Are you one of the small business owners that is super stressed in December? Christmas is just coming up; everyone needs something done just before the big break and then your break ends up being a working holiday… How can you prevent this from happening?

Advertise in advance

Now is the best time to get started with your Christmas Marketing campaign as you will be able to reach more people, your offers aren’t rushed, and you are less stressed!

So, do your customers know what offers and specials you have for Christmas?

If not, get ready by sending out regular newsletters and posting on social media prior to the Christmas season. If you use an e-commerce platform, make sure to reflect the changes on here too.

Tip: I recommend a weekly newsletter from now onwards until Christmas. If you sill need to set up an account, here is how to.

Plan your Christmas Party

If you have a team, you should wait no longer to organise your Christmas Party.

1. Make a booking at a restaurant or plan something else that your team will enjoy
2. Share the date with your team and maybe even customers (if you usually invite them)
3. Plan the night with an agenda, games and a speech

Organise Client Gifts

This can often end up being really stressful as the delivery times for items take longer than you think, so get it done now. The earlier the better!

Here are some ideas on what to gift your clients.

Tip: Donations are also a great gift!

Opening hours

Have you already thought about when to close your business for the Christmas season?

If not, make a plan now. Let your staff and customers know.

Share your opening hours on social media, your website and Google My Business and via your newsletter.

Prioritise tasks

Make a list of all the things that you need to do before Christmas. This might be a very long list but do yourself the favour to list everything on paper or even better in a Project Management tool. This way it’s out of your head which makes it less overwhelming, and you can prioritise the tasks by importance. For example:

A – Share Opening Hours on social media

B – Follow up with XYZ

C – Get website renewed

Make sure you break the jobs into smaller tasks, so they are achievable.

Tip: Don’t forget to delegate the tasks to your staff members.

Process for new work coming in

Just because everyone else is stressed, doesn’t mean you need to be affected by this.

If you get these last-minute calls for work and you are already super busy, then either say no or let them know when you can start working on this.

This is very hard; I know but don’t you rather want to give every client the best service possible? People are often prepared to wait until you become available.

Don’t stress yourself!

Enjoy the downtime

I hope this year’s Christmas break is going to be stress-free and you will have some time to relax and tank up some energy for 2022.

Merry Christmas!