For some of us the festive period marks the start all things good and warm and cosy. Mulled wine by the fire, Christmas films to fall asleep to, endless turkey sandwiches. It’s a time for rest and relaxation, joy and excitement.
Unless you’re a small business owner, that is. For many small business owners, the festive period drums up a familiar sense of dread. It’s busier than ever, you’re running around like a headless chicken (turkey?), trying to keep on top of admin and credit control and content creation. In the end, you might find you’re left with very little time for yourself and a quite a bit of chaos on your hands.
The good news is, this is normal and you’re definitely not on your own with it. Small businesses everywhere feel the pressure of the festive season.
But it doesn’t have to be all-consuming. As Virtual Assistants, we’ve supported many small businesses through many a festive season. To help you navigate this busy time as efficiently as possible, we’ve put a few of our top tips together for you to implement.
Top Christmas Tips for Small Business Owners
Tackling Admin in Advance
The administrative side of your business really tends to step it up a notch on the run up to the Christmas period. With increased business activity, invoices and paperwork and emails are flying at you from all angles, and it can be difficult to keep track of.
To help prevent this, it’s important to anticipate these admin increases in advance and delegate your tie accordingly. For example, if usually you dedicate two hours to admin per week, consider increasing this to four during the Christmas period. Scheduling this into your calendar ahead of time avoids any nasty surprises and ensures you aren’t falling over yourself to keep on top of admin with no extra time to do it in.
And, of course, we’re well aware that it’s not possible to just pull a few extra hours out of thin air (we wish it was!), so those hours don’t necessarily have to be found by you. The Christmas period is a great time to delegate, sharing the load with team members or external support like virtual assistants. That way, you can ensure you stay organised with admin, even if you don’t have the time to do it yourself.
Ask someone to manage your inbox for an hour a day, source some support for invoicing or pass over paperwork to maximise your time and handle the holidays efficiently.
Maintaining Healthy Cash Flow
The pressure of the holidays as a small business owner can mean some tasks fall by the wayside – particularly tasks that are time-consuming or tedious. Credit control tends to fall under this category – chasing late payments becomes a chore, one that you can’t always find the time for no matter how good your intentions.
The issue is, the longer your credit control processes lie dormant, the bigger the task becomes. Payments that are late become harder to obtain, sending out invoices takes longer and the whole thing can spiral before you know it. Therefore, keeping your credit control on track even during the Christmas period is vital for the success of your business.
The best thing you can do here is set aside dedicated time slots to your credit control processes – much like with admin. Allocate a few hours a week to sending invoices and chasing late payments to ensure cash flow remains steady and backlogs that could impact your finances overall are avoided.
In case you’re pushed for time, sourcing external support from an individual experienced in credit control could be beneficial here. They can manage these processes behind the scenes, giving you peace of mind that your accounts are in good hands while you continue to guide your business through the Christmas period.
Crafting Christmas Content
Another task that can get pushed to the bottom of the to-do list during the Christmas period is content creation. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to navigate your business through this busy period and upload blogs, write social media posts and send out newsletters.
However, the Christmas period is the perfect opportunity to capitalise on the benefits solid marketing can bring. Christmas campaigns can increase traffic through to your website, help build trust with your customers and prompt engagement across your social platforms. Hence the dilemma – Christmas content is vital, but there’s no time to do it!
To help you handle the holidays in terms of content creation, there are a few things you can do. The first – create your content in advance. While it may seem odd, there’s nothing stopping you putting together your Christmas content in August, or January, or whenever your business has a quieter week. Doing this helps avoid that last-minute rush, or not having time to create any Christmas content at all. You content is complete in advance and can be scheduled ahead of time, freeing up your time to focus on other aspects of your business during the Christmas period.
The second thing you may want to consider when it comes to Christmas content creation is outsourcing. Many Virtual Assistants specialise in content creation and can compile a bank of content for you to use over the Christmas period. They can even go as far as scheduling, posting and engaging with your audience for you. Minimal effort required on your part, maximum benefits where Christmas content is concerned!
Support for Handling the Holidays
While implementing the tips above can make a huge positive difference to you and your business over the Christmas period, it might not cut it for some of you! If that’s the case, here’s how investing in a Virtual Assistant could further benefit your business…
Peace Of Mind
As a small business owner, it’s normal to worry about tasks being overlooked. There’s always so much to do, and sometimes things do slip through the net – especially during peak season. The role of a Virtual Assistant is to alleviate this worry. By delegating some tasks to external professionals, you can ensure that these tasks are being taken care of efficiently while also freeing up your time to focus on other aspects of your business.
Having your small business be supported by a virtual assistant offers peace of mind – your business is in safe hands, tasks aren’t being overlooked, and you’re able to keep up with the demands of the Christmas period.
Time Off
For small businesses, Christmas means more work. More sales, more invoices, more admin – all great for your business in the long run, but it’s important to not allow the true meaning of the holiday period to be swallowed by the demands of your small business. Christmas is also about spending time with family and friends, taking time for yourself and allowing for some rest and relaxation – all of which can feel impossible when you’ve got a small business to run!
Again, a virtual assistant can support you. Investing in a VA is like investing in an extra pair of hands – they can bear the weight of the busy period by streamlining processes, relieving you of admin tasks and organising workload ahead of time. This, in turn, allows you to book a few days off over the festive period without worrying that your business is falling apart while you’re trying to enjoy a mulled wine and a Christmas film.
Don’t allow your small business to take away the joy of Christmas.
Staying Organised
As a small business owner, you’ll be used to doing everything by yourself, which is why it may make you feel a bit on edge to start delegating. However, the Christmas period is, as we know, incredibly busy, and staying organised without support can be a challenge. By investing in a virtual assistant, you’re not necessarily handing over the reins of your business, but instead adding someone else to your team who can help steer you in the right direction.
While you’re busy navigating your business through the festive period, a virtual assistant can work behind the scenes to ensure your processes and procedures remain organised, streamlined and efficient.
Christmas Support with The Edwards Company
If you’re anticipating a busy December or are already feeling the pressure of the festive season, please get in touch with our Virtual Assistant team for tailored business support.