Last year I wrote a blog about how to stay productive through the summer months even when you’re on holiday. Every year we take off for about 3 weeks and head to California to visit our friends and family south of the border. This year our family is about to embark on an incredible adventure and live overseas and travel the world and this business and system that I've built is the reason we're able to have the flexibility to do that. My business looks a lot different now than it did when I wrote that blog, because I have implemented many new strategies that actually run my business for me while I’m away, but I still have to prepare some things in advance to make sure I still have a presence and that I don’t fall behind in my daily and weekly tasks.

One thing I have learned about a home business is that its quite simple to create massive momentum in a day, but you can lose it if you put your business on hold for too long. It’s ok to take a breath from your business when you need to, but I never recommend “taking a break” without having a plan in place.

So here’s the deal. You need to be thinking a minimum of 1 month ahead, and recognize that business happens in 90 day cycles. So this month’s activity can often be next month’s commissions. Roughly 30% of the people you are talking to are ready to make a purchase when they meet you, 70% need to be exposed to you and your product a minimum of 5-7 times before they’re ready to move forward.

Plan Ahead: So plan out your content, your promotions, and your game plan for meeting new people and adding them to your funnel. Whether you are actively or passively prospecting new clients online, or whether you are networking while you’re on holiday, you need to have a plan. When I go away for 3 weeks the last thing I want is a hole in my social media presence and my clients finding value somewhere else while I’m off having a good time. This is a business so it needs to run while I step away. I plan out my month on a monthly calendar so I can see it all in front of me.

Although I run my business on social media, I still love human interaction...but let’s face it, people are busy. If they want to have face time or chat over the phone, I use a scheduled booking system for people to book with me, and recently moved all of my appointments to electronic - if I don’t have a reminder set on my phone, I can often lose track of time and forget to look at my planner. Acuity has been a great solution for my business, and I love that I can incorporate it into my Blog so my clients and team can view my availability at their convenience. If I'm going to be away, I need to update my booking system, and make sure my email has an auto-responder set letting them know why they may not get a quick response. 

Schedule: Once you’ve planned out your content and promotions, create the images and verbiage you need and schedule these on your social media. I like to use Buffer for all my platforms, because it optimizes my content posting times, and I like being able to use 1 tool that does it all. Buffer also allows me to repost and recycle previous content, which is really important on platforms like Facebook where you always have new viewers who are not going to be searching through your timeline to find what you’ve previously posted.

 Once I have my promotions and emailers created, I schedule them to send out at the specific times I’ve planned them for, with all necessary instructions to purchase and follow up reminders. ( I have tried a lot of automated email systems, but when it comes to my blog and my funnels, I will never go back to using anything other than Active Campaign. It does it all and its easy to use) I want my clients to know that even though I’m away, I still have their best interest in mind. Any of my clients who have requested skincare or nutrition samples, I make sure they are sent out in advance. For anyone who becomes a new client, I schedule a day for handwriting thank you’s when I return. It’s the little things that go a long way!

Bonus Tip: I keep a 2 page spread with a regular schedule for how I post to social media in my bullet journal so I know exactly what content on which days is going out and I can make sure I’m mixing up the value but still promoting my offers. I recommend 1-2 posts daily, with 1-2 platforms minimum to build a strong loyal following. If you're not sure what kind of content to be posting, do what I did and grab a subscription to Monthly Marketing Done for You with my friend Katherine Sullivan from Marketing Solved. This has made my content way more consistent and my life SOOOOOO much easier! 

Track: Even if I’m away, I want to check in and see how my business is going. Whether that is once a day or once a week, it’s up to you. Because my business allows for me to make my life a priority, and my focus is to help others have the same freedom, I am sharing our journey and inspiring my followers through social media most days of my holiday. But here are the things I’m tracking in my Bullet Journal.

• Goals for each month

• Social Media Followers

• Email Subscribers

• Sales Revenue

• 1 page spread for my goals and tasks each week broken down.

So how much time does this all really take and is it doable? Yes it is, and it doesn't have to take a lot of time if you work smart and stay focused.

• Spend 1 afternoon planning out your month’s content and promotions.

• Use templates for all of your content. Make sure all images have your logo and design on them, so you can just update the background and the words.

• Take 1 afternoon to pre-schedule your month of social media.

• Spend 1 afternoon drafting up and scheduling your emails for the month.
• GO HAVE FUN AND LIVE YOUR LIFE!! 

Because I blog for my business, I will often write out 4 blogs at one time, because when I’m in the zone, it’s much easier to get the same type of work done then it is to switch from one task to the next. I then plan out and schedule my facebook ads based on this months goals and promotions. If you'd like to be using facebook ads for  your home business but you're not sure how they work, I recommend grabbing a copy of The Attraction Marketing Formula. There is a right way and a wrong way to build your business online, and most people are not doing it right. But many people are, and these are the mentors who helped me make the changes I needed to attract more people to my business and stop spending all my time chasing after the wrong ones. 

Did you find Value in today’s tips? I sure hope so, because I know what its like to build and grow a business and I want everyone to have the freedom and flexibility that is possible when you do things in a way that align with who you are, and also with the business practices that work.

Care to share what you liked best in the comments below?

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