Hey Friend,
This year has been a whirlwind! Lot’s of growth and new experiences, but all very exciting. But as the year comes to a close, I decided to take some time to intentionally rest.
I want to share my plan for rest, and then the reality of what actually happened, because usually the two are never exactly in synch, and I can often forget to share the reality.
In September I decided that this year I would take off from Thanksgiving until after New Years. This is always a slow time in my business. It’s very challenging to get b2b or ecommerce folks on a call, internal teams are swamped with next year’s planning and EOY wrap up, and very few people are looking to hire and begin projects.
It seemed like the best approach to lean into the ebbs and flows of my own business. Rather than stressing and trying to force engagement and growth, I’d just unplug and spend the time with family.
Here’s what my plan looked like:
No more interviews or buyer persona projects
Only work with current content strategy retainer clients
Work on finishing my website
Create my marketing/outreach strategy for next year.
Lots of Christmas baking, snuggles, reading books to the kids, walks in the park, and time on the farm (a dream!)
Here’s the reality of how my rest has played out.
A buyer persona project I’m beginning at the very first of January started onboarding in early December. A part of my process is to interview key stakeholders before I begin interviewing customers, so we got that part of the project started right away. It works out better for me and them, but it’s something I wasn’t planning on when I decided to break in Sept.
I ended up outsourcing writing for BBP. This is great! I’ve struggled to stay consistent with writing this past year. But hiring freelance writers meant taking all the ideas and messaging I have in my head and putting it down on paper, which takes time.
I scheduled three podcasts and a lot of friendly chats. I love doing them, but it’s another thing on my calendar that I need to be mindful of.
I did get to enjoy slower mornings and kept most my meetings for Monday and Tuesday. This allowed the rest of the week to be focused on my business stuff or family stuff.
I tweeted about my time off and noted that taking time as solopreneur is really hard. It’s hard to shut off the ideas, planning, organizing, and managing that needs to be done. So, while I didn’t completely shut down- I did slow down, and I think that is what’s most important.
Now, I’m really taking December 20th- January 4th completely off. No email, no slack, no catch ups. What about you? Will you be taking any time off over the New Year?
I’m putting together my end of year wrap up and excited to share it with everyone! I’ll be sharing achieved goals, missed goals, and all the juicy details at the beginning of next year.
Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!