21: Managing the Holiday Hustle in Life + Business

12/04/19 • 19 min

The holiday hustle is coming! How can you balance the holidays with your family while being productive in your business? How can you think strategically in your business without sacrificing family time?

In this episode, I share seven ideas to help you manage the holiday hustle. These ideas aren’t prescriptive so pick and choose what works best for you.

1. Remember You Have Less Time

During the holidays, you have less time, less focus, and lower productivity so readjust your expectations and don’t take on new projects.

2. Take This Time Show Your Gratitude

Love on your people, e.g. your team, subscribers, social media followers. Show the human side of you.

3. Make a List of Everything Going On in Your Business and Life

Grab a sheet of paper. Make one line down the middle vertically. On the left side, write down your business tasks. On the right side, write down your personal tasks. Now take your business task column and determine what’s a “Have To Do” and what items are “Like To Do.” Do the same for the personal side of your list.

Making these lists will allow you to understand the magnitude of all you need to get done and then be strategic about it. Delegate what you can and create deadlines for the “Have To Do” items. Tackle your “Have To Do” list first then prioritize your “Like To Do” items.

4. Communicate Your Needs

You have a lot of commitments right now so communicate what you need in your business and in your personal life.

5. Give Yourself a Gift

What can you give yourself? For me, I dream of shopping with no kids or a day in the kitchen. For you, it might be upgrading your computer or investing in a course.

6. Make Sure the Season is Meaningful to You

You can continue to do the same activities at the same pace or you can slow down and enjoy the season. In our private Facebook group, let us know what makes the season special to you and how you’ll carve out time for it.

7. Dream. Reflect.

Take the time to innovate and evaluate. And don’t forget to make a way to capture your ideas all in one place. (I use the Notes feature on my phone. It doesn’t have to be fancy!)

“This season doesn’t have to be hustle, hustle, hustle.”

Weekly Ops Activity

Stay Connected:

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

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This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/21.

In this episode, I share seven ideas to help you manage the holiday hustle. These ideas aren’t prescriptive so pick and choose what works best for you.

1. Remember You Have Less Time

During the holidays, you have less time, less focus, and lower productivity so readjust your expectations and don’t take on new projects.

2. Take This Time Show Your Gratitude

Love on your people, e.g. your team, subscribers, social media followers. Show the human side of you.

3. Make a List of Everything Going On in Your Business and Life

4. Communicate Your Needs

You have a lot of commitments right now so communicate what you need in your business and in your personal life.

5. Give Yourself a Gift

What can you give yourself? For me, I dream of shopping with no kids or a day in the kitchen. For you, it might be upgrading your computer or investing in a course.

6. Make Sure the Season is Meaningful to You

7. Dream. Reflect.

Take the time to innovate and evaluate. And don’t forget to make a way to capture your ideas all in one place. (I use the Notes feature on my phone. It doesn’t have to be fancy!)

“This season doesn’t have to be hustle, hustle, hustle.”

Weekly Ops Activity

Stay Connected:

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

Other Ways to Connect with Me:

This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/21.

Previous Episode

20: Behind the Scenes of Redefining Mom with Monica Froese and Theresa Baretta

If you’re the CEO of your business, what’s it like to be supported by a Director of Operations (DOO)? Exactly how can a DOO benefit your business?

On the flip side, what if you love operations? What is it like to be a DOO? How can you work with a CEO?

In this episode, I talk with Redefining Mom CEO Monica Froese and her DOO Theresa Baretta. We dig into how Monica utilizes a DOO in her business and break down what Theresa does for Monica. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at the CEO-DOO relationship, listen in!

How Monica Felt Before She Brought on a DOO

Before Monica brought on Theresa as her DOO, she felt completely burned out.

Monica had just launched a course for the fourth time during the most stressful time in her mom-life. After she launched, she totally crashed. She knew she was working harder, not smarter and didn’t know what to do next. Monica felt completely overwhelmed.

How Monica Utilizes a DOO in Her Business

When Theresa came on, she:

Systemized her business
Helped her see the forest for the trees
Navigated her through the hiring process
Simplified her processes
Got her out of feeling stalled

After Theresa came on, Monica had her two highest revenue months. A DOO allows you to be you. They’re a safe place and someone who helps you strategically grow your business.

“When you say yes to a DOO, you say yes to being a better leader.” - Natalie Gingrich

The Impact for Theresa as a DOO

Coming into Monica’s business showed Theresa the power of working with someone she can get behind because she believes in Monica’s vision and values.

She also helped Monica:

Protect her time and create white space
Gives her a step-by-step process to reach her vision
Put her foundations in place

Monica’s Advice for CEOs Considering a DOO

Lots of people stay in a perpetual state of overwhelm and burn out, but you don’t have to.

“We don’t have to let ourselves get to burnout.” - Monica Froese

A DOO has a 10,000-foot view of your business. Sometimes as a CEO, you know what needs to happen but aren’t sure how to do it. A DOO also anticipates the leader’s needs. Having a DOO on your team gives you someone who is a leader in her industry and has the ability to put the pieces together, not just complete tasks.

“You can’t scale your time. It’s about leveraging your time and how you can multiply it through someone else.” - Theresa Baretta

How the DOO Certification Can Help You

If you love operations, the DOO certification can give you:

Confidence
Clarity
Community

When you’re ready to learn more about becoming a DOO, go here.

Connect with Monica and Theresa:

Monica started Redefining Mom seven months after her first daughter was born as a way to cope with severe postpartum PTSD that she was unaware of at the time. She has a deep desire to help moms thrive at home and work. She is a strong believer that guilt has no place in motherhood and strives to empower moms to build a life that fits their own unique family value system. She has two beautiful daughters, 6 and 1 years old, and firmly believes everything she does is with the intent to give them a better life.

Monica is a professional blogger and Pinterest marketing expert. She has an MBA degree in finance and marketing and spent 11 years working for a Fortune 100 company running multi-million dollar marketing campaigns with huge brands like Microsoft, HP, and Cisco. Now, she provides online marketing education to professional moms who are looking to build profitable blogs through effective sales funnels and Pinterest ads.

Redefining Mom Website

Redefining Mom on Facebook

Theresa Baretta lives and breathes operations. As the founder of Loop Link, her company introduces creative agency owners to sanity-saving operations so they can build an agency that runs beyond them. Systems may not sound sexy, but they make the difference between constant chaos to consistent creation.

Theresa and her team supports CEOs and serve as an extension of their team, helping them create a business and life that reflects their core values. Through implementing business operations and systems, Theresa and her team leverage proven systems to take busy, stressed CEOs from firefighting to fulfillment.

Loop Link Website

Loop Link on Facebook

Stay Connected

Next Episode

22: What 2019 Taught Me

This year was a big year for me, and perhaps it was for you too. I experienced audience, technological, messaging, and marketing changes. I moved from being a client-services business to an education-business model. That’s a lot right?!

In this episode, I share year-end thoughts, reflections, and actionable exercises to help you wrap up this year. We want 2020 to be a more profitable and balanced year, so let’s discover what we can learn from 2019.

How I Handle Change

I’m a slow start entrepreneur. (Check out the Kolbe A Index to discover if you’re a slow start or a Quick Start.) When change comes, I freeze, try to make it right, and start systematizing and overthinking.

To handle change, I leverage the skills of the people around me to help me process the change and to motivate me to move well.

What 2019 Taught Me

In 2019, I learned ...

To get support when I feel myself procrastinating. Before I launched this podcast I suffered from imposter syndrome, and doubts started to settle in. When I procrastinate, I need to lean on those around me to keep me moving toward my goals.
I need support when I travel for work. Traveling for business is stressful when the kids are at home. I need to rally the troops when I want to attend a conference.
There are more profitable social media channels outside of Facebook. Normally, I go deep into one platform. This year I diversified into Instagram and LinkedIn.
To go back to the marketing basics and create valuable opt-ins to grow my email list. When I honed in on the right offers for my ideal audience, my email list grew over 150%.
To leverage mediums like podcasts. I put my relationships to work by committing to being a guest on almost 40 podcasts in 2019.
Legal protection and polished image are worth the financial investment. I spent money to protect my intellectual property and to rebrand, and I couldn’t be happier I did.
1:1 calls have the highest conversion rate. Get on the calls if you have a high-touch, high-cost service.

“Connecting with people on a call leads to higher conversions. Period.”

8. Data rules.

“With data, you learn. Without it, you gamble.”

Weekly Ops Activity

Write a social post or blog post about what you’ve learned in 2019 and tag The Ops Authority. It feels good to take a few minutes to reflect and most importantly document. And there’s something cathartic about being vulnerable and sharing it. That’s growth, and I invite you to do this activity this week.

Stay Connected:

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

Other Ways to Connect with Me:

Website

Private Facebook Community

Facebook Page

Instagram

This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/22.