The other day I was having dinner with my friend Kristen and her family. She mentioned that this upcoming Monday is a holiday. Honestly, I don’t know any holidays outside of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everyone knows those two. As a small business owner my days, weeks, and months blend together. This might be the case for you, too. Despite that, this is the perfect weekend to capitalize on a long weekend, to fuel your business this holiday season.
Past Goals
In the last 8 months, what has your business been working towards? Go back and look at all your goals for the year, quarter, and month. If you don’t have a journal or a book filled with this information, then let this be the reason you get a SMART GOALS worksheet. It’s best to keep all of this information in one place. Your yearly goals should be broken down into quarters, then those goals broken down into smaller ones for each month. Most times people are working aimlessly towards one specific big goal. If the vision is not aligning right, review your larger goals and create a new plan. It’s all about taking one bite at a time. Don’t try to swallow it all at once.
Holiday Season
You should be thinking about the 2015 holiday season in July. Let’s not deviate, use this time wisely. Utilize this holiday weekend to prepare your small business for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and in general any holiday affairs. Questions to ask:
- What are your sales goals for November and December?
- How will you target new customers?
- How will you retain loyal customers?
- Have you shot your holiday look book yet?
- What style of call to action banners will you be using?
Having a plan of action in place now, will ensure the month goes smoothly. I created a Holiday Guide For Small Business Owners that is available for pre-order now.
Update Website
In the last couple of months, we have discussed how you can update your contact page and various other topics. It’s important that your website is not only, visually appealing but it’s functional on different kinds of computers, phones, and other devices. Take this weekend to work on things like:
- Call To Action Banners
- Contact Page
- About Page
- Product or Service Descriptions
- Adding a free opt-in for newsletter subscribers
- Shipping and Return Policy
- Overall site design
- Frequently Asked Questions
Your website is your mother board, where your audience gathers to find information about your business. If you’re not in love with your website, this is the perfect time to start the process of designing a site. If you’re going to do this, I highly suggest checking out Bigcommerce, WordPress, and Squarespace to see what they can offer your small business.
Financial Planning
What do your finances look like for your small business and your personal life? Yes, your personal finances matters. As I have discussed in, 5 Ways To Create Better Habits With Money, it’s important that everything is aligned. If one is off than the other can fall off, too. If you’re working full-time at another job and really want your business to be your full-time job within a two year span or less, you need to a couple of things to achieve that goal.
- Decrease your personal debt
- Create a financial plan & budget
- Your small business needs to bring in 15% more than your other jobs paycheck
- A year to 18 months of your living expenses needs to be saved
I know so many people who would like the luxury of running their dream business full-time. However, it becomes harder when your business is your full-time work. It’s like the saying, once you put down your final payment on your car, then the problem starts happening with it. Everyday I am thankful for having a plan.
Rest Your Mind
Yes, this too is important. If you’re constantly working give yourself a break. I just got back from traveling from Houston, Las Vegas, and Atlanta; all within a short period of time. My mind needs a little detox from working. This weekend is the perfect time to visit the spa or a lake for a couple of days; for me and any other business owners who have been working overtime to achieve their dreams.
Friday until Monday at midnight you have a very long holiday weekend to boost your business. There are so many other things you can be doing but really aligning yourself back together is going to be the main thing you need to do.
