How To Slack Off Like A Pro

 

I’m baaaaaack! I haven’t written a blog post all damn summer. Have you noticed??

We all know what they say (and I guess I also say): you can’t just slack off in your business and expect results.

It’s true.

And sometimes you need to just slack off and not expect huge results.

 

That was my summer.

After launching Hey, Nice Package! in the spring, I decided I’d done enough work for the time being, and I hung up my marketing hat for a while to just CHILL the fuck out.

This summer was an interesting one for me. A long-term relationship ended and all of a sudden I was single, living alone in an overpriced apartment, and not really sure how to fill my time.

Actually, typing that out, that sounds like the PERFECT time to hustle my business. But I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to do anything other than go to yoga, rock climb, run, and sleep.

So I did that. And it has been glorious.

Why should you give a fuck? Why am I telling you this?

 

Because I want you to know that it’s ok to take time off. It’s ok to not feel like working.  It’s ok to not blog for weeks at a time. All of it is ok.

The caveat? Don’t expect huge business growth.

 

For the first few weeks, I felt like I should be working. I felt like if I didn’t work, my business would go from ripe and ready and killin’ it to moldy and squishy, and would just eventually die like a sad banana that you leave sitting there for too long and then can’t even use for a damn smoothie.

But I realized there were things I could do ahead of time to make sure  my business didn’t disappear while I was off traipsing around like a student on summer vacation without a care in the world.

If you know the bare minimum that needs to be done to keep things running smoothly, you can plan your time accordingly and – gasp – actually ENJOY the lifestyle that comes along with having your own business.

 

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Whether it’s summer vacation with the fam, a winter ski trip with the girls, or the middle of October and you just need a fucking break – here are a few ways you can slack off like a PRO:

1. Schedule all your social media in advance and just hop on once in a while to check in and respond to people. You might also want to sync Instagram with your Facebook and Twitter, so you can live post anything exciting happening in your life – we all love peering into each other’s personal lives a little more, and your followers probably want to know what you’re up to!

2. If you plan to blog all summer (recommended – do as I say, not as I do! Haha) pre-write blog posts and schedule them ahead of time. Super easy to do and will make sure you’re still pumping out useful content while you’re sipping sangria at the cottage.

3. Pre-set your calendar with all dates that you want to do client sessions. ScheduleOnce does this nicely, and I simply have all my clients book online, so they only see times that I have set as available. That way you know you can screw off on the other days, and the works days will be dedicated work days. Kind of nice not to be booking last minute clients on days you had planned on going to the beach.

4. Know ahead of time when your next programs will run. Make sure to mention those in emails to your list and post about them on social media, so that at launch time, people are already primed. You don’t want to launch with no one having heard from you for months beforehand.

5. Have enough money in the bank as a buffer. If NO ONE bought ANYTHING during your time off, you don’t want to be struggling to pay your rent.

Have you ever taken significant time off? Did it affect your business? I’d love to know how you manage your business while enjoying the lifestyle too! Comment and tell me!

 

5 Comments

  1. Jackie Johnstone on September 2, 2014 at 10:20 am

    Ooh, Becca I LOVE this! I hope you had a FAB summer and I just wanted to say, it definitely didn’t feel like you dropped off the face of the planet (Uncaged TOD, the Lifers FB group and still being around on social media in general) so I really appreciate you pointing out that you had been “gone” and that’s it’s ok to scale back (as long as you don’t expect massive growth while you are away!). I have a month in Thailand planned in November and I was getting a bit stressed but premission to do the minimum (and adjust expectations accordingly) is freeing. Thanks again and welcome back!



  2. Rebecca Tracey on September 2, 2014 at 11:05 am

    Jackie Johnstone That’s awesome Jackie! You will have a great time and you can TOTALLY enjoy it without worrying about work the whole time if you plan ahead!
    I’m in Italy right now and BARELY working and it’s great 🙂 

    Have a blast!!



  3. Emily Dewey on September 2, 2014 at 11:10 am

    Yeeeee love this – so glad you took the time to have FUN!! And I agree with Jackie – your presence was still felt around the interwebs, no doubts. Love the realism about taking time off but having expectations in check. 

    I hope Italia is treating you faaaabulously darling! xoxo



  4. justjessmay on September 4, 2014 at 2:33 am

    I’m building my blog (which is turning into a business) and it is seriously in the most pivotal stage right now. Chuck a vacation in the middle and see if I float! I’ve written out a schedule for what I’ll post and share on social media while I’m away, then I’ll action it so that the blog runs like it would any other time. Well, that’s the plan anyway…



  5. Amber R Smith on October 20, 2014 at 9:15 pm

    I leave next weekend for 2 weeks in South America.  I’m trying to completely get ahead now so that (1) I can relax on my trip, and (2) things run smoothly without me.  Yes, it’s a lot of hard work on the front end, but I know it’s totally worth it!  Thanks for sharing these tips.  They are very helpful!