Small Business Articles from Make-it-Fly®

How to Make the Most of Your Summer
By Victoria Munro

Printable version

The weather is warm, the days are long—it’s summer. But don’t let those lazy hazy days just drift by. Plan now to make the most of the season: get some needed rest, recharge your batteries, regroup and be ready to hit the ground running this fall.

Three Ways to Maximize Your Summer

One: Socialize and Network

Quality time spent with people in relaxed settings gives opportunity to deepen relationships. Invite current, past and prospective clients to a ball game, backyard barbecue or an outdoor concert.

When the golf course, tennis court or hiking trails beckon, go! Ask two or three clients, who would benefit from meeting and getting to know each other, to join you.

Volunteer to help out in the community, walk or run for a good cause and make new friends in the process.

Throw a party, organize a picnic or plan a luncheon for clients, referral partners and friends. Or host a Raving Fans Event.

Two: Take Advantage of the Slower Season

Depending on your type of business, summer can be slow. Clients, prospects and staff take vacations, people just assume a more relaxed pace, and companies often postpone making purchasing decisions till fall. When unprepared, this can cause a cash flow challenge. Offset this by announcing a summer special, or discount fall services or products if clients pay by June, July or August.

Get caught up on tasks you neglected when busier. Clean out files and purge out-of-date material.

Bring your business plan out of the file drawer and review it. Are revenues and costs projections or track? Do you need to make adjustments? Brainstorm possible new products or marketing ideas, or different ways to grow your business.

Hire a summer intern from a local college to help you catch up or get ahead for the fall.

Make a plan now to finish the year strong. Write goals you want to achieve by the end of the year and put action steps in place for each of them.

Three: Care for Your Business’s Number One Asset

Taking good care of your business’s number one asset—you—is the best thing you can do for yourself, your family, your clients and your business.

Re-arrange your priorities during the summer. If necessary, change your work hours and make time to chill out and have fun with the kids while they’re off school. Get away from the office for a picnic together. Visit the zoo, water park or museum. Organize activities with parents, siblings and friends.

Take mini vacations, whether alone, with family, spouse or significant other. Arrange a day or a long weekend away. Take a camping trip. Watch for last-minute vacation deals and be spontaneous.

When the weather is good, take a few minutes for a brisk walk outside. It will get your brain going and you’ll return to your desk refreshed and more creative.

Maximize vacation time by taking along a couple of light, fun and really motivating business books to read. Bring a journal and jot down your thoughts. Some of the best ideas come at unlikely times when you’re relaxed and having fun.

Take a few minutes each day to review your life and your business from a distance. Write down where you want to be in three years and what it will take to get there.

Before you know it, summer will be a fond and distant memory. Don’t just coast along till business picks up again. Choose one or more of the tips above and decide now how you’ll maximize your summer. Then be ready to enjoy your best fall ever!

(731 words)
© 2005-2008 Victoria Munro.

Click here for printable version.

About the Author: Victoria Munro is co-founder (along with husband Dave Block) of Make-it-Fly® LLC, a company dedicated to creating success for small-business owners through creatively designed programs and tools. Victoria has started and run nine different businesses. To receive FREE business success articles with tips to help you with your business, sign up for their award-winning ezine, “In-Flight Refueling,” at: www.Make-it-Fly.com, and receive a free copy of the eBook, Get More Done in Less Time: 101 Quick and Easy Time Tactics & Tips.

You’re welcome to “reprint” this article in your ezine, print publication or on your website, as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the “about the author” info at the end). Please send a copy of your reprint to info@make-it-fly.com.