Everyone will have their own way of celebrating the festive season. But whether you’ve already started buying presents and food, or you tend to leave things to the last minute, it’s important for your business to understand how freelancers can prepare for Christmas.
Getting your freelancing plans organized will mean more time to enjoy seeing family and friends, relaxing in front of the television with a hot cup of tea, or even spending time on personal projects rather than client work.
Many freelancers could improve their business, and well-being, by taking more time off, with one in ten taking no days away from work in the last 12 months. And the festive season means your clients will probably also be winding down over the holidays, so there’s less pressure to rush back to tasks until the New Year.
Start planning to take time off at Christmas
The earlier you can schedule some time away from freelance work at Christmas, the more you can prepare yourself, and your business. This means you can truly relax during time away from clients, rather than dealing with emails and phone calls on Christmas Day in between mouthfuls of turkey.
Some freelancers and self-employed professionals will find it stressful to take significant time away from their business, but most clients and customers will be doing the same over the festive period. And by planning in advance, you can ensure that you’re covered for everything barring the biggest emergencies, allowing you to actually enjoy yourself.
Let clients know, and put an emergency plan in place
Make sure you’ve informed your clients or customers well in advance of shutting down for Christmas, and that you have a plan in place if an absolute emergency does occur.
This should mean you’re able to schedule all deadlines before you finish work for the holidays, including scheduling any content or social media updates to run over the festive period. Especially when many businesses will want to promote sales from Boxing Day, or New Year offers.
To cut down the risk of interruptions without completely disappearing, let clients know that you won’t be responding to anything unless it involves a website disappearing offline, the warehouse on fire, or a similar level of emergency. And to avoid getting distracted or caught up in checking your phone or work emails, you can set up a separate communication channel to only be used in the most urgent situations.
Take time to review your year of freelancing
Between Christmas and New Year, you may want to spend some time reviewing your successes and failures over the last 12 months. The relative peace away from client requests makes it a perfect time to see if there are things that could be improved, mistakes that might have been avoided, and ways to plan for greater success in the following year.
Look through your client list, business income and expenditure, and working practices to see if there are opportunities to increase revenue or reduce costs..
Reward yourself with a present
And finally, it’s important to celebrate your success in freelancing for another year. Overcoming the challenges of being your own boss and sustaining a self-employed business is something that’s important to recognize, whether you’re making seven figures or breaking even.
So, treat yourself to something for the home office, new software, or some business attire for important meetings. Even a fairly small purchase can make a big difference to your happiness and motivation, whether it’s a new coffee mug, some artwork, or a plant. And you’ve definitely earned it.
