#7 Balancing Summer Holidays with Business Success
Getting ready for summer and getting your business ready for the holidays so you can take time out and still have your business moving forward so you don't come back working harder than ever! In this episode of the Thriving Maker podcast, we talk through essential strategies to manage work amidst the chaos of summer vacations. I'll share practical tips for meticulous planning and preparation that ensure productivity even with a packed schedule. From setting clear boundaries between work and holiday periods to leveraging social media scheduling tools and arranging childcare, we cover it all. Plus, find out how taking a break can actually become a source of creative inspiration for your business.
Excited about personal growth this summer? Join our August Design Challenge! This free challenge is the perfect opportunity to break free from routine and explore new creative avenues without the pressure of competition. Check below for more details and make the most of your summer while staying connected to your creative pursuits.
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Transcript:
Sarah Kavanagh: 0:01
Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Thriving Maker podcast. Today, I want to talk a bit about how to work effectively over summer holidays, especially if you have family commitments or less time to do the work than you would normally have. So, wherever you're listening and however you're listening, I hope you enjoy. Hello and welcome to the Thriving Maker podcast. This is a podcast to support makers, crafters and artists to start and grow their creative passions into thriving, profitable businesses. I'm Sarah Kavanagh, your host, and I'm passionate about all things creative and how to turn your unique talents into a thriving business giving you the lifestyle that you want. I started my own handmade fine jewellery business over 15 years ago and now also help other artisans and makers build their own creative businesses through marketing and branding and techniques and strategies I've studied, learned and put into practice along my journey. I've studied, learned and put into practice along my journey. Today I want to help you to establish and grow your own design-led business so that it can help support the lifestyle that you want. Think of this as your go-to resource and check in for all things strategy and marketing for your business, along with stories and anecdotes from my life as a creative entrepreneur. Thank you for tuning in and welcome to the Thriving Maker podcast. Creative entrepreneur. Thank you for tuning in and welcome to the Thriving Maker podcast.
Sarah Kavanagh: 1:29
Hello, in today's episode I am talking all about working over the summer holidays, especially when you have less time to do the work that you would normally have, in particular, if you have children that are now on school holidays. I do. I have two children that are now going to be around the whole time for the next six weeks, which will be lovely, but I say lovely. It will be fun, it will be challenging, we will enjoy each other's company, we will probably argue lots, I'll have no food anywhere, but it'll be fun. So what do you need to put in place?
Sarah Kavanagh: 2:08
If you're coming up to a period where you know you're going to be away on holiday, you may have less time to do the work that you would normally do, and you probably know what I'm going to say. It's all about planning and preparation. There is a theme throughout business which is really planning and preparation, and this is never truer than when you suddenly find yourself limited on time. Work out now, when you are definitely going to be working, when you're definitely not going to be working If you have a week's holiday or a two-week holiday, have that scheduled in working when you're definitely not going to be working. If you have a week's holiday or a two weeks holiday, have that scheduled in. Know that you're going to be away. Work out what you're going to do in preparation for that period of not being around. Is there work and orders that need to be finished and sent out before you go away? It's always nice to clear the decks before you go on holiday. Before you come up to this time, this time limited period, I certainly have a few pieces of work that will need to be completed and delivered before the school holidays start because, however, after 15 years, the children aren't 15 years old. But, however much, I think I'm going to be able to continue to do my work.
Sarah Kavanagh: 3:27
What's there's children around and there's holidays to sort out? It never goes to plan unless you allow yourself that extra space, and the way you do that is by planning. It's by putting things in place first, so marking your calendar when you are definitely not going to be around. Plan out the next six weeks. What needs to be done. Are you still going to be posting on social media? If you are, can you schedule these in advance. Can you batch, create and make these posts up all in advance so that they're ready to go? If you use a scheduling tool, that's great. Then you can put those in and they'll be posted automatically. If you don't use a scheduling tool, you can still have the content prepared, have the post prepared in advance. So when you have this time limited period, obviously making sure you have all your stock made in advance of you not being around is key. Decide how much time you have each week.
Sarah Kavanagh: 4:32
If you have children around, are you still going to be working a certain number of days? It's very easy to say, especially when you work for yourself and you work from home or from a studio, that you don't need extra child care because you're going to be at home. But in actual, actual fact, you do need to have space for yourself to still be able to do the work. Otherwise, you're going to be finding yourself busy in the evenings when everyone's gone to bed, which is not ideal because it quite possibly, if you're like me, will make you grumpy the next day. So still put in place some child care if you can, if you have children.
Sarah Kavanagh: 5:09
If you don't have children and you're just going to be away for a holiday for a period of time, then still put in place what needs to be done in advance. You can still work when you're away. You can still use the time to gather inspiration and ideas. Take a sketchbook with you, take a notepad and don't feel any guilt about taking time away. You can still work on your business what's your way. You can still develop designs and ideas, make notes, record on your phone little thoughts and comments. You can still post on social media. You can also, if you want, take part in the August Design Challenge, and the first week of that is all about coming up with the inspirations and designs and pinning down your design for the challenge, and so this can be done whilst you're not in your studio. You can work on this whilst you're away, so you'll be working on your business at the same time as having a break and having a break and having a holiday or having children around you. So this, I would recommend, would be a good use of your time over August.
Sarah Kavanagh: 6:19
You can also spend the time. Maybe you won't have the opportunity to make your work, but you can certainly spend some time planning what you need to get done. Do you need to order in packaging ready for Christmas? Do you need to update photography or images or write a blog post? All those little things that you can do in small chunks of time. Obviously, making I always find takes a lot more time than you think. So when you're actually producing your work, you need to be in the right frame of mind to sit down and work, and I think when you have children around or when you're on holiday, it's very difficult to find that extra time to get in the right headspace to work. But you can make use of the time when it's you've got a maybe a busier household. I know sometimes it can be you can get frustrated. I know from experience it can be frustrating if you have work planned but you just can't find the quiet space or time or headspace to complete it, and so planning and preparation is really key.
Sarah Kavanagh: 7:34
Go through your weeks. Is there a certain day of the week that you can keep aside for production work? Is there a day that you can, a couple of hours every day that you can put towards marketing? This might be something as simple as sorting out photographs that you can use on social media, writing out some captions for social media, using AI to help you, to help get the the thoughts flowing. Um AI is can be great for just getting you started and getting off that blank, blank page, especially if you're not used to writing. So make use of technology as well. But it is.
Sarah Kavanagh: 8:17
It can be tough over the summer months when you just want to. You know, when you have work in place, you have all these ideas but you just don't have the time or space to be able to follow through with them. So don't beat yourself up about it. Plan to do less and then be happy when you do more would be my advice. It's so easy to over plan what you can achieve when you suddenly find yourself with less time, whether that's because you're on holiday or you have a house full of children. Sometimes I mean, I'm getting to the point now where I may not even see my daughter because she's a teenager, so suddenly find myself with quite a lot of time. However, it can be tricky because you want to do all the activity you have. You're self-employed, you have your business so that you can work freely when you want to work and have the life that you want, and you can do this with preparing for it and planning out your weeks in advance.
Sarah Kavanagh: 9:16
I use a full focus called the full focus planner, which is really good. I've used lots of different planners. This one is a quarterly planner and there's the whole page for planning out your day and to keep you on track, and I find it really useful and I'll talk more about this in another episode. But before it all gets busy, look now at what you can put in place. Even you just spend a day sorting out, or in the evening sorting out the time that you're going to have available over the summer and what you can do to make sure that you use it productively and you don't feel the stress and pressure of trying to do everything and pleasing everybody. That would be my advice with continuing to work when you have a house full.
Sarah Kavanagh: 10:04
Enjoy the holidays, enjoy your time away, the change of environment. It's so good for your creativity, for your inspirations, for your passions to change your environment. So don't allow that time away to feel guilty about taking that time out. Just plan around it. Put in place a plan that will help you to get everything done in the time that you have available.
Sarah Kavanagh: 10:28
And don't forget if you would like to take part in the August Design Challenge, which I think will be a really lovely thing to do over the summer. You will come out with a new piece of work by the end of it, and the way it's planned out is that we will be working on a different area each week. So if you're interested in joining the challenge, it's completely free to join. There's no prizes or certificates or awards. It's just a personal challenge, it's just motivation, where we work together to design and make a completely new piece of work that is free from any of the constraints that you have put on your work already and it's there to challenge you. So that might be something nice that you would like to take part in over August, and just go to the show notes and click on the link there and it will take you through to the page that gives you all the information about taking part in the challenge.
Sarah Kavanagh: 11:27
So that's it for today. It was just a very short episode. I know holidays are looming. Some people may already be on school holidays or may not have children and should be wanting to escape in the summer. Anyway, whatever way around it is for you, whether or not you have a busy summer planned or not, um, enjoy it, make the most of it. Plan ahead and take care, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye, thank you.Sarah Kavanagh: 0:01
Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Thriving Maker podcast. Today, I want to talk a bit about how to work effectively over summer holidays, especially if you have family commitments or less time to do the work than you would normally have. So, wherever you're listening and however you're listening, I hope you enjoy. Hello and welcome to the Thriving Maker podcast. This is a podcast to support makers, crafters and artists to start and grow their creative passions into thriving, profitable businesses. I'm Sarah Kavanagh, your host, and I'm passionate about all things creative and how to turn your unique talents into a thriving business giving you the lifestyle that you want. I started my own handmade fine jewellery business over 15 years ago and now also help other artisans and makers build their own creative businesses through marketing and branding and techniques and strategies I've studied, learned and put into practice along my journey. I've studied, learned and put into practice along my journey. Today I want to help you to establish and grow your own design-led business so that it can help support the lifestyle that you want. Think of this as your go-to resource and check in for all things strategy and marketing for your business, along with stories and anecdotes from my life as a creative entrepreneur. Thank you for tuning in and welcome to the Thriving Maker podcast. Creative entrepreneur. Thank you for tuning in and welcome to the Thriving Maker podcast.
Sarah Kavanagh: 1:29
Hello, in today's episode I am talking all about working over the summer holidays, especially when you have less time to do the work that you would normally have, in particular, if you have children that are now on school holidays. I do. I have two children that are now going to be around the whole time for the next six weeks, which will be lovely, but I say lovely. It will be fun, it will be challenging, we will enjoy each other's company, we will probably argue lots, I'll have no food anywhere, but it'll be fun. So what do you need to put in place?
Sarah Kavanagh: 2:08
If you're coming up to a period where you know you're going to be away on holiday, you may have less time to do the work that you would normally do, and you probably know what I'm going to say. It's all about planning and preparation. There is a theme throughout business which is really planning and preparation, and this is never truer than when you suddenly find yourself limited on time. Work out now, when you are definitely going to be working, when you're definitely not going to be working If you have a week's holiday or a two-week holiday, have that scheduled in working when you're definitely not going to be working. If you have a week's holiday or a two weeks holiday, have that scheduled in. Know that you're going to be away. Work out what you're going to do in preparation for that period of not being around. Is there work and orders that need to be finished and sent out before you go away? It's always nice to clear the decks before you go on holiday. Before you come up to this time, this time limited period, I certainly have a few pieces of work that will need to be completed and delivered before the school holidays start because, however, after 15 years, the children aren't 15 years old. But, however much, I think I'm going to be able to continue to do my work.
Sarah Kavanagh: 3:27
What's there's children around and there's holidays to sort out? It never goes to plan unless you allow yourself that extra space, and the way you do that is by planning. It's by putting things in place first, so marking your calendar when you are definitely not going to be around. Plan out the next six weeks. What needs to be done. Are you still going to be posting on social media? If you are, can you schedule these in advance. Can you batch, create and make these posts up all in advance so that they're ready to go? If you use a scheduling tool, that's great. Then you can put those in and they'll be posted automatically. If you don't use a scheduling tool, you can still have the content prepared, have the post prepared in advance. So when you have this time limited period, obviously making sure you have all your stock made in advance of you not being around is key. Decide how much time you have each week.
Sarah Kavanagh: 4:32
If you have children around, are you still going to be working a certain number of days? It's very easy to say, especially when you work for yourself and you work from home or from a studio, that you don't need extra child care because you're going to be at home. But in actual, actual fact, you do need to have space for yourself to still be able to do the work. Otherwise, you're going to be finding yourself busy in the evenings when everyone's gone to bed, which is not ideal because it quite possibly, if you're like me, will make you grumpy the next day. So still put in place some child care if you can, if you have children.
Sarah Kavanagh: 5:09
If you don't have children and you're just going to be away for a holiday for a period of time, then still put in place what needs to be done in advance. You can still work when you're away. You can still use the time to gather inspiration and ideas. Take a sketchbook with you, take a notepad and don't feel any guilt about taking time away. You can still work on your business what's your way. You can still develop designs and ideas, make notes, record on your phone little thoughts and comments. You can still post on social media. You can also, if you want, take part in the August Design Challenge, and the first week of that is all about coming up with the inspirations and designs and pinning down your design for the challenge, and so this can be done whilst you're not in your studio. You can work on this whilst you're away, so you'll be working on your business at the same time as having a break and having a break and having a holiday or having children around you. So this, I would recommend, would be a good use of your time over August.
Sarah Kavanagh: 6:19
You can also spend the time. Maybe you won't have the opportunity to make your work, but you can certainly spend some time planning what you need to get done. Do you need to order in packaging ready for Christmas? Do you need to update photography or images or write a blog post? All those little things that you can do in small chunks of time. Obviously, making I always find takes a lot more time than you think. So when you're actually producing your work, you need to be in the right frame of mind to sit down and work, and I think when you have children around or when you're on holiday, it's very difficult to find that extra time to get in the right headspace to work. But you can make use of the time when it's you've got a maybe a busier household. I know sometimes it can be you can get frustrated. I know from experience it can be frustrating if you have work planned but you just can't find the quiet space or time or headspace to complete it, and so planning and preparation is really key.
Sarah Kavanagh: 7:34
Go through your weeks. Is there a certain day of the week that you can keep aside for production work? Is there a day that you can, a couple of hours every day that you can put towards marketing? This might be something as simple as sorting out photographs that you can use on social media, writing out some captions for social media, using AI to help you, to help get the the thoughts flowing. Um AI is can be great for just getting you started and getting off that blank, blank page, especially if you're not used to writing. So make use of technology as well. But it is.
Sarah Kavanagh: 8:17
It can be tough over the summer months when you just want to. You know, when you have work in place, you have all these ideas but you just don't have the time or space to be able to follow through with them. So don't beat yourself up about it. Plan to do less and then be happy when you do more would be my advice. It's so easy to over plan what you can achieve when you suddenly find yourself with less time, whether that's because you're on holiday or you have a house full of children. Sometimes I mean, I'm getting to the point now where I may not even see my daughter because she's a teenager, so suddenly find myself with quite a lot of time. However, it can be tricky because you want to do all the activity you have. You're self-employed, you have your business so that you can work freely when you want to work and have the life that you want, and you can do this with preparing for it and planning out your weeks in advance.
Sarah Kavanagh: 9:16
I use a full focus called the full focus planner, which is really good. I've used lots of different planners. This one is a quarterly planner and there's the whole page for planning out your day and to keep you on track, and I find it really useful and I'll talk more about this in another episode. But before it all gets busy, look now at what you can put in place. Even you just spend a day sorting out, or in the evening sorting out the time that you're going to have available over the summer and what you can do to make sure that you use it productively and you don't feel the stress and pressure of trying to do everything and pleasing everybody. That would be my advice with continuing to work when you have a house full.
Sarah Kavanagh: 10:04
Enjoy the holidays, enjoy your time away, the change of environment. It's so good for your creativity, for your inspirations, for your passions to change your environment. So don't allow that time away to feel guilty about taking that time out. Just plan around it. Put in place a plan that will help you to get everything done in the time that you have available.
Sarah Kavanagh: 10:28
And don't forget if you would like to take part in the August Design Challenge, which I think will be a really lovely thing to do over the summer. You will come out with a new piece of work by the end of it, and the way it's planned out is that we will be working on a different area each week. So if you're interested in joining the challenge, it's completely free to join. There's no prizes or certificates or awards. It's just a personal challenge, it's just motivation, where we work together to design and make a completely new piece of work that is free from any of the constraints that you have put on your work already and it's there to challenge you. So that might be something nice that you would like to take part in over August, and just go to the show notes and click on the link there and it will take you through to the page that gives you all the information about taking part in the challenge.
Sarah Kavanagh: 11:27
So that's it for today. It was just a very short episode. I know holidays are looming. Some people may already be on school holidays or may not have children and should be wanting to escape in the summer. Anyway, whatever way around it is for you, whether or not you have a busy summer planned or not, um, enjoy it, make the most of it. Plan ahead and take care, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye, thank you.