It is the 1st week of August, can you believe it? Have you been enjoying your lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer? Outdoor concerts, lakes and pools, camping and/or cocktails on a patio?
It is amazing how fast time flies by and how easy it is to lessen your focus on your business during the summer fun. So many distractions, and I don’t know about you, but the heat slows me down.
So what can you do to make the most of August and prepare yourself for when business picks up in September?
1) Schedule your work time to take advantage of the summer weather. Start a bit earlier, take the afternoon off and work a few hours in the evening. Reward yourself for working hard 4 days a week and plan long weekends. When you are off from work, be off from work; take a break from emails and social media and enjoy yourself. Leave the guilt behind.
2) Work on your business. Summer can be a slow period and it is easy to slow down ourselves. However summer is a great opportunity to work on your business plans and do those jobs you’ve been putting off.
3) Set 1 to 3 major goals. What are those things that you want to get done in the next month that will really set you up for success for the remainder of the year? Write them down and make sure that you work on each one for at least an hour each “working” day.
4) Learn. Summer is a great time to commit yourself to learning one new thing that will help your business. It can be a formal or informal, for example a course on how to leverage LinkedIn or researching the best way to advertise on Facebook through blogs and articles online.
5) Catch up. The odds are if you are experiencing a slowdown in the summer, so are others. Summer is a great time to catch up with clients and contacts over an iced coffee or a drink on a nice patio. It is a great way to enjoy the weather and rekindle relationships or finally get together with that new contact that you met several months ago.
One of the best things about being self employed is the flexibility to set our own schedules. One of the worst things about being self employed is the flexibility to set our own schedules – particularly in the summer. It would be great if we could take off 2 months in the summer and everything would be good to go at the beginning of September. Unfortunately that isn’t reality; we still need to move our businesses forward.
These 5 tips will hopefully help you enjoy the Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer and still move your business forward.
Don’t Let the Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer shut down your business! Please share bellow how you are managing the summer slowdown.
For those who may not know the song, Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer by Nat King Cole, here it is:
I love to see entrepreneurs follow their passions, serve more people and create the lifestyle of their dreams.
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Love summers! I’ve taken time off working with clients BUT have been working on things for my biz this summer. Feels good to be able to concentrate on growing, and fun doing. But, also spent lots of time with family & friends enjoying the summer days. Wish it lasted longer! 🙂
Great tips for ‘Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer’. Being semi-retired tends to cause that same situation year around for me. Especially since my hubby is not involved with any type of job or biz. He stays busy with work around our places… we have 2 to keep up… but none the less he is more under foot than when he had a job. He is very supportive of what I am doing but it makes it more difficult for me to set a schedule and stick to it. It seems I need to be very flexible year around.
I’ve seen slow down in July but it seems to me that if you take a go away vacation or stayvacation, just like you returned to a 9-5 job, you return to your business. Yes, you can shift focus, but dont slack off. Momentum begets momentum.
These are great tips! Summer in the desert is very difficult because it’s so hot and we get so tired. I’m up early (4 a.m. ish) to walk the dog at 5, get to the floral wholesaler by 6:30 and to the shop by 7 or 7:30. By 3 p.m. we’re tired and wish we could take a siesta! By the time I get home I’m too tired to do much other than work on my website and take orders!
Thanks for these great tips!
Thank you for these summer management tips! I feel guilty not working 24/7 on my business, this gives me a different way to think about it!!!!
Summer certainly has slowed me down. I certainly have needed to schedule around these summer days but I am happy I can do that for my boys. Now to start on the rest of your list:-)