Summer and the living is easy, at least here at the Jersey shore unless you are fighting traffic from all of the “shoobies”. Pools, picnics, gardening, homemade ice cream, life at the beach, on the lake, and the lazy days of summer are what we want our lives to be full of, right?
Most adults have to work a JOB, so all of the fun summer things are squeezed into weekends or when you are on vacation. For those who have their own business, there are BIG choices to make. Sometimes, it is hard to remember our “business is flexible, not optional”, especially if you want to get paid!
I know it is the end of July but for some, there are still 4 more weeks of summer vacation. What are you going to do with your business?
Have you put your business on hold this month? Are you going to do it again in August?Sure you can BUT how is it going to effect your customers, your team, and maybe even your company.
Are you in Vacation Veronica mode, taking the entire sumer off? We often talk about “vacations” during the holiday months, right? I can’t be the only one who finds it hard to work between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We tend to take a “holimonth instead of a holiday”. Not good for your business then and certainly not good during the summer.
In a conversation last week with a friend, we were talking about the excuses everyone has about not working their business during the year:
- July/August – Summer time is vacation time, fun time. Who wants to work when everyone else is enjoying summer fun
- September/October – Back to School and sports
- November/December – holiday times.
- January – No one has any money because they spent it all on gifts
- April – Easter or Spring Break
- June – Graduations, weddings, end of school year parties, etc.
Do you see the pattern? So, if you don’t have a plan, you can end up working your business maybe two months out of the year. I don’t know about you but I definitely would have to work 24/7 to make sure I made enough money to pay the bills all year long. No one says you can’t enjoy lots of down/vacation time when you have your own business, you just need to have a plan.
Here are the 5W’s of Direct Sales which helped me keep “Vacation Veronica” away:
- WHO will I share this with? Who will have my next show?
- WHAT do I want my business to provide for me? What is my vision? What difference do I want to make in this world?
- WHEN will I make time for my work and for my family?
- WHERE will I be in one year? Where is my time best spent right now?
- WHY am I really doing this? WHY does this bring me joy?
There are a lot more questions in each of the sections but these are MY personal favorites. When I keep these things in front of me, Vacation Veronica doesn’t have a chance to get me sidetracked. I am not saying we don’t all need a break but let’s put it in perspective. If you owned your own store-front and took a month off, don’t you think it would be hard to get back into the swing of things. What if you work a full-time job and took a month off? Would you want to go back to work and when you did, wouldn’t you still have vacation brain?
When you imagine the rest of your summer, think about what you want, and create an intentional plan.
Here’s to hoping Vacation Veronica doesn’t linger long at my house or yours. Take a break and enjoy your family and friends but don’t neglect your business. If you had a store front, you wouldn’t close for 2 weeks would you? So why should you close your direct sales business for 2 weeks unless you are fully booked for the next 2 months – even then, I am not sure I would stop working my business.
Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!
Hope Wissel 