With Christmas and the New Year right around the corner, I thought it was fitting to share with you how I’ve prepared to take two full weeks off from my business. And yes, that is two full weeks totally disconnected from my business. I will preface this by saying that during my first handful of years in entrepreneurship, I did not take off for the holidays.

To be totally honest, I was kind of obsessed with my business and I didn’t really know how to take time off from it without it completely falling apart. Now, five and a half years into my entrepreneurial journey, that has changed drastically.

Thank goodness.

I’m taking off the full week of Thanksgiving and two weeks totally off in December for Christmas and New Year’s, but I may also be taking off the first week of January as well.

All of that to say, a few years ago, that would’ve not been possible and I knew it was important to share with you how I have been preparing for that. 

If you would have told me a few years ago when I was first getting started that I was taking so much time off, I literally would’ve fallen out of my chair. It would’ve actually given me anxiety (LOL, but really). 

But now, it brings me so much peace, excitement and joy.

With that being said, here are three ways that I prepare to take off in my business. These three ways go hand and hand with three different areas of your business that you are going to want to take into consideration when you are taking some time off, whether it be for the holidays or other times of the year.

#1 Content & Marketing

The first area of business that you want to take a look at is content and marketing. This looks like content for Instagram, YouTube, podcasts, email, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, etc. All the different places that you are creating content on, you need to take into consideration.

When I say this, you need to determine if you are going to still be posting content during the time that you are taking off. So, if you decide that you are not going to be posting content during the time that you’re taking off, then you need to determine when and how long you are actually pausing content that’s being delivered.

If you do go this route, then it’s important to let your community and audience know how long you plan to be gone and where they can reach you. In the meantime, whether it be via email, or just sending you a DM, it’s important to let them know. So, the way that you can do this would be by sending out a mass email, post in your Facebook community, post on your story, or even post on Instagram and then save it as a grid pin.

If you are going to be posting, then you need to determine what content you are actually going to be posting and then start preparing for it. For me and my time off, I actually did decide to continue with my current content schedule. So, that means I needed to prepare weekly podcast episodes, weekly emails, and weekly Instagram posts.

Like I mentioned, if you go this route, it’s important to determine which pieces of content are going to stay consistent and when they are going out. In addition, if you go this route, I also highly recommend automating as much as you can so you can be present and still truly take time off.

If you are podcasting, blogging, or on YouTube, you can obviously schedule content in advance on those platforms. But if you’re going to be consistently posting on Instagram or Facebook, I highly recommend getting on an app like Planoly to automatically post your content for you so you don’t have to.

As a side note, Planoly is my favorite scheduling app. The reason why is that if you do short-form video content, it is a great scheduling app for that because you can plan for your short form videos to post to YouTube shorts, TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest all in one platform.

That being said, if you are taking that time off, but you still want to remain consistent on social media or via your podcast or YouTube channel, then you’ve got to get ahead.

To do this, I recommend you take a week, put your head down, and focus on batching your content.

Focus on batching podcast episodes, Instagram posts, emails, etc. 

Get it done. 

#2 Product & Services

The next area of business that you want to think about as you are preparing to take some time off is product and services. This is essential if you have products or services that you are selling. It’s important to ask the question, “Do I have any live coaching programs going on, or do I have any current one-on-one clients?”

If yes, then it’s important to determine if you will still be working with them while you take time off, and in what capacity. If you decide that you are not going to be working with them and be totally disconnected from your business, it’s important to prepare your clients and adjust the contracts accordingly.

I usually do not work with my clients during my time off. If I will be taking off for two weeks, I’m going to add two weeks to all of my clients’ contracts. I also do this in my group coaching programs. I add on the extra time for them and they understand that I will not be available because I’m taking that time out of office.

I make up for this by adding that additional time to their contracts. I let them know that if they have any questions while I’m gone, I will get to them when I’m back in the office.

If you want to, you can let them know that if something urgent pops up, they can contact you or your team via email.

That is totally up to you. 

#3 Proactive Sales

Finally, the last area of business to consider is proactive sales. I teach my clients both proactive and passive sales. Passive sales come from content, referrals and collaborations. Proactive sales come from the Daily Sales System (DSS) that I teach my clients. 

Proactive sales are when you go out and proactively get to the sale in a way that feels good to both parties. I decided that I was not going to be doing any proactive sales, personally, during my time off. I decided to have a team member do this for me during the holiday season.

If I did not have a team member, I would not be doing this during the holiday season because I want to be disconnected from my business during this time.

If you don’t have a team member and you aren’t wanting to proactively do your daily sales activities during the holidays, then it’s important to prepare for that. If there are certain metrics or numbers to hit within your sales activities, I would recommend making sure that you are doubling up on those numbers weeks leading up to the holidays, or weeks after the holidays. 

This is important so that you can stay on track with consistently bringing new leads in and securing new clients. 

Next Steps

I hope this blessed you and helps you prepare to take off in your business and be present during the holiday season. 

If you have any questions or want to let me know how you will be implementing these tips, please join our Facebook group. I love to interact with you over there.

If you love content like this, then I would absolutely love to see you get on the list for Make it Reign MAIL to get Faith-Fueled Life and Business Coaching delivered straight to your inbox. 

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