The Challenge of Christmas
So here we are, less than a week to Christmas, and here I am reflecting on where the year disappeared to. Business is going quiet as everyone focuses on the run down to the Christmas break and the summer holidays. Most schools are on holiday or will be shortly, the weather has largely decided to oblige us and turn to summer, and a festive mood is in the air.
And herein lies the rub for a business such as mine! It is very difficult to get clients at this time as most organisations are tidying up for the year and preparing for the holiday shut-down. This holiday mood tends to prevail into late January, so this will be a very quiet time for me. I knew this would be the case, and have done my best to plan for it, but somehow when it happens it is still disconcerting to know that you won't be generating any business for a four-to-six week period. This is the reality of the business cycle and there is nothing I can do to change it, so rather I must understand it and adapt my business plan accordingly.
This is a good time of the year to revisit the previous year, look at what went well, look at what didn't go so well and to put one's business plan together for next year. It is a good time to catch up on any outstanding administration work (and there's a surprising amount of that in my 'to do' box) and generally do a tidy up in preparation for next year. It is my goal to have everything in order and my plan for next year complete and ready prior to the festivities of Christmas and New Year. At least this way I can enjoy the festive season.
The key lesson I have learnt about this time of the year is to focus on signing up new clients in November to ensure a stream of work that can be carried out independently from the client during this quiet time, ie. any analytical work, research, investigation, etc. One has far more time on one's hands at this time so it is possible to work away quietly and have everything ready for when business kicks off again in the New Year. I have ended up the year with a few clients on my books and a number of potential opportunities that appear to have a reasonable chance of coming to fruition next year, but unfortunately not as much as I would have liked to carry me over this holiday period.
This has been a challenging and interesting, and at times frustrating, time for me on my journey from redundancy to business owner. I'm still in the early stages of my journey and I know that there is still plenty more to come. Thank you to all my readers for joining me on my journey thus far and I hope you will continue to follow my progress next year.
In the meanwhile I hope you and your families have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
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Hi mike - i noticed you've gone very quiet! is this due to extreme busy-ness? jules (era uk)
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