a great time to start! Two great scheduling platforms are Plann and Grum. Creating your content in advance means more free time for you, as you don’t have to worry about posting the right content at the right times. You can curate the perfect images and captions for the entire month in one day, and have them automatically post for you at the proper times. Planning a couple posts right before your holiday hiatus is the best way to let your audience know that you will be off the gram for a little while. If you’re struggling with where to begin or what to post, check out the Resource Library on the Strategic Charm Boutique website for ideas of what and how to post!

 

You can also schedule your blog posts and emails. It’s important to remember that just because you are celebrating the holidays, that doesn’t mean all your clients are. Don’t let them forget about you! Writing a few blog posts and emails to run during the holiday season is going to keep your momentum consistent and strong, and to keep your audience engaged while you’re off relaxing. Sending out some emails with promo’s for January and February can also help with the lull, and get more clients in your schedule. For your main email, make sure to also turn on your auto response if you don’t plan on responding to inquiries while on your days off.

 

Now that you’ve got your business prepared for the holidays, enjoy your time off and come back into 2019 with power and lady boss fierceness! If you’re looking for some inspiration or need to get your shit together for the new year, check out last week’s blog post: How to be a Goal Getter in 2019 for more inspo and tips to crushing next year’s goals.