With all of us being busier than ever before, it’s more important than ever to create a good work life balance.
So how do you plan your working year, maximise your time and make sure you’re hitting your work goals in the best way, but also still getting enough downtime?
Let’s be clear, we could implement all kinds of complicated systems, which in truth would take up even more of our time. The key is to keep it simple.
I like to plan out my year on one page, month by month. And on the planner I not only lay out what i’m doing in my business, I also mark down my personal commitments and important moments for my customers too.
Now it’s really important to not overload yourself, because you can’t give a product launch your full attention in February, if, for example, February is the mega birthday month in your family (like it is for me!)
So the best thing to do, to avoid any clashes, is to chuck all these details down on paper, and you can see at a glance what’s what.
For the exact same reason, put down on the sheet what might be happening in your customers’ lives. Big events like Christmas and school holidays are obvious ones, but there may be other things going on too.
To make it really easy for you I’ve uploaded my actual planner for you to download for free – you can click here to download it:
How to use the planner:
There are instructions with the planner on how to use it, but basically it has three sections for each month:
- The top is to write what’s going on with your customers and the world in general. I’ve started you off with some of these.
- The middle section is for your business – write down any big things you’ve got planned. We’re only talking the headlines here – so things like shows, award ceremonies, new collections being launched etc.
- The bottom section is for big things going on in your personal life. Again, we’re not talking about small things here. We’re talking holidays, birthdays, or anything that means you won’t be able to spend as much time on your business.
So what are the benefits of using my planner?
- You can put it up on your wall and glance at it every day to remind you of what your year is going to look like. This means you’re always across the bigger picture and don’t get caught by surprise when you turn the calendar over for the next month!
- You can see any obvious problems with your plan. Like launching a new engagement ring range the month after Valentines day, or spreading yourself too thin.
- The other benefit is to get into your customer’s head. To really understand what’s going on with your customer in any given month will not only help you know what to create and sell, it will also help you understand what to blog about, how to talk to them in your marketing materials and just get to know them better – which is after all the key to great customer service.
So what are you waiting for? Go download the goodies!