August Downtime – Is this really a quiet August?
I asked myself this question and I guess, like many business owners out there, the answer is “Busy, but always room for more work”
Quiet Augusts are a great chance to work on the business rather than in the business.
With the exceptions of April and August my business is running at 100mph and I don’t have time to think so I use these quieter spells to breathe a little; work on the business and plan ahead.
We’re 8 days into August and this “quiet August” has involved 2 events with 115 people; 2 new social media management clients; 3 social media training clients; launched a new service and a lot more as you’ll find out below.
This is how I would spend 7 Day on August Downtime
1-day Business Strategy Day
Where is your business going to be in 3 years / 5 years / 10 years time?
That is the question you need to be asking on this day.
Sure there may be things that are outside of our control like Government Policy, World War 3, the rapid pace of AI.
Do a full SWOT analysis of your business; look at every stage of your customer journey; look at what you need to do to be in a better place in years to come.
Pricing, Services, Onboarding.
That’s what I spend my 1-day strategy day on this month.
And all of these will help grow the business in the years and decades to come.
1-day Training Day
“I just don’t have time for training … I’m too busy”
How many times have you said that this year so far.
Quiet August is perfect time to catch up on training so you can develop your business.
Maybe you need to know how to use Canva better? Maybe you need to know how to take better photos with your smart phone? Maybe you need to know more about AI? Maybe you need to improve on a specific social media platform? Maybe now is the time to know how to create better TikTok videos? Maybe you need to have a blogging workshop (after all you’re reading this one so know that people take note)
Write down all the things you need to improve on right now?
Then order them from most important to least important and start working on them one by one giving yourself the time to implement all the learnings?
1-day Client Catch-up Day
Our clients have been with us for years now.
We speak near enough daily on WhatsApp because the nature of our business requires it.
But for your business – when was the last time you sat down and spent time with your clients.
Book out a day to catch up with them over a coffee or a walking meeting and really find out where the business is at now.
They’ll more than likely reveal problems or issues they have that you or your network can help them with.
1-day Prospecting/Lead Chasing
When I was a journalist I had a very simple system to get busy.
I emailed one potential client a day for 30 days.
By the end of the month I was always full to capacity.
There’s no reason you couldn’t do this in one day.
But before then I want you to do one thing first.
Look at your emails and any previous enquiries / quotes you’ve sent – there’s gold in the follow up.
1-day Content Production
You know that September will be busy and before you know it Christmas will be there.
It happens to so many businesses and they then find themselves silent on social media for weeks or months at a time.
Produce the content in advance.
Batch record the videos in the morning.
Write the blogs
Do a photo shoot.
And then schedule half of your posts for September in advance leaving gaps for topical / timely content.
1-day Outdoors
It’s maybe not advisable to spend the whole day outdoors when the temperature is 30 degrees as I write this blog.
But if it’s not a heatwave a day out walking is a really good way to open your mind to new ideas.
Get away from that desk and get outdoors.
Take a notepad with you if you want to be free of phone distractions.
You could also multitask by inviting a few business pals to network at the same time.
1-day Networking
Who said that networking stops for August?
Sure some groups pause for the month, but there’s opportunities for those with free time.
Last week The Altrincham & Sale Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Matters event brought 40 people together in a room at The LifeCentre doing business together.
This week our Smiley Happy People networking event had 75 people booked in.
115 opportunities to grow you business in less than a week.
And many of those came because August is an easier month for networking than the rest of the year.
HOPEFULLY YOU’RE WELL VERSED IN HOW TO SPEND AUGUST DOWNTIME
We deliberately picked 7 days for August downtime for various reasons
– You might have set up a business to spend more quality time with family
– We know you’re still going to be busy – August downtime doesn’t mean 30 days of nothing
– The 7 tasks during the downtime will create a busy September, October, November and December
NEED HELP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Looking for authentic ways to grow your social media
Chat to us about Social Media Marketing for YOUR organisation , so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your organisation
We can only find out what is unique to your business by chatting with you
Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services
We offer Social Media Training on
* LinkedIn
* Instagram
* Facebook
* Twitter
* TikTok
* Blogging
We can do this
* 121
* Corporate Workshops
* Group Workshops
* Face to Face or Via Zoom
Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk
