It’s that time of year again: the second week in November to the first week of January is what I call “excuse time.”

During this time of year, you’ll hear people say things like, “It’s the holidays, we’re so busy!” Even though the holidays themselves only take up a few days, people tend to be less responsive and tell you they don’t have time to get together. It’s also a particularly difficult time to start with new clients.

You don’t have to use the holiday season as excuse time if you don’t want to.

Excuse time is actually a great time to work on things in your business that you can do independently that will benefit your business come January (when everyone gets excited about New Year’s Resolutions and comes back fired up and ready to spring into action).

Here are examples of things you can do autonomously:

• Build tools to use with your clients.
• Work on website copy.
• Build out ideas to launch in the first quarter.
• Create a backlog of blogs or videos.
• Focus on curriculum development.

As a side note, it can also be a great time to relax and take time off. I have several clients who take the whole month of December off; instead of trying to push mud up a hill, they take advantage of the chance for down time. In some niches, this makes sense. If you help people with family dynamics, the holidays are probably not a good time to take off because your clients will really need you!  But anyone that works with busy professionals can usually take more time off, if they want to.

Be thoughtful about your business during the holidays

Whether you decide to take time off or hunker down and work on your business, I encourage you to be thoughtful about your choice. Depending on your niche, you may even direct your clients to be strategic in their businesses, too. Either way, the key is to be intentional and enjoy the most wonderful time of the year!

With appreciation,

Tara Butler Floch