7 self care ideas for small business owners over the holidays

These self care ideas are designed to help small business owners like you navigate the period with minimal stress so that by the time you close the office for the holiday season you’re ready to celebrate!

1. Manage Expectations

Take a moment to communicate the times that you’re going to available to clients, or when customers can expect orders to be processed or your store to be open, as early as possible. By giving everyone plenty of advance warning you’re giving them time to plan ahead should there be periods where you’re going to be unavailable.  

Frustrations at lack of availability tend to come only when clients or customers haven’t been given sufficient warning. So by communicating this as early as possible, you’re managing everyone’s expectations.

The same goes with your friends and family. If you know that you’re going to be working over the holiday season, let them know. There’s no point pretending that you’re going to be available for festive fun, only to cancel at the last minute. It’s much better to be honest with loved ones, and yourself, right from the start. This way everyone’s on the same page.

2. Set Boundaries

If you know that you’re going to have to get some work done over the Christmas period, set clear boundaries for yourself. This could be as simple as saying to yourself “okay, I’m going to work 7am to 12pm on Christmas Eve, but then I’m going to go ice skating with my family”.

By setting yourself limits in advance, you’re far less likely to spend the whole day working because you know that you’ve only got a set amount of time available in which to get everything done.

You can also communicate these boundaries to your clients by making it clear that you won’t be able to take on any last minute work, unless there is a rush fee or set amount of warning involved. If you’re shipping out products for your customers, the holiday season is bound to be a busy time for you. This is where it helps to have a clear end date for pre-Christmas orders. This way everyone knows when they need to make their purchase by.

3. Prioritise

Tempting as it is, we can’t do it all. I often find that everything seems urgent and ‘top priority’, until we take a step back and actually analyse our to do lists.

Consider what actually needs to be done now, and what can wait until the New Year instead. If it doesn’t need to be done right away, don’t do it. Take the time for yourself instead and remove that pressure.

4. Delegate

Just as you don’t have to do it all, you don’t have to do it all yourself either. It is 100% okay to ask for help! As small business owners we can get very used to figuring it all out for ourselves, but sometimes figuring things out means asking someone else to support you.

This could be in the form of delegation at work and hiring some support for the holiday season, or at home with asking your friends and family to chip in. 

If you’re able to hire some extra help for your business, then do it! Book someone to help you with the admin that you can’t quite face or to package up the extra Christmas orders. Trust me when I say it’s going to take a huge load off your mind.

Or perhaps you’d benefit more from asking for help at home. Many of us place undue pressure on ourselves to create the ‘Perfect Christmas’ without any outside support. But it can be a lot more fun (and a lot less stress) to make it a proper family affair by asking others to prepare some dishes or help with the decorations. They’ll probably be glad to be given a responsibility too.

5. Plan Ahead

Make sure that you know what you need to do and when you need to do it. It’s safe to say that the back to work jitters can hit especially hard after the holiday season, mainly because we know that the work’s been piling up whilst we’ve been away.

But if you go into the New Year with a pre-prepared to do list by your side, there’s far less chance of feeling overwhelmed. Instead, you know what you’ve got to do and you can dive right into it.

6. Allow Yourself to Enjoy the Holiday Spirit

Bring some festivity into your workspace and find ways to make your work part of the Christmas celebrations. Don’t worry, I’m not recommending that you go carolling whilst trying to reply to client emails. Rather, add some festive touches to your office.

This could mean moving your laptop to an armchair by the fire and making yourself a hot cup of cocoa, or simply popping on an embarrassing Christmas jumper for the afternoon. It’s simple additions like this that go a long way towards making you feel that little more included in the holiday celebrations.

7. Create A Physical Barrier

When your work is done, shut it away. Don’t just leave your laptop on the side of your living room or keep your packaging setup in the kitchen. Instead, move it so that it’s out of site and out of mind.

The last thing we want is for you to be midway through a Christmas cracker joke, only to notice your phone light up beside you with incoming emails. In fact, why not remove your email notifications from your phone altogether?

I hope these self care ideas have made you feel a little calmer about navigating the holiday season as a small business owner, and that you find some time to relax – work free – over the next couple of weeks. You’ve earned it!

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