Taking a break - without having a breakdown
By Heather Douglas
Will the festive season provide a refreshing rest from your home business, will it be business as usual, or will you suffer a double whammy with a blow to your back pocket following hard on the heels of a stressful juggling act? Relax! A little planning goes a long way …
For some home businesses, Christmas is a peak trading period - but for the majority, the end of year break can be a great time to catch up with friends and family and may also provide a much-needed opportunity to concentrate on working on the business rather than in it. Fulfilling business and personal objectives effectively can be a challenge though to even experienced home business operators.
While taking a break from working can be a wonderful tonic for the body and soul, taking a break from earning an income can be stressful and put more than a little of a damper on your holiday mood! Getting away from it all may be less appealing when you know there’s a backlog piling up on your desk, or less-than-happy customers await your return (or go elsewhere because they don’t want to wait).
So what’s the best way for a home business to handle what can often be a quiet season?
Much depends on the kind of business you are in, and what your own objectives and priorities are. Some business operators work a reduced number of hours to maintain a minimum income during the holidays, others put all paying work on hold, some use this time to do detailed business planning, work on systems or processes, prepare marketing materials, catch up on book work and filing, and some simply have a break. Here are some tips to help you make the most of the holiday season without dealing your business - or your flow of income - a fatal blow.
Decide how busy you want to be
If you don’t plan how much work you want to do you may find yourself stuck at your desk while everyone else is having fun, or fretting about how quiet it is in January when the Christmas bills start coming in. Decide when you will start and end your break (will it just be a couple of weeks or coincide with the whole school holidays?) Choose how many hours you want to work, and also what time you want to commit to other activities, for instance spending time with your family. You might not achieve a perfect balance, but setting these goals will help you prioritise.
Decide what you want to do with the time you allocate to your business
Will you spend the time you allocate to your business on day-to-day activities, a specific project or projects, working on your business (if so, on what aspects?) or a mixture of these? The more specific you can be about what you want to achieve, the more effectively you will use the time you spend working.
Determine where you will be working
Will you be at home or away? Will you need to be accessible to customers at all times? Will you have visitors staying (and perhaps sleeping in your spare room/office)? Will you have easy access to a phone, a PC, the Internet? Are you taking a mobile phone and/or laptop? These factors may influence how you manage your business during a break.
Decide how accessible you will be
Will you accept new business during your break? Will you be accessible to existing customers? What about suppliers? Will you be accessible to someone who’s taking care of customers and your business in your absence? Will you accept calls at any time? Will you return calls only from certain people or under certain circumstances (e.g. unforeseen problems)? Will you have someone standing in?
About the Author
© Copyright Home Business New Zealand. Heather Douglas is the Editor of HomebizBuzz, a web site crammed with tailored information, tools and resources for home based businesses throughout New Zealand. Home businesses can list their details online in the FREE home business directory, and sign up for a monthly update through “The Buzz” eLetter. Put more fun and success into your home business by visiting www.homebizbuzz.co.nz today.
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