Episode 97: Six ways your business can run itself during the holidays

One of the hardest parts of being a business owner during the holidays is that you definitely always have to be running your business. If you drop off the face of the planet for 2 weeks and leave emails unread, social media neglected, etc, you’ll certainly lose business. Not to mention, scheduling shoots! Some people love to work during the holidays and don’t mind shooting all the way through, and other people want to take some time off to spend with family & friends. Whatever your stance on this is, we want you to know that with business automation, it IS possible for your business to pretty much run itself during the holidays, so you CAN have the option to spend some time away from the camera (and the computer!) and spend MORE time with family!

In this episode, we chat about business automation! Specifically, six ways your business can run itself during the holidays (which honestly really can apply to any time of year where you want to take a vacation or a little time off!). We’ll list 3 on the blog here; you have to listen to the episode to hear the rest!

Three Ways Your Business Can Run Itself During The Holidays

1. Set that vacation response: Seriously, if there’s ever a time to unplug from your business for a bit, it’s the holidays! There’s nothing worse than being on your phone in the middle of opening presents or Thanksgiving dinner, and if you’re receiving/responding to emails during the holidays it’s SO tempting to do this! We suggest setting up a vacation response through your email provider, that informs your client that you received their email & will be back at your computer to respond on ____ date. This way, your clients know you’re not ignoring them, but you don’t feel that pressure to respond to every email right away. You can set this for just one day if you want, or give yourself a few days! It’s totally up to you!
2. Pre-plan your social media posts: Julie uses Planoly to plan all of her Instagram posts, sometimes over a month in advance! She can drag & drop photos & captions to where she wants them on the calendar, and all she has to do the day of the post is push a button. Not only does this help her create a super well curated Instagram feed, it also allows her to do batch work, and get all of her social media posts lined up at once. This is extremely helpful during the holidays, as it’s important to stay relevant and present on social media, but this way it only takes 30 seconds of your time to hit “post.” Don’t forget, your clients will be on airplanes, lounging on the couch after dinner, and scrolling through social media a LOT during the holidays. Don’t let them forget you exist!
3. Send some cute, automated holiday cards to your clients: We are huge fans of marketing strategies that don’t seem like marketing. By sending a personal, holiday card to your clients, you’re reminding them you’re still in business while also making them feel warm & fuzzy that you took the time to send them cards! We LOVE TinyPrints (not sponsored by them, just love them!) and they offer automated card sending… you just upload your addresses & your card design & they’ll do all the work for you. If you set this up now, you’ll be showing up in your clients mailboxes with very little effort/work on your part! Reminding your clients you’re there while drinking wine under your Christmas tree??! A win/win situation!!

We hope you like these three tips… definitely be sure to tune in to hear the other three we have; they’re pretty awesome too! Best of luck to you guys as you navigate running a business during the holidays! It’s hard work… but someone’s gotta do it!